George Clooney

George Clooney spent 10 years as an acting unknown until his role as Dr. Doug Ross in the hospital drama E.R. made him TV's hottest heartthrob in 1994. He left the show in 1999 and moved on to an even more successful career in films, as an actor, producer and sometime director. Clooney comes from a show business family: he's the nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney and the son of newscaster and chat host Nick Clooney. His films include Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (with Jennifer Lopez), the Coen brothers' comedy O, Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000, with Holly Hunter), and Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve (2001 and 2004, with Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle). Clooney's feature directing debut was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the 2002 film based on the writings of game show impresario Chuck Barris. In 2005 he co-wrote, directed and acted in Good Night, and Good Luck, the biographical feature about newsman Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn). The film earned Clooney Oscar nominations in 2006 for writing and directing. The same year he won the Oscar as best supporting actor for his role as a CIA agent in the political thriller Syriana. He also directed and starred in the football comedy Leatherheads (with John Krasinski).

Extra credit: Clooney and Jason Alexander both had roles in a 1984 medical sitcom titled, coincidentally, E/R... Clooney was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 until their divorce in 1992. She is the daughter of actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten... Politically outspoken and left-of-center, Clooney has had an off-and-on feud with TV personality Bill O'Reilly... Clooney owned a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig name Max for 18 years, from 1988 until its death in 2006... Clooney has twice been named the "sexiest man alive" by People magazine: in 1997 and in 2006.