What is George Clooney's Net Worth and Salary?
George Clooney is an American actor, screenwriter, director entrepreneur and activist who has a net worth of $500 million. George Clooney is one of the most sought-after A-List actors in the entertainment industry. He regularly earns at least $20 million for a single film role. George Clooney seems to have it all. With a successful acting career that is moving into its fourth decade, a highly decorated directing career, a number of successful writing and producing credits to his name, and good looks that seem to be getting better with age, it would seem that Mr. Clooney has the touch of Midas. George is the co-founder of Casamigos Tequila. In 2017 George and his two partners sold Casamigos to Diageo for $1 billion. More on that sale later in the article.
As of 2023, Clooney is one of just two people (along with Walt Disney) to have been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.
Earnings From Casamigos Tequila
In 2013, George and entrepreneurs Rande Gerber and Michael Meldman founded Casamigos Tequila. Gerber is probably most famous for being married to Cindy Crawford. Meldman is a real estate tycoon. The three originally launched the brand as a private label to give tequila to friends and family. They turned the brand into a public label in 2013.
On June 21, 2017, Clooney, Gerber and Meldman agreed to sell Casamigos to alcohol conglomerate Diageo for $1 billion. They were paid $700 million in cash plus $300 million in bonuses that will be paid out based on future performance goals. Assuming a three-way split on the initial $700 million, George's pre-tax cut would be around $230 million. After taxes it would be around $150 million.
Early Life
Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky on May 6, 1961, to Nina Bruce, a beauty queen and city councilwoman, and Nick Clooney, a former anchorman and TV host. Clooney was raised Roman Catholic, but has claimed to be somewhat agnostic in his adult life. He attended Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and after that, the family moved to Mason, Ohio.
The Clooneys returned to Kentucky and, in his seventh-grade year, George developed Bell's Palsy, a condition that partially paralyzes the face. It went away after one year, but Clooney has described it as being a difficult time in school as he was bullied over it. He was an avid basketball and basement player and even tried out to play for the Cincinnati Reds after high school, but didn't make the team. Clooney went to Northern Kentucky University from 1979-1981 to major in broadcast journalism, but didn't graduate.
Early Career
After moving to Los Angeles, he lived in his car for a time. Although it should be noted that the car was parked in the driveway of a Beverly Hills mansion owned by his famous aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney. He soon won minor roles in television shows such as "The Facts of Life", "Roseanne", and "The Golden Girls".
Breakthrough
His first major role was on the sitcom "E/R" in 1984—not to be confused with his star-making role on the NBC drama "ER", which began in 1994 when he was cast as Dr. Doug Ross.
While still on "ER", he appeared in a number of films, including "From Dusk til Dawn", "One Fine Day", and "Out of Sight". He also succeeded Val Kilmer as "Batman", though he appeared only in one "Batman" film. He appeared in "ER" from 1994-1999 and then again in 2000 and 2009. He appeared in a total of 109 episodes. He earned two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations and three Golden Globe nominations for best actor during his residency as Dr. Ross on "ER".
After "ER"
Clooney left "ER" in 1999 and enjoyed a spate of box office successes, including his most popular to date, "Ocean's 11". He also starred in "The Perfect Storm" (2000) and "O' Brother, Where Art Thou" that same year. Clooney went on to reprise his role in "Ocean's 12" and "Ocean's 13". In 2005, Clooney appeared in the film "Syriana", for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he was also nominated both for writing and directing "Good Night, and Good Luck", and became the first person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one film and acting in another, in the same year.
Clooney continued his string of hits when he starred with Ewan McGregor in 2009's "The Men Who Stare at Goats", and that same year, "Up in the Air" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Clooney won heaping critical praise for 2011's "The Descendants" and for 2013's The Ides of March, as well as for "Argo." George also won critical praise when he starred with Sandra Bullock in 2013's "Gravity." In 2016, he portrayed the role of Baird Whitlock in "Hail, Caesar!" For all of his achievements in the entertainment world, Clooney was awarded the 2018 AFI Life Achievement Award.
Following a four year absence from acting, Clooney returned in 2019 in the science fiction film "The Midnight Sky." He's also directing "The Tender Bar" Amazon series with Ben Affleck as the lead. In 2021, Clooney teamed back up with Brad Pitt for an untitled thriller written and directed by Jon Watts, and in 2022, he reunited with Julia Roberts for the romcom "Ticket to Paradise."
