George Clooney 

Film Actor, Television Actor, Activist (1961–)

• 
  
• 1

Famed actor and director George Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky. He scored his breakout role in 1992 as Dr. Doug Ross on TV's ER. The hit show lead to major film roles, including a turn as Batman. In 2005, Clooney won an Academy Award for his performance in Syriana.TIME magazine has called the actor "The Last Movie Star," and Peoplemagazine twice named him the "Sexiest Man Alive." In 2014, Clooney married international lawyer and activist Amal Alamuddin.

Early Life

George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, into a well-known family of media and entertainment personalities. His father, Nick, spent many years as a television personality and news anchor. His aunt, Rosemary Clooney, had a long career as a singer and actress.

Due to the nature of his father's work, George Clooney and his older sister, Ada, moved several times to various locations throughout Kentucky and Ohio with their parents. In 1974, they settled down for good in a rambling, old Victorian home in downtown Augusta, Kentucky, a small town on the Ohio River about an hour south of Cincinnati.

There, despite some name recognition, the Clooneys led a fairly modest life. They were a close-knit family, with Nick Clooney making sure to carve time out of his busy schedule in Cincinnati to be home in the evenings for dinner. At the Clooney supper table, the family often discussed current events. Nick, a true newsman, had grown up in awe of men like CBS news anchor Edward R. Murrow and, later, Walter Cronkite.

Exposed to the entertainment industry at a young age, Clooney made his first television appearance at 5 years old, playing sketch characters on the local talk shows his dad hosted. In middle school, however, Clooney struggled with his talent for expression when he developed Bell's palsy, which causes partial facial paralysis. He eventually recovered from the illness.