Biography

George Clooney emerged during the mid- to late '90s, as one of the most rapidly ascending stars of both small and large screens. Although his rise to big-screen stardom, following his success on the wildly popular TV medical drama E.R., may at first glance seem meteoric, a closer look at Clooney's career reveals that he has more than paid his dues, having spent over a decade mired in relative obscurity as a contract player for Warner Bros. television.

The son of broadcast journalist Nick Clooney and the nephew of famed singer Rosemary Clooney, Clooney was born May 6, 1961, in Lexington, KY. He made his first television appearance at age five, on his father's talk show, The Nick Clooney Show. He did not show up again on television until he was in his early twenties; growing up, Clooney had a passion for baseball and only turned to acting after a failed tryout with the Cincinnati Reds. He started out in television commercials and then signed with Warner Bros. Though he essentially remained unknown throughout the 1980s and early '90s, Clooney had a steady career as a supporting actor. He appeared in 15 failed television pilots and was a semi-regular on several series, including sitcoms like The Facts of Life and Roseanne, and the drama Sisters. When the 1990s medical drama E.R. became a smash hit, Clooney became particularly popular, owing somewhat to his appeal to young women. This appeal increased as his character -- initially something of a callous womanizer -- matured with the show, eventually evolving into a thoroughly decent, if somewhat hotheaded, human being.

Up until E.R., Clooney had played only occasional roles in feature films (he made his debut with a small role in the 1986 movie Combat High) and had starred in a couple of low-budget videos. Following E.R.'s success, however, he found himself besieged by scripts and movie offers. For his first big-budget project, he chose to play an action hero in the Quentin Tarantino-written and -produced schlock horror extravaganza From Dusk Till Dawn. After that, he appeared in the romantic comedy One Fine Day opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. For Clooney, 1997 proved to be a good year, as he appeared in three major films, the most hyped of which was Batman & Robin, with the actor replacing Val Kilmer as the mysterious Dark Knight. Though the film is widely considered the worst of the big-screen Batman series, Clooney did receive some praise for bringing an extra sensitivity to his interpretation of Batman. He received greater praise the following year, with roles in two wildly divergent films, Out of Sight, in which he played a suave bank robber, and Terrence Malick's adaptation of The Thin Red Line. In 1999 -- following his much-talked-about departure from E.R. -- he continued to work on a number of high-profile projects, first lending his voice to the animated South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and then starring alongside Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube as an American soldier reclaiming Kuwaiti treasure from Saddam Hussein in David O. Russell's Three Kings.

George Clooney was awarded a 2000 Golden Globe for his portrayal of a pomade-obsessed escaped convict in the Coen brothers' throwback comedy O Brother Where Art Thou? It was around this time that Clooney, now an established actor equally as comfortable on the big screen as the small, began to branch out as the Executive Producer of such made-for-TV efforts as Killroy (1999) and Fail Safe (2000). Soon producing such features as Rock Star (2001) and Insomnia (2002), Clooney next re-teamed with Out of Sight director Steven Soderbergh for a modern take on a classic Rat Pack /comedy with Ocean's Eleven (2001). After the dynamic film duo stuck together for yet another remake, the deep-space psychological science-fiction drama Solaris (2002), busy Clooney would both produce and appear in Welcome to Collinwood and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind later the same year, also making his directorial debut on the latter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Intolerable Cruelty (2003) .... Miles Massey
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) .... CIA Agent Jim Byrd
Solaris (2002) .... Chris Kelvin
Shirtless: Hollywood's Sexiest Men (2002) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
Welcome to Collinwood (2002) .... Jerzy
Starbuck Holger Meins (2002) .... Himself
Ocean's Eleven (2001) .... Danny Ocean
... aka 11 (2001) (USA: poster title)
... aka O11 (2001) (USA: informal short title)
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Spy Kids (2001) .... Devlin
Revisiting Fail-Safe (2000) (V) .... Himself
Inside Look: Down from the Mountain (2000) (TV) .... Himself
Book That Wrote Itself, The (2000) .... Himself
2000 MTV Movie Awards (2000) (TV) .... Presenter
Perfect Storm, The (2000) .... Captain Billy Tyne
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) .... Ulysses Everett McGill
... aka O' Brother (2000) (France)
Fail Safe (2000) (TV) .... Col. Jack Grady, Command Pilot Group 6
Three Kings (1999) .... Maj. Archie Gates
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999) (voice) .... Dr. Gouache/Dr. Doctor
Playmate Pajama Party (1999) (V) (archive footage) (uncredited) .... Himself
Waiting for Woody (1998) .... Himself
Thin Red Line, The (1998) .... Capt. Charles Bosche
Out of Sight (1998) .... John Michael 'Jack' Foley
Peacemaker, The (1997) .... Colonel Thomas Devoe
Full Tilt Boogie (1997) .... Himself
Town Meeting with Diane Sawyer: Celebrities vs. the Press (1997) (TV) .... Himself
Batman & Robin (1997) .... Batman/Bruce Wayne
One Fine Day (1996) .... Jack Taylor
Curdled (1996) (uncredited) .... Seth Gecko
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) .... Seth Gecko
Golden Anniversary (1995) (TV) .... Himself
... aka Rosemary Clooney's Demi-Centennial (1995) (TV) (USA: complete title)
... aka Rosemary Clooney's Golden Anniversary (1995) (TV) (USA)
"ER" (1994) TV Series .... Dr. Doug Ross (1994-1999)
ER (1994) (TV) .... Dr. Douglas 'Doug' Ross
"Sisters" (1991) TV Series .... Detective James Falconer (1993-1994)
Harvest, The (1993) .... Lip Syncing Transvestite
Without Warning: Terror in the Towers (1993) (TV) .... Kevin Shea
Unbecoming Age (1992) .... Mac
... aka Magic Bubble, The (1992)
"Bodies of Evidence" (1992) TV Series .... Detective Ryan Walker
"Baby Talk" (1991) TV Series .... Joe (1991)
Red Surf (1990) .... Remar
"Sunset Beat" (1990) TV Series .... Chic Chesbro
Sunset Beat (1990) (TV) .... Chic Chesbro
"Roseanne" (1988) TV Series .... Booker Brooks (1988-1989)
Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988) .... Matt Stevens
... aka Return of the Killer Tomatoes: The Sequel (1988) (USA: video box title)
Grizzly II: The Predator (1987)
Return to Horror High (1987) .... Oliver
Combat High (1986) (TV) .... Major Biff Woods
... aka Combat Academy (1986) (TV)
"Facts of Life, The" (1979) TV Series .... George Burnett (1985-1987)
"E/R" (1984) TV Series .... Mark 'Ace' Kolmar

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