George Clooney to receive AFI Life Achievement Award

By Dave McNary

George Clooney will be the 46th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award.

The award, announced Thursday, will be presented to Clooney on June 7 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be broadcast subsequently by Turner Broadcasting on TNT, followed by encore presentations on Turner Classic Movies.

“George Clooney is America’s leading man,” said Howard Stringer, chairman of the American Film Institute Board of Trustees. “Director, producer, writer, and actor — a modern-day screen icon who combines the glamour of a time gone by with a ferocious passion for ensuring art’s impact echoes beyond the screen. AFI is proud to present him with its 46th Life Achievement Award.”

Clooney has won a Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Syriana and a Best Picture Oscar as a producer on Argo. He’s also received Best Actor Oscar nominations for Michael Clayton, Up in the Air and The Descendants; directing and screenplay nods for Good Night, and Good Luck and a screenplay nomination for The Ides of March.

Clooney broke through starring on the series ER, earning two Emmy nominations, and went on to star in Out of Sight for Steven Soderbergh, leading to roles in the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy and The Good German. He also starred in Gravity, Burn After Reading, Three Kings, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Hail, Caesar!

Clooney made his directorial debut with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He’s also directed Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March, Monuments Men and the upcoming Suburbicon, which he co-wrote with the Coen Brothers.

Clooney received the American Cinemateque Award in 2006. In 2010, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored him with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts.

Recent recipients of the AFI Life Achievement Award are Mel Brooks, Jane Fonda, Steve Martin, John Williams and Diane Keaton.