American actor and filmmaker George Clooney was born on this day in 1961. Clooney's acting career began with small roles in US television shows. He also appeared in several low-budget movies such as 'Grizzly II' (1983) and 'Return of the Killer Tomatoes!' (1988). His breakthrough came playing Dr. Doug Ross in the hit NBC medical drama 'ER' from 1994 to 1999.

Clooney began starring in films while working on 'ER' including 'From Dusk Till Dawn' (1996), 'One Fine Day' (1996), 'Batman and Robin' (1997), 'The Peacemaker' (1997), 'Out of Sight' (1998), 'The Thin Red Line' (1998) and 'Three Kings' (1999). Going into the new millennium, the actors star rose further with starring roles in movies including 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' (2000), 'The Perfect Storm' (2000), 'Welcome to Collinwood' (2002), 'Solaris' (2002), 'Intolerable Cruelty' (2003), 'Syriana' (2005), 'The Good German' (2006), 'Michael Clayton' (2007) as well as playing Danny Ocean in the hugely successful Ocean's franchise: 'Ocean's Eleven' (2001), 'Ocean's Twelve' (2004) and 'Ocean's Thirteen' (2007).

He made his directorial-debut with the spy drama 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' (2002) and has gone on to direct a number of critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies including 'Good Night and Good Luck' (2005), 'Leatherheads' (2008), 'The Ides of March' (2011), 'The Monuments Men' (2014), 'Suburbicon' (2017) and 'The Boys in the Boat' (2023).

Other notable acting credits include 'Burn After Reading' (2008), 'Up in the Air' (2009), 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' (2009), 'The American' (2010), 'The Descendants' (2011), 'Gravity' (2013), 'Hail, Caesar!' (2016), 'Money Monster' (2016) and 'Ticket to Paradise' (2022).

Winner of two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and a BAFTA, George Clooney has over the last three decades, forged a career as both a highly accomplished actor and director as well as one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Happy Birthday George.