George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. George has balanced his glamorous 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 him a "Messenger of peace".
George was born in Lexington , Kentucky . His mother, Nina Apostolia Bruce, is a former pageant queen, while his father, Nick, is a journalist, anchorman, game show and American Movie Classics host, and an aspiring politician from the state of Kentucky . George is of Irish and German descent. He has an older sister, Adelia (aka 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, George would hang around his father's sets, often participating in shows, where he proved to be a crowd favorite.
George began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell , Kentucky . Spending part of his childhood in Ohio, he attended St. Michael's School in Columbus , St. Susanna School in Mason , Ohio, and Sir Thomas Rich's Grammar School for Boys, Gloucester, in the United Kingdom . There he developed an interest in theater. His parents eventually moved to Augusta, Kentucky . He went to Augusta High School where he was the lead in several plays. George has stated that he earned all A's and a B in school, and was an enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He had considered a career in Law at this time, but later retracted. He tried out with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 to play professional baseball, but was not offered a contract. He did not pass the first round of player cuts. He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981 and, very briefly, the University of Cincinnati , but did not graduate from either.
George starred in movies while appearing in ER, his first major Hollywood role being From Dusk Till Dawn. He followed its success with One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman. Clooney was then cast as the new Batman in Batman & Robin. In 1998, he starred in Out of Sight, opposite Jennifer Lopez. He also starred in Three Kings during the last weeks of his contract with ER.
In 1999, George left the cast of ER to pursue his film career full-time. He mentioned a few times that he would like to do a few cameos; to date, he has only done one. It was confirmed in January 2009 that George will return as Dr. Doug Ross in one episode during ER's fifteenth and final season alongside Julianna Margulies.
George has been married once, to actress Talia Balsam, from 1989 to 1993. He says he will never get married again nor have any children.
In middle school, George developed Bell's palsy, a debilitating condition that partially paralyzes the face. While suffering from the malady—it went away within a year—his left eye closed and he was unable to eat or drink properly, earning the nickname Frankenstein. "That was the worst time of my life," he told the Mirror in 2003. "You know how cruel kids can be. I was mocked and taunted, but the experience made me stronger."
Regarding his belief in God George once commented, “I don't believe in Heaven and Hell. I don't know if I believe in God. All I know is that as an individual, I won't allow this life -- the only thing I know to exist -- to be wasted."
Our prayers can overcome any doubts that George has. Please pray with me this month that our Heavenly Father will draw George into a saving relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.
-- Heidi