- Title: Six minutes with George Clooney who turns 60 on Thursday
- Date: 5th May 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - MAY 7, 2018) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF GEORGE AND AMAL CLOONEY HOLDING HANDS ON RED CARPET AT THE MET BALL CLOONEY SPEAKING TO REPORTER AND JOKING ABOUT HAVING TRIED ON THE SAME OUTFIT AS WIFE EARLIER VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GEORGE AND AMAL CLOONEY POSI
- Embargoed: 19th May 2021 15:22
- Keywords: Amal Clooney Argo ER George Clooney Hollywood star Ocean's Thirteen Syriana The Ides of March The Monuments Men celebrity birthdays
- Location: VARIOUS
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- Country: Various
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA002EBOOBIL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hollywood superstar George Clooney will celebrate his 60th birthday on Thursday (May 6).
Born in Kentucky, United States in 1961, the actor and screen heartthrob first rose to fame in television hospital drama series "E/R" as hunky medic tech Ace in the mid 1980s. However, it was the similarly titled hit NBC drama "ER", in which he played Dr. Doug Ross from 1994 to 1999, that turned him into a star.
It was in 1996 that Clooney reached big-screen notoriety as a vampire-slaying criminal in Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn", co-penned by Quentin Tarantino.
A chance to take over the role of DC Comics' Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman from Val Kilmer, saw Clooney star opposite Chris O'Donnell as Robin and Arnold Schwarzenegger as villainous Mr Freeze in 1997 action film "Batman & Robin", directed by Joel Schumacher.
The new millennium marked the start of over a decade of major awards success for Clooney, beginning with the Coen brothers' film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". It saw the Hollywood star take home a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical in 2001.
Political thriller "Syriana" about the state of the oil industry and those affected by it, based on former CIA operative Robert Baer's book and written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, saw Clooney scoop an Oscar statuette and a Golden Globe in 2006 for best supporting actor.
In the same year, actor-turned-director Clooney was nominated in both best directing and screenwriting categories at the same awards ceremonies for American political biopic "Good Night, and Good Luck". It follows broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow as he attempts to bring down U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Another political drama "The Ides of March" saw the writer-director nominated once more at the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs in 2012.
However, Clooney won the Golden Globe for best actor that year for another film. "The Descendants" sees the actor play troubled land baron Matt King who tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is injured in a boating accident and a dark secret comes to light.
In 2015, Clooney was given the Cecil B. DeMille award for his contribution to filmmaking and humanitarian work at the Golden Globes.
Clooney won his last Academy Award in 2013 for co-producing "Argo" with its director and star Ben Affleck, sharing the accolade with producer Grant Heslov.
Among a long list of successful box office releases in the past two decades, Clooney is also known as lead conman Danny Ocean in the "Ocean's" heist film series, co-starring Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, as well as Frank Stokes who heads up an unlikely World War II platoon in 2014 film "The Monuments Men", tasked with rescuing art masterpieces from Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners.
One of the world's most eligible bachelors, Clooney finally tied the knot with Lebanese-born British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a three-day celebration in Venice, Italy in September 2014. The couple are parents to twins, born in 2017 when Clooney was 55.
The star is politically active both on and off the screen. In November 2020, Hungary's government hit back at the actor for describing Prime Minister Viktor Orban as an example of anger and hate in the world who could fuel a dystopian future, calling his remarks "foolish". Clooney made comments to Britain's GQ magazine when interviewed for his film "Midnight Sky", in which he plays a scientist in a post-apocalyptic world.
Clooney made a return to the small screen in 2019, in a serialized adaptation of U.S. author Joseph Heller's darkly comedic 1961 novel "Catch-22" for Paramount Television. He plays Scheisskopf and directed two episodes.
The sexagenarian actor is set to star in "Ticket to Paradise" in 2022, opposite Julia Roberts. It follows a divorced couple that travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake as they believe they made 25 years before.
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