Net Worth Milestones
- 1993: $500 thousand
- 1995: $3 million
- 2000: $10 million
- 2005: $50 million
- 2007: $70 million
- 2012: $100 million
- 2015: $200 million
- 2023: $500 million
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Turner )
Personal Life
Clooney is active in a variety of political causes, including the conflict in Darfur, Sudan and fundraising for relief after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He is heavily involved with the Not On Our Watch project. In 2020, George and his wife donated $100,000 to three Lebanese charities—the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, and Baytna Baytak—after the capital was devastated by a deadly explosion.
George married Talia Balsam in 1989 but they divorced in 1993. Clooney went on to live with his pet pig, Max, until the pig's death in 2006. Clooney became engaged to British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin on April 28, 2014, as confirmed by a representative at Alamuddin's law firm Doughty Street Chambers. Alamuddin and Clooney were officially married on September 27, 2014 at Ca' Farsetti. They were married by Clooney's friend Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome. The couple had twins, Ella and Alexander, on July 6, 2017. In 2020, Clooney revealed in interviews that the twins can speak Italian fluently despite neither of their parents speaking the language.
Salary Highlights
For the 19 episodes of "Sisters" that he appeared on, George earned $40,000 per appearance. That works out to a total of $760,000. George earned $100,000 per episode of "ER". He intentionally never asked for a raise and instead focused on becoming a huge star to advance his budding movie career. In total George earned around $11 million for his work on "ER".
Career Earnings
One of his biggest early paychecks was the 1996 movie "One Fine Day", for which he earned $3 million. He earned $10 million for his single "Batman" appearance, $10 million for "Out of Sight", $8 million for "The Perfect Storm", $15 million for "Intolerable Cruelty", $20 million for "Ocean's Eleven" (a career high) and $15 million for "Ocean's Thirteen". George has earned around $200 million before taxes from his film and TV career alone.
Nespresso Paycheck
Since 2013 George Clooney has appeared in a number of commercials for Nespresso. To date this endorsement deal has paid George $40 million.
George famously sets aside a portion of each paycheck to fund a spy satellite that appears over Sudan at all times. For much of the last decade this satellite was focused exclusively on the former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir. Omar had been accused of gross hate crimes and human rights violations that led to thousands of deaths. The satellite not only tracked Bashir personally, it also tracks Sudan's armed forces to anticipate movements and potential human rights violations. Omar was ousted in a military coup in April 2019. Several months later he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned.
Skipped $35 Million Paycheck
In a December 2021 interview George revealed he at one point was offered $35 million to perform a single day's work shooting a commercial for an airline. The airline was owned an operated by an unnamed country that George described as an "ally" of the United States but "is questionable at times." According to George he talked to Amal about the offer and together they decided the money "wasn't worth it," so he declined.
Had he taken the job and worked six hours filming the commercial start to finish, he would have essentially made $5.8 million PER HOUR.
Lake Como "Villa Oleander"
George and Amal own homes all over the world.
George's most famous property is the Villa Oleander on Italy's Lake Como which he acquired in 2002 for $30 million. Villa Oleander, which was constructed in the 18th Century, is located in Laglio, Italy, on the shores of Lake Como. The home features 15 bedrooms, a private swimming pool, a tennis court, a full gym, landscaped gardens, ornately carved ceilings, massive bathrooms, a separate "pizza room", and a beautifully constructed wall that keeps the lake from pouring directly into the house.
Villa Oleander has become something of a legend in Hollywood circles, as he often shares it with friends during special occasions. Fellow Oscar nominee, Viola Davis, who worked with Clooney on both "Syriana" and "Solaris", honeymooned there. He opened the Villa to actors John Krasinksi and Emily Blunt for their marriage ceremony and celebration in 2010. He vacations there frequently enough, that the town of 900 in which his Villa is located, has been forced to institute a rule whereby any group larger than three caught standing, gawking, or snapping photos is fined. With the amount of use the home has seen since his 2002 purchase of the property, he has certainly gotten his money's worth.
In September 2023 it was rumored that George and Amal were looking to sell Villa Oleander for a reported $100 million.
GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
Photo by Getty Images
Other Real Estate
They own a six-bedroom mansion in Studio City, California, which he purchased in 1995 for $2.2 million at the height of his "ER" fame. This property is likely worth $10+ million today. They own a $7 million property in Berkshire, England, an apartment in New York City among others.
In July 2021, the Clooneys bought a vineyard near Brignoles, France, that includes an 18th-century manor with a swimming pool and tennis court. After a legal battle over the purchase of Domaine du Canadel, they officially took the keys at the cost of $7.5 million.
In total, George and Amal's real estate portfolio alone is worth $100 million.
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