George Clooney is getting the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, organizers announced Monday.
The award recognizes Clooney’s career as an actor, director, and producer, and his long relationship with the festival specifically.
Venice runs September 2 to September 12, 2026. Clooney, 65, is expected to accept the honor in person.
He first showed up at Venice almost thirty years ago, with Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” in 1998. Since then, the festival has kept turning up in his career at some pretty key moments.
His Venice history reads like a career highlight reel: “Good Night, and Good Luck” (which he directed and co-wrote), “Michael Clayton,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” “The Ides of March,” “Suburbicon.” He was there in 2013 with “Gravity,” one of the biggest hits of his career. More recently, he came back for “Wolfs” in 2024, the Apple film with Brad Pitt, and for “Jay Kelly,” which premiered at Venice last year.
Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera called Clooney a modern version of the classic Hollywood star, someone who’s worked across mainstream entertainment and more political filmmaking alike.
Clooney said he was honored, called Venice his favorite festival, and joked that he hoped a lifetime achievement award didn’t mean his career was actually over.
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is separate from the festival’s main prize for best film, it’s specifically for a body of work, not a single movie.
Clooney’s path has taken him through TV, film, directing, and producing. He broke through in the 90s on “ER” before moving into the film roles that made him a star. Later he built a whole second career behind the camera: “Good Night, and Good Luck,” his 2005 film about journalist Edward R. Murrow, picked up several Oscar nominations and remains one of his most respected directing credits.
He’s won two Oscars himself: supporting actor for “Syriana” and producer on “Argo,” which won best picture. Over the years he’s worked with Soderbergh, the Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuarón, moving between studio hits, political dramas, and comedies.
Venice means something personal to him too; he married Amal Alamuddin there in 2014, in a wedding that turned the city into a media circus for a few days.
This year’s honor puts him alongside a long list of major names who’ve received the same prize. For the festival, landing Clooney adds star power to a lineup that already tries to balance prestige films, awards-season launches, and celebrity buzz.
He’s still working, still acting and producing, and still known for the political and humanitarian causes he’s attached to.
Readers can also check out our other Clooney coverage.
This isn’t just a nod to what Clooney’s already done. After nearly thirty years of showing up at Venice, he’s finally coming back without a new film to sell, just one of cinema’s biggest career honors to pick up.
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