George Clooney: Esquire’s Portrait of the 21st Century

America’s top leading man, George Clooney, has moved well beyond that role in recent years, having leveraged his clout as an actor into a second career as a writer, producer, and director, and a third career as a philanthropist and diplomat.

In 2005, he co-wrote, directed, and starred in Good Night and Good Luck, about Edward R. Murrow’s battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. That same year, Clooney won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Syriana. Most recently, he produced, directed, and starred in Leatherheads. His next film is Burn After Reading, directed by the Coen brothers.

The politically and socially active Clooney has campaigned before the U.N. Security Council on Darfur and appeared in Don Cheadle’s documentary Darfur Now. The pair received the 2007 Peace Summit Award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for their humanitarian work.