Thursday, Apr. 01, 2010
George Clooney
Age: 48
Occupation: Actor, Director
Previous TIME 100 Appearances: 2
The same year he voiced a memorable stop-motion fox, Clooney stepped into the shoes of the great recession's most charismatic villain: the corporate ax man of Up in the Air, who destroys lives while accumulating frequent flyer miles. As his contemporaries have gone the route of action-blockbusters or romantic comedies, Clooney has continued in the dramatic vein he began as an actor in Syriana and Michael Clayton, and done it to consistent critical acclaim. He has also converted his celebrity into philanthropic power, this year wrangling fellow stars from Bruce Springsteen to Steven Spielberg to perform and man the phones in his "Hope for Haiti" telethon.