Clooney's fondness for the small screen didn't keep him from some marquee moments on the big one -- and 1996 was his banner year (if you discount his role in 1988's "Return of the Killer Tomatoes!"). Clooney had starring roles in "From Dusk Till Dawn" and in "One Fine Day," opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, shown here with him and child actors.
Clooney and Connie Selleca in a promo still from the 1990 ABC series "Baby Talk," a spinoff of the "Look Who's Talking" movie franchise. Neither actor stayed long on the short-lived series. Selleca quit before the series went into regular production, and Clooney departed soon after.
Before his "ER" days, Clooney hit the small screen in 1985 as charming, mulleted handyman George Burnett on the NBC sitcom "The Facts of Life." Imagine the show's mousse budget.
Born in 1961 in Lexington, Ky., Clooney was raised outside Cincinnati, where his father, Nick, was a TV anchor. The A-list actor has one sister, Ada (pictured here), and several famous relatives: Singer Rosemary Clooney is his aunt, and his cousin is actor Miguel Ferrer.