George Clooney Vital Stats
Birth Name: George Timothy Clooney
Birth Date: May 6, 1961
Birth Place: Lexington, Kentucky
Height: 5’11”
Romantic Link: Sarah Larson
George Clooney Interesting Facts
George Clooney made a $10,000 bet with both
Michelle Pfeiffer and
Nicole Kidman that he wouldn’t be married by 40. When 40 came and went, the ladies both sent him a check for that amount. He sent it back and kept the bet on until he’s 50.
In 1982, George Clooney slept in a friend’s closet while he was struggling to find work.
George Clooney Biography
George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to parents Nina and Nick, and alongside older sister Ada Zeidler.
Growing up, George instantly loved the limelight and often accompanied his father, who was a broadcast journalist, to work. George quickly learned the ins and outs of the business, but vowed that he would never do it for a living.
Clooney gets Bell’s Palsy
When George was 15, he saw the movie The Pride of the Yankees and decided that he wanted to become a professional baseball player and have millions of adoring fans. Unfortunately for George, he also learned that he had Bell’s Palsy that same year.
Lucky for George, the disease, which paralyzes part of the face, ran its course without any serious repercussions and by 19, George headed off to college in Kentucky, but found himself bored and restless.
Upon the urging of his cousin,
Miguel Ferrer, George visited the set where Ferrer was filming a movie, and George ended up getting a bit part in the film. It was at this point, in 1980, that Clooney finally knew what it was he wanted to do with his life.
Although his parents discouraged it, George dropped out of college and delved into a career in film. He wanted to be a movie star.
Of course, he had to make some money in order to get to Hollywood and because his parents did not support his decision, George completed odd jobs until he managed to purchase a used car and earn $300. Then it was off to Hollywood, where George would stay with his Aunt Rosemary Clooney.
Clooney stars in The Facts of LifeThings didn’t come easily for Clooney. When he was staying with his aunt, they agreed that he would do odd jobs for her in exchange. Because he wasn’t a big fan of odd jobs, he managed to upset his aunt and was asked to leave due to his laziness.
So George moved in with a friend and slept in his closet, meanwhile going to any open-call audition he could find. Life was tough; any time he was great in an audition, the pilot would not get picked up by any of the networks, leaving George at square one.
Finally, in 1985, Clooney landed the role of, well, George, in
The Facts Of Life. On the down side, the popular sitcom was coming to a close and Clooney was left looking for work once again.
Clooney becomes Dr. Doug Ross on ER
After landing bit parts in the very forgettable
Return To Horror High in 1987, and
Return Of The Killer Tomatoes in 1988, George landed another meaty television role as Booker in the very popular sitcom
Roseanne, starring
Roseanne Barr.
It was on December 15, 1989, that the now-sworn eternal bachelor decided to marry
Talia Balsam. Unfortunately, the two divorced in September 1993.
After a few more very forgettable movie roles between 1990 and 1993, George hit the big time at Dr. Doug Ross on the instant hit drama
ER in 1994. The role gave George ample opportunity to be more selective with the movie roles he wanted to do.
Clooney & Quentin in From Dusk Till DawnThe first big-budget film George starred in was a
Quentin Tarantino and
Robert Rodriguez vehicle and co-starred
Salma Hayek.
From Dusk Till Dawn took George far away from the lovable character that his fans were used to.
George would continue to do double time on
ER and in movies and, before his contract ended, George completed four other movies:
One Fine Day costarring
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Batman & Robin costarring
Alicia Silverstone,
The Peacemaker costarring
Nicole Kidman, and
Out Of Sight costarring
Jennifer Lopez. It was obvious that George was a true leading man.
By the time George had bid farewell to
ER in 1999, he starred in
Three Kings with
Ice Cube and good friend
Mark Wahlberg. Word also has it that, because Clooney enjoyed the TV animation
South Park so much, he personally asked creators
Matt Stone and
Trey Parker for a part in the 1999 film release of the popular series entitled
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, and became the voice of Dr. Gouache.
At the turn of the century, Clooney kept himself very busy by executive producing Killroy right at the end of 1999, and executive producing and starring in the TV movie
Fail Safe, and starring in two big screen efforts;
O Brother, Where Art Thou and
The Perfect Storm, once again with his sidekick Mark Wahlberg.
Clooney takes on Ocean’s Eleven
After entertaining the children in the blockbuster hit
Spy Kids in 2001, George Clooney put together an all-star cast, which included the likes of
Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, and
Andy Garcia, for a remake of the Rat Pack movie
Ocean’s Eleven, with Clooney in the role that
Frank Sinatra originally took on back in 1960.
After such a big budget stint, Clooney spent 2002 starring in
Solaris, a big-budget flick that tanked in theaters. It was also in 2002, that Clooney successfully starred in and directed the box-office hit
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, starring
Sam Rockwell.
After returning for the
Spy Kids sequel, entitled
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in 2003, Clooney teamed up with beauty
Catherine Zeta-Jones that same year for in the romantic comedy
Intolerable Cruelty. It was during shooting of this film that Clooney managed to convince Zeta-Jones to star in the upcoming sequel for
Ocean’s Eleven.
Clooney takes on Ocean’s Twelve
Clooney spent 2004 hanging out with his
Ocean’s Twelve cast mates at his villa in Lake Como, Italy, while making the sequel, and apparently had a fantastic time and managed to delay the movie’s wrap-up by months. The movie was nevertheless successful and carried Clooney into 2005, which would be his busiest and most successful year by far.
After producing
The Jacket, which starred
Adrien Brody, Clooney directed, wrote, and starred in
Good Night, and Good Luck., a black and white film set in the 1950s about broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow and his attempt to bring down Senator Joseph McCart. The movie was applauded and garnered Clooney many accolades, including the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Film and the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.
Clooney gains weight for Syriana
In what would turn out to be both a good and bad movie, Clooney starred in and executive produced the politically-charged film
Syriana. Clooney gained 35 pounds to play the role of Bob Barnes, and during filming, he suffered a serious spinal injury that required multiple surgeries, left him with severe migraine headaches and kept him in bed for over a month.
On a more pleasant note, his role in the film got him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He spent the rest of 2006 executive producing the
Jennifer Aniston/Kevin Costner vehicle,
Rumor Has It…Clooney keeps himself quite occupied by executive producing such films as
A Scanner Darkly, PU-239, Wind Chill, and
Tishomingo Blues, producing and starring in
Michael Clayton and
Ocean’s Thirteen, and simply starring in
The Good German.
On a personal note, Clooney recently ended his on-again, off-again relationship with model
Lisa Snowdon in 2005, and was re-linked to Krista Allen, before he made it public that he is dating model Sarah Larson. Clooney has vowed never to marry again and does not want to have any children.
Clooney currently lives in Lake Como and enjoyed spending time with his pet pig Max, but Max unfortunately went to pig heaven in December 2006.
Resource:
IMDb - George Clooney
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