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Born May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, and raised in Augusta, Kentucky. Son of television talk show host Nick Clooney (now host of American Movie Classics) and Nina Clooney, a former beauty contestant. Has one sister, Ada Zeidler. He is the nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney.
Clooney attended Northern Kentucky University after making an unsuccessful attempt to join the Cincinnati Reds baseball team at age 16. His cousin Miguel Ferrer helped him land a small part in the feature film And They're Off (1982), after which he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, studying acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.
After a few low-profile appearances in television pilots and sitcoms, including The Facts Of Life, Roseanne, and the drama Sisters, as well as in the film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1988), Clooney finally gained notice as the handsome and commitment-phobic Dr. Doug Ross in the television hospital drama, ER (1994). After being named one of the Fifty Most Beautiful People, Best-dressed Star and Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 1996-97, he again turned to film, making One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer in 1996, and turning in a critically acclaimed performance in Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
In 1997, he became the fourth incarnation of the caped crusader in Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin, reportedly earning $hold_dollar10 million for his role as Batman. He was said to command the same salary for the critic-favorite 1998 film Out Of Sight, directed by Steven Soderbergh, which was based on the Elmore Leonard novel. He has also appeared in The Peacemaker (1997) with Nicole Kidman, and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998).
In early 1999 ER suffered its own kind of trauma when Clooney left the show in its fifth season; its immediately-lower ratings reflected his absensce, and plans for him to return in guest appearances in the new season were begun. Since his departure from the small-screen, Clooney has kept busy, starring in eight films in 1999 and 2000, including Three Kings (1999), the Coen Brothers' Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), and the adaptation of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm (2000).
Interesting Clooney-bits:
Has a potbellied pig named Max for a pet.
Uncle is the late actor Jose Ferrer.
Quotes:
"Luckily, both those guys were tied and gagged in my apartment, and that was a problem for the
casting department."--Discussing possible casting choices Mel Gibson and Nicholas Cage for
Three Kings before he had signed to the movie.
"Probably the one thing I'm most proud of in my life is how hard I've worked at keeping
everybody around. It can get tricky. Because when you start to get famous, people start to
surround you and tell you how great you are; you get this whole crew of friends you don't know,
and they're suddenly your best friends. But you have to keep the other people close, and that's
work. So we talk to each other at some point every day. It's not like some sick, f***ed up thing.
It's just like 'Hey, man, what's up?' It can be f***ed up if that's your obsession. But it's
just friendship--the boys. What it is, is the greatest support group ever. That's what it's
about when it all comes crashing down." --GQ, October 1997
My Thoughts: The very first time I saw George Clooney was in The Facts Of Life. However, to be honest, I wasn't hooked. I didn't stay with ER, although I did watch it for I believe the first two seasons. It was a film called The Perfect Storm that changed my mind about George Clooney. He is a brillant actor, and from what I've heard of him so far a very upstanding and honorable person. I'm just sorry I chose to pass up the early part of his career. But, I'm catching up--slowly but surely.
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