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George Clooney: Before He Was Famous
Exclusive: Father Nick Clooney on Mega-Famous Son’s Childhood, Awkward Stage
By KATIE THOMSON and LAUREN SHER

March 2, 2010— From a Special Forces soldier in 1999’s “Three Kings,” an adventurous sea captain in “The Perfect Storm,” a suave con artist Danny Ocean in “Oceans 11,” to CIA agent in the political thriller “Syriana,” he’s transformed himself into countless leading roles.

“I was just as stunned as anybody watching it, to see how he did that,” father Nick Clooney said. “He undertakes another character and I said, where’d he get that?”

George Clooney is nominated for best actor for his role as corporate hatchet-man Ryan Bingham in “Up in the Air.” It’s the star’s fifth Academy Award nomination. He won best supporting actor in 2005 for “Syriana.”

But before he became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, the Oscar-winning actor was another nerdy-looking kid in glasses. People magazine’s two-time choice for “Sexiest Man Alive” went through an awkward stage in middle school like everyone else.

“George and his glasses, an experiment that did not work out,” his dad joked.

Watch “Before They Were Famous,” on a special edition of “20/20″ tonight at 10 p.m. ET

Nick Clooney took “20/20″ on an exclusive tour of the family house in Augusta, Ky., that his mega-famous son calls home.

Clooney grew up in Augusta with parents Nina and Nick Clooney and older sister Ada. From a young age, his father could sense that his goofy, outgoing son would become a performer.

“I was sure that he would in one way or another be in a public profession because he just had that knack,” he said. “He could contact people and he could make them laugh …and he was just very interested in performing.”

Clooney, an impressionable son, often visited the TV station in Lexington, Ky., where his dad worked as a newscaster and talk-show host, and picked up the lingo without a hitch.

“When George was two, three years old, he got laryngitis. Scared him to death. He came running to his mother, saying, ‘Mom, mom, I’m having audio difficulties,’” Nick Clooney said.

Clooney: Social Activist From the Start

His father’s job as a newsman instilled an interest in current events and social activism in the boy, which he has carried into adulthood.

“We would talk around the dinner table or the breakfast table or particularly on the weekends when we had more time to spend together. We would talk about whatever was going on in the world,” Nick Clooney said. “We would talk about the history of our communities and what were the problems and how they might be solved.”

Clooney has used his star power to bring awareness to international crises, including the conflict in Darfur, and last month, organizing a “Hope for Haiti” telethon to help victims of the Haiti earthquake. In 2008, he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Growing Up Clooney

Clooney was an outgoing, charismatic, and optimistic teen, his dad said.

At 13, he developed Bell’s palsy, a temporary form of facial paralysis caused by damage to the cranial nerve. For several months, half of his face was paralyzed.

“It certainly affected him at the time,” Nick Clooney said. “But even there, George would find ways with humor to make it work for him. He would make fun of himself. He always did that. He tried to make fun of himself before others made fun of him, no matter what the disability might be. Whether it was … a mistake he had made, or some faux pax he had committed, or whether it was Bell’s palsy.”

In high school, Clooney was popular and very athletic. He played basketball and at one time aspired to be a major league baseball player, even trying out for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977.

But this jock was also somewhat of a nerd who was president of the high school science club.

After high school, Clooney went to Northern Kentucky University, but dropped out to pursue acting.

“As soon as he finally decided at age 20 or 19, I guess, that film acting is what he wanted to do, then he was just like a dog with a bone. He just stayed with that with absolute clarity from then on. And has never backed off,” Nick Clooney said.

Clooney saved up, selling lemonade to earn money to go out to Hollywood. When he finally moved, he crashed on the couch of his aunt, famous singer Rosemary Clooney.

“He was not beneath being her chauffeur when she needed someone to drive the car when she was on tour,” said Oscar expert and film historian Tom O’Neill. “He was not beneath sleeping in the closet at a friend’s apartment for a year.”

Father to Son: ‘Don’t Be an Actor’

Nick Clooney said he pleaded with his son to pursue anything but acting.

“I said to him, ‘George, please… there are 50,000 broadcasters making a living right now. There are 3,000 actors making a living. For heaven’s sake, not acting. Don’t be an actor,’” Nick Clooney recalled. “And the moral of the story is always listen to your father.”

At first, the jobs were few and far between. He shot eight TV pilots that failed to make it to air. In 1984 he was cast in his first recurring television role in a CBS sitcom ironically named “ER,” which fizzled.

