George Clooney received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the opening ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday, Sept. 2, an emotional tribute that reportedly brought both Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, to tears.
The award, the festival’s highest career honor, was presented by longtime friend and frequent collaborator Laura Dern, whose relationship with Clooney dates back more than 40 years to the 1980s horror sequel “Grizzly II: Revenge,” an early, ill-fated production the two worked on together in Hungary at the start of their careers, according to Geo.tv. Festival director Alberto Barbera praised Clooney as “a complete and charismatic artist, impassioned and original,” noting that his early career, launched with small television roles and B-movies before his breakout on “ER,” shaped an actor capable of what Barbera called “disarming spontaneity” on screen.
Accepting the honor, Clooney reflected on cinema’s ability to bridge cultural divides, saying, “Nobody laughs in a different language. Nobody cries in a different language.” He had previously responded to news of the award, first announced in July, with characteristic self-deprecation: “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 honor. It also probably means I’m old, but I’ll take it.”
Venice holds particular personal significance for Clooney. He and Amal held their wedding celebrations at the Aman Venice Hotel in 2014, and he has returned to the festival repeatedly over the decades to premiere both his directorial work and films in which he has starred, including “Good Night, and Good Luck” in 2005, “Michael Clayton,” “Burn After Reading,” “Gravity” and, most recently, “Jay Kelly” in 2025.
Clooney shares this year’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement with actress Ellen Burstyn, according to Wikipedia. Past recipients of the honor include Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Tilda Swinton, Werner Herzog and Sigourney Weaver. The following day, Clooney also participated in a masterclass at the Lido’s Match Point Arena, where he discussed his career, his activism, and recalled mortgaging his house to help finance “Good Night, and Good Luck.”