George Timothy Clooney was born May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to parents Nick, a TV newscaster and talk-show host, and Nina, a former Miss Kentucky pageant runner-up.
George hails from a family that knows all about being in the spotlight, from his father Nick and his aunt, renowned singer and actress Rosemary Clooney, to cousin Miguel Ferrer, an actor. He also has an older sister, Ada, who lives a less high-profile life.
A young Clooney got his start on TV at the age of 5, when he would appear on his father's talk-show, The Nick Clooney Show. Although he went off to major in Broadcast Journalism at Northern Kentucky University, he always wanted to be a professional baseball player.
Clooney only turned to acting after he was rejected from a Cincinnati Reds tryout. He got his start in commercials and in a horseracing film his cousin Ferrer was making. He finally got a break when he was cast in a medical comedy in 1984, incidentally named ER. He became known as an actor whose face was recognized, as he was in every TV show, but whose name remained unknown.
Clooney became most famous for his roles as the carpenter George on The Facts of Life from 1985 to 1987, and Roseanne's womanizing boss Booker, in Roseanne, from 1988 to 1989. He made appearances on The Golden Girls and Sisters, but was cast in a string of failed shows such as Combat High, Sunset Beat, Baby Talk, and Bodies of Evidence.
Clooney was also appearing on the big screen, in campy films such as Return to Horror High and Grizzly II: The Predator in 1987, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! in 1988.
Everything was to change for the relatively unknown actor, when he was cast in Michael Crichton's NBC medical drama, ER. As pediatrician Dr. Douglas Ross, Clooney became the newest heartthrob for women and the envy of men, ever since 1994. Once his star factor grew, Clooney was cast in his first "real" film, From Dusk Till Dawn in 1996. A string of roles followed, including One Fine Day, co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer, and 1997's Batman & Robin, in which he donned the bat suit.
In 1997, Clooney co-starred with Nicole Kidman in Dreamworks' first film, The Peacemaker, and appeared as himself in Full Tilt Boogie. He received critical praise for his role in Out of Sight, opposite Jennifer Lopez, and in 1999's Three Kings, as a Desert Storm Sergeant searching for gold in Kuwait. Clooney left ER in 1999 to pursue a full-fledged film career.
Clooney made a small appearance in The Thin Red Line, had a cameo in Waiting for Woody, and lent his voice to South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut (as well as in the TV series, as Big Gay Al's dog, Sparky).
2000 was a busy year for the actor, who starred in the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a role for which he signed before reading the script and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Role in a Comedy or Musical (he and the world discovered he could sing, after a lot of practice and magic of recording studios).
He also starred in the summer blockbuster The Perfect Storm in 2000, and starred in the made-for-TV movie Fail Safe, which he also produced.
Clooney's production company, Maysville Productions, already has a list of films to its credit and in the making, such as Kilroy, Rock Star (starring buddy Mark Wahlberg), and the upcoming Ocean's Eleven (starring Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt), Welcome to Collinwood, Insomnia, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
In addition to his reputation as a good actor, Clooney is also widely known as the womanizer who will forever remain a bachelor. He was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1992, and has dated Kelly Preston, Denise Crosby, Dedee Pfeiffer (Michelle's younger sister), actress/model Kimberly Russell, French model Celine Balitran, actress Brooke Langton, and is now on and off with British host and model Lisa Snowdon.
A tabloid favorite, Clooney boycotted tabloid shows Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy for having filmed him without his consent. He even abdicated his "Sexiest Man Alive" honor by People magazine in 1997, although the magazine didn't change its offer and still outed him on the cover.
Not only has he been named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People on several occasions, he has also appeared on practically every Best Dressed List.
While these awards may pad his ego, Clooney is more preoccupied with the awards he has received for his acting skills, such as the SAG Awards he shared with his ER cast for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Drama Series for four years, an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance in 1996 for From Dusk Till Dawn, and his Golden Globe for O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Clooney will next be seen in the upcoming Ocean's Eleven and Welcome to Collinwood.
