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George Clooney (born May 6, 1961George Clooney is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, director and screenwriter, known for his former role in the long-running television drama

Born in Lexington, Kentucky and raised in Augusta, Kentucky, Clooney is the son of Nina Bruce Warren and Cincinnati news anchor and TV host Nick Clooney, a nephew of actress and singer Rosemary Clooney, and a cousin of actor Miguel Ferrer; another cousin, Gabriel Ferrer, is an Episcopal priest, married to Debby Boone. He is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and is of mostly Irish American heritage, although he also has some distant German ancestry. He currently has a villa on Lake Como in Italy, where he spends much of his time.

Clooney got his start in Los Angeles, a young college dropout from Kentucky who spent most of his "struggling actor" years riding to auditions on a bicycle. During this time, he also befriended another actor named Grant Heslov, a close friend and frequent collaborator with Clooney who co-wrote . Heslov is also the president of Section 8 Entertainment, Clooney's and director Steven Soderbergh's production company. In a bit of trivia, Clooney said in an interview that he was driving an RV through the country with Heslov, who was getting over a broken engagement. Clooney said he got a phone call from his agent telling him that NBC just picked up for a full season when Clooney said "I think I just got my career."

His first major role was in a television medical comedy, an adaptation of the implausible autobiography of groundbreaking TV producer Chuck Barris.

Many speculated he would follow the same career path as David Caruso who infamously left . As a stipulation in a new contract, Clooney would return to the series in an occasional guest spot, which he only had to do once when his film career ignited, most famously with (2000).

On July 8, 2005, news reports said that George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon will be working with Cindy Crawford's husband Rande Gerber to design and build a new casino hotel in Las Vegas just off the Las Vegas Strip. Mr. Gerber is the one behind Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa's Whiskey Sky, so he is already familiar with the Las Vegas entertainment market. Pitt has some design experience, having worked with Frank Gehry on a project in England. On August 29, 2005, Clooney officially announced his involvement with the Las Ramblas Resort project.

In 1995, Clooney received a tape version of The Spirit of Christmas, the video greeting card which would inspire . Clooney thought it was so funny that he made copies and sent it around the LA area. Matt Stone and Trey Parker were so thankful for his help that they invited him to play a role in the show, and he ended up voicing Stan Marsh's gay dog Sparky in the episode Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride, a role with no dialogue except normal dog noises. He later appeared in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Despite this history, show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone lampooned Clooney for his outspoken political views in their feature film earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Upon accepting the award, Clooney paused during his acceptance speech to sarcastically thank disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff before adding,“Who would name their kid Jack with the last words ‘off’ at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up.”

George has recently been nominated for the David Lean Award for Achievement in Directing by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA for .

On January 31, 2006, Clooney was nominated for 3 Academy Awards one of them for best supporting actor for , and two nominations for directing and co-writing the screenplay for "Good Night, and Good Luck." Clooney became the first person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one movie and appearing in another in the same year.

He has battled a bad back which had caused him to cancel some promotional appearances, and made it impossible to find insurance coverage to make a film. For this reason, he has put up his house for collateral and continues his professional career.

In 2005, Clooney played Bob Barnes, a character loosely based on former CIA agent Robert Baer, in the movie (based somewhat on Baer's memoirs of being an agent in the Middle East). During the filming of a scene in which Barnes is tortured, Clooney was tied to a chair, and the chair was accidentally kicked over. Clooney hit his head on the concrete floor, tearing his dura mater. His doctors dismissed his complaints until his nose began leaking cerebrospinal fluid, and he has since undergone multiple operations to correct this.