---
description: George Clooney discusses the best performance ever and the importance of Hawaiian shirts.
title: Great Performance: George Clooney
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56b12271e0f6ab40/69879c695f570f3f83b16f35/george_clooney-056_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9
---
* [World](/section/world/)
## World
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
* [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/)
## LightBox
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
# Great Performance: George Clooney
by
[TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/)
## TIME Staff
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
Feb 9, 2012 8:45 AM CUT
George Clooney2011 Performances: The Descendants and The Ides of MarchNominated: Best Actor for The Descendants
George Clooney2011 Performances: The Descendants and The Ides of MarchNominated: Best Actor for The DescendantsSebastian Kim for TIME
by
[TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/)
## TIME Staff
Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/)
Close
Feb 9, 2012 8:45 AM CUT
George Clooney discusses the best performance ever and the importance of Hawaiian shirts.
2011 performances: _The Descendants_ and _The Ides of March_
Nominated: Best Actor for _The Descendants_
_THE PERFORMERS SPEAK:_
[Jessica Chastain](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-jessica-chastain/ "undefined")
[George Clooney](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-george-clooney/ "undefined")
[Adepero Oduye](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-adepero-oduye/ "undefined")
[Viola Davis](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-viola-davis/ "undefined")
[Uggie](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-uggie/ "undefined")
[Michelle Williams](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-michelle-williams/ "undefined")
[Brad Pitt](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-brad-pitt/ "undefined")
[Rooney Mara](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-rooney-mara/ "undefined")
[Christopher Plummer](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-christopher-plummer/ "undefined")
[Bérénice Bejo](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-berenice-bejo/ "undefined")
[Jean Dujardin](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-jean-dujardin/ "undefined")
[Octavia Spencer](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-octavia-spencer/ "undefined")
[Michael Fassbender](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/great-performance-michael-fassbender/ "undefined")
[Highlights](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/video-great-performances/ "undefined")
To view TIME’s Oscars portfolio photo gallery, [click here](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/02/09/oscars-2012-great-performances/ "undefined")
To see more of TIME’s Oscar coverage, [click here](http://entertainment.time.com/times-2012-oscar-coverage/ "undefined")
```json
[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3785923/great-performance-george-clooney/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3785923/great-performance-george-clooney/"},"headline":"Great Performance: George Clooney","datePublished":"2012-02-09T08:45:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:59:20.141Z","description":"George Clooney discusses the best performance ever and the importance of Hawaiian shirts.","url":"https://time.com/3785923/great-performance-george-clooney/","keywords":["LightBox","Oscars","George Clooney","the backstory","Sebastian Kim"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56b12271e0f6ab40/69879c695f570f3f83b16f35/george_clooney-056_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56b12271e0f6ab40/69879c695f570f3f83b16f35/george_clooney-056_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"George Clooney","caption":"George Clooney2011 Performances: The Descendants and The Ides of MarchNominated: Best Actor for The Descendants","creditText":"Sebastian Kim for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3785923/great-performance-george-clooney/","name":"Great Performance: George Clooney"}}]}]
```