The big screen would be no kinder. Moviegoers avoided 1986’s “Combat Academy,” 1987’s “Return to Horror High,” and 1988’s “Return of the Killer Tomatoes.”

At that point in his career, he told his mother Nina, he could only get roles in movies with “Return” in the title.

Clooney trudged forward and landed another television role as carpenter George Burnett in NBC’s sitcom “The Facts of Life” in 1985.

For the all-female cast, Clooney was easy on the eyes. Lisa Whelchel, who played the bubbly, “Daddy’s Girl” Blair Warner on the show, recalled how hormones spiked when Clooney joined the ensemble.

“And then suddenly this man, who was just testosterone with a capital T, walks into the room and changes the entire dynamic,” she said. “Somehow the estrogen level went even further up and at the same time we all just turned into little girls again.”

Clooney Was ‘Best Unknown Actor in Hollywood’

Jumping from stints on “Facts of Life,” to “Roseanne” and “Sisters,” Clooney called himself “the best known unknown actor in Hollywood.”

“He had regular or recurring roles on a lot of television programs. And he was being well paid and … he said, ‘Pop, I’ve got the best of all worlds. ..I am the best known unknown actor out here. I don’t have to put up with the nonsense. I don’t have to be worried about the paparazzi or any of that kind of problem. All I have to worry about is being a working actor, doing my work,’” Nick Clooney said.

Just as he got comfortable being a relative-unknown in a town of big-wigs, Clooney was tapped to play Dr. Doug Ross on a new NBC medical drama “ER.” The primetime hospital serial became a smash-hit and made Clooney into a genuine A-list sex symbol.

Clooney Becomes ‘Sexiest Man Alive’

“He was then on the cover of Newsweek magazine and the world turned upside down,” his dad recalled.

“George Clooney has proven that he’s more than just a matinee star on screen,” said O’Neill. “He’s worked behind the screen as a writer, as a director, and now he’s giving these kind of full bodied emotional performances that show us he’s the real deal.”

Looking back on his son’s early years, Nick Clooney sensed that his son’s perseverance would make him a star.

“Most of us, whatever we’re doing, we find a plateau. It is comfortable. We sort of stay there, kind of hone it, which George didn’t do,” he said. “He didn’t like to be comfortable. He liked to challenge himself. He wanted to get to the next step. So being funny is good. But being good is even better, and he got better and better at everything and he continues to do that now.”

Watch “Before They Were Famous,” on a special edition of “20/20″ tonight at 10 p.m. ET

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures

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Vera Farmiga says it would be ”impossible” for an actress not to have chemistry with George Clooney, who she stars with in ‘Up In The Air’.

George Clooney has “chemistry” with all his female co-stars.

The Hollywood hunk – who appears alongside Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga in ‘Up In The Air’ – has an automatic connection with all of his screen lovers, who can’t help but be attracted to him.

Vera – who plays his screen lover Alex – said: “I’ll tell you, it’s impossible not to have chemistry with George Clooney.

“He’s a goofball. He’s a clown. It’s just so good to be in his presence, and as a scene partner, anything goes. It’s a real circus with him on set. It’s carefree and loving and warm.”

Vera’s colleague Anna – who portrays businesswoman Natalie – has also spoken out about George’s flirtatious ways, admitting she was initially “terrified” of him but he soon put her at ease.

She told Empire magazine: “During the camera test he was making fun of my hair. If it was anybody else that you’d just met, you’d be like, ‘What’s this guy’s problem?’ But it’s George Clooney. Obviously, he is really intimidating as a sort of iconic figure. Really terrifying.

“Then the second that you meet him properly, you know you’re going to feel that he’s a normal guy in a matter of days. He is one of the most famous people on the planet, but he has a real talent for making you feel like you’ve known him forever.”

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AUGUSTA — Augusta native and international film star George Clooney is heading for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Awards, again.

Clooney was nominated Tuesday for a best actor Oscar trophy for his work in the movie “Up in the Air,” in which he plays a frequent flyer junkie, traveling first class while crossing the country as a corporate axe man to downsize companies.

Clooney’s father, Nick Clooney, a former news broadcaster and columnist, is proud of his son and his performances.

George’s mother Nina Clooney, Kentucky Film Commission chairperson, attended the Hollywood premier of “Up in the Air” with George and later viewed it with Nick.

