George Clooney (born May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky) is a celebrated American actor and filmmaker who rose to fame as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER (1994–1999) before starring in blockbusters like the Ocean's trilogy and winning an Academy Award for Syriana (2005). As a director and producer, he helmed acclaimed films such as Good Night, and Good Luck and The Ides of March, and won the Best Picture Oscar for producing Argo (2012), accumulating two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, and a BAFTA over his career. He is also a prominent activist, serving as a UN Messenger of Peace since 2008, and has been married to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney since 2014, with whom he has two children. Notably, Clooney is of Irish descent and is a distant relative of President Abraham Lincoln (half-first cousins five times removed), and he overcame a bout of Bell's palsy as a middle schooler. He made his Broadway debut in 2025 with a play adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck, earning a Tony nomination, and has received lifetime honors including the Kennedy Center Honor and the AFI Life Achievement Award.