Reports that George Clooney may be moving into politics with a bid to become Governor of California in 2018, do not come as a huge surprise.
The Hollywood star is something of a political animal with credentials ranging from campaigning for Presidential elections to humanitarian activism to even being arrested during a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in 2012.
Clooney has often used his celebrity and films to make political statements, includingThe Ides of March, Good Night and Good Luck, andMichael Clayton Syriana.
Clooney is a prominent political activist and campaigner strongly aligned with progressive issues. Pictured here after meeting US President Barack Obama in 2012.
The actor has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since 2008. Pictured with former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2006.
He has been a long-time advocate for a resolution of the Darfur conflict. In this image provided by the White House, US President Barack Obama talks about Sudan with Clooney during a meeting outside the Oval Office in 2010.
Clooney was even arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in 2012 for civil disobedience during a demonstration about the humanitarian crisis in the volatile border area between Sudan and South Sudan.
Arriving with John Kerry at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing entitled ‘Sudan and South Sudan: Independence and Insecurity.’
Clooney campaigned for Obama in the 2008 and 2012 US Presidential elections, holding fundraisers attended by Hollywood elite.
Clooney organised the Telethon ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ which collected donations for 2010 Haiti earthquake victims. Pictured here with Sean Penn via satellite from Haiti at the 17th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards in 2012.
With Senator Hillary Clinton in 2003 at a press conference for the creation of a 211 hotline for community and volunteer services.
Clooney’s movies regularly have political undertones. He co-wrote, directed and starred in Good Night and Good Luck which looked at the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s and broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow’s stand against them.
The Ides of March was a 2011 American political drama film directed and written by Clooney that presents a cynical account of the Democratic primaries.
The film Michael Clayton examined corporate corruption in the context of a class action case over the effects of toxic agrochemicals.
The film Syriana is about on petroleum politics and the global influence of the oil industry.
Clooney is on the record as a supporter of gay rights, and a vocal opponent of the Iraq war.
He told media in 2003, “You can’t beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people seeking revenge.”