“It was a great and subtle performance,” Nick Clooney said on Tuesday after learning of the nomination. “(George) keeps growing as an actor. It was a stunning performance by him and the other actors.”

A graduate of Augusta High School, George Clooney broadened his acting resume from reoccurring roles in television situation comedies to the heart-throb surgeon on the medical drama “ER.”

Entering motion pictures, Clooney quickly established himself as a leading man.

People magazine labeled him “The Sexiest Man Alive” twice.

Clooney’s versatility and an adventurous nature has continued to bring his acting, and directing ventures acclaim.

“Most of us, in our careers, achieve a plateau where we are comfortable staying. We settle into what is comfortable,” Nick Clooney said. “George is always stretching the limits and taking chances. In that way he continues to grow.”

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George at the Telethon

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“Up in the Air” star Anna Kendrick may be the only woman on record to have ever uttered the phrase, “I’m over George.” As in costar, Oscar winner and two-time Sexiest Man Alive honoree George Clooney.

But you can hardly blame the starlet, seeing as she’s quizzed about Gorgeous George by any and every entertainment reporter that can get their hands on her. (We’re looking at you, Guiliana Rancic!) When MTV News caught up with Anna on the red carpet at Sunday evening’s Golden Globe Awards, the Best Supporting Actress nominee was candid about her feelings towards George, as well as who she was nervous to meet at the night’s star- studded ceremony.

“I mean, it’s funny, ’cause I think you don’t get over celebrities as a collective,” Anna explained. “You know, now I’m over George. He’s a guy to me. He’s just the guy that teases me mercilessly.”

So if George is just a “guy,” who is the 23-year-old actress intimidated by? “Everyone here,” she responded. “I just got to meet Helen Mirren. I thought my heart was going to explode. I met Morgan Freeman, and I sounded like such an idiot. I don’t even know if I completed a sentence in front of him,” she said, laughing. “I was trying to tell him how well he comes off [in speeches]. I can’t even complete a sentence talking about Morgan Freeman.”

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Kendrick also adores Clooney (who doesn’t?), though their relationship is more complicated. His way of putting her at ease was to tease her mercilessly. It started the first day on the set when he poked fun at her ponytail.

“George gave me a hard time about almost everything,” said Kendrick. Because of that, she had “no qualms at all” about delivering the line “I don’t even think of him that way – he’s old,” in response to a question of whether she is romantically interested in Clooney’s character.

“The wonderful thing about George is that I could call him old to his face in real life, and he would shoot something right back at me,” Kendrick said, laughing.

Which begs the question: Does she think he is too old for her in “real life?”

“He was the one who told me I shouldn’t date someone as old as him. George has got an age limit for me – it is like somewhere in the 30s. But he is not the boss of me so it doesn’t matter.”

She always knew Clooney was in her corner. But once at dinner when he attempted to compliment her about a scene, he was cut off by Reitman.

“George was going like ‘OK, I’ll stop.’ ” Kendrick recalled. Later he explained to her that Reitman didn’t want anyone talking to her because “everyone knows you don’t talk to your pitcher during a no-hitter.”

“That was sort of the first time that I had some kind of inkling that I was at least doing my job right. Jason is definitely from the school of if they are doing it right, you don’t need to fiddle.”

It took her awhile to trust her director when he said that’s enough takes and move on.

“But I certainly wasn’t thinking that we are making something that people might respond to in the way that they have. I have been in films where you are really proud of the end project but people haven’t gone to see it. There is nothing you can really do about that. You are lucky that people seem to like this one.”

The Golden Globe Awards will be telecast live at 5 p.m. Sunday on NBC. Check local listings.

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“Thank God I don’t have to,” the Fantastic Silver Fox explained to OK!. “He’s young and handsome and talented.”

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Vera Farmiga- who stars alongside the Hollywood actor as his love interest in the romantic comedy ‘Up In The Air’ – loved working on the movie with him because her big screen alter ego got to treat the hunk so badly.

She said: “George has been breaking women’s hearts for years. It’s fun to turn the tables. But it’s disgusting how much charm he has. He oozes it.”

In one part of the film, Vera had to be semi-naked, and says her co-star mistook her control underwear for nerves.

She explained: “George was great during that scene and asked: ‘Are you OK, because you’re not breathing?’ I didn’t tell him because I was wearing two pairs of Spanx! I’d given birth six weeks earlier and wanted to keep everything in!”

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