Clooney on the Red Carpet

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Story: George Clooney earned his seventh Oscar nod for his role in "The Descendants" as a well-meaning and well-off Hawaiian land owner navigating his fragile family through a period of turbulence after a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma. Clooney is one of America's best-known actors, having become a star through his work on the 1990s television medical drama "E.R."

He won an Oscar for his supporting role in the 2005 film "Syriana," and was nominated for his lead roles in "Michael Clayton" (2007) and "Up in the Air" (2009), and was nominated for best original screenplay and directing for "Good Night and Good Luck" (2005). Clooney, 50, is also nominated this year for his adapted screenplay for "The Ides of March," in which he also starred, and is well known for his starring role in the "Ocean's Eleven" film series, directed by Steven Soderbergh. He has won the Golden Globe Award and the Critics Choice for his role in "The Descendants," but has lost out to Dujardin for the BAFTA and SAG Awards, the latter of which is considered the most accurate indicator of who will win in the acting categories.