George Thomas Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Clooney has balanced his performances in big-budget
blockbusters with work as a producer and director behind commercially riskier projects, as well as social and liberal political activism. On January 31, 2008, the
United Nations named Clooney a "
Messenger of Peace."
Early life
Clooney was born in
Maysville, Kentucky. His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren), was a former
pageant queen; his father,
Nick, is a journalist,
anchorman,
game show, and
American Movie Classics host, and an aspiring politician from the state of
Kentucky. Clooney was raised in an
Irish Catholic family.
He has an older sister, Adelia (also known as Ada), and his cousins include actors
Miguel and
Rafael Ferrer, who are the sons of his aunt, singer
Rosemary Clooney, and actor
José Ferrer. He is also related to another singer,
Debby Boone, who married José and Rosemary's son, Gabriel Ferrer. From an early age, Clooney would hang around his father's sets, often participating in shows, where he proved to be a crowd favorite.
