George Clooney will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, organisers announced on Monday.
The festival, which runs from September 2-12, will honour Clooney for his work as an actor, director and producer. The lineup for this year’s edition will be announced on July 23.
Announcing the honour, the Venice Biennale, which oversees the festival, praised Clooney's versatility across genres.
“A perfect combination of the star glamour of days gone by, remarkable professionalism, and modern sensitivity, the actor has crossed genres with rare versatility: war movies with Three Kings and Syriana; thrillers with Michael Clayton; sophisticated comedies with Ocean's Eleven and O Brother Where Art Thou?; science fiction with Gravity and Solaris; and bittersweet comedies with The Descendants, Up In the Air, and Jay Kelly,” the Biennale said in a statement.
“In each one of these movies, he calibrated his register while remaining true to himself: ironic and melancholy, fascinating and reflective, brilliant and capable of unexpected depth,” it added.
The Biennale also highlighted Clooney’s work behind the camera, saying the nine films he has directed reflect “a demanding and generous concept of cinema”. It described Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck, The Ides of March and Suburbicon as “examples of films that are refined, ambitious, and outside the rules and conventions of Hollywood cinema”.
The statement also cited Clooney’s “commitment to social and humanitarian causes, making him a figure of absolute prominence in the universe of show business today”.
Responding to the honour, Clooney said, “I’ve had so many extraordinary moments in Venice. This festival is without question my favorite and to be given the Golden Lion is a tremendous honour”.
He added: “It also probably means I'm old, but I'll take it”.
Clooney has attended the Venice festival with films including Out of Sight, Good Night, and Good Luck, Wolfs and Jay Kelly.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera described Clooney as “a complete and charismatic artist, impassioned and original, who has transformed a deep vocation into one of the most luminous career trajectories of contemporary film”.
Clooney is one of only three people to have been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories during his career — best picture, director, lead actor, supporting actor, original screenplay and adapted screenplay.
Clooney has won two Academy Awards — best supporting actor for Syriana and best picture as a producer of Argo alongside Ben Affleck and Grant Heslov.
Most recently, he earned a Tony Award nomination in 2025 for his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck, in which he portrayed Edward R. Murrow.