Actor: George Clooney

George Clooney spent years in television before ER made him famous at thirty-three, and the resulting film career has the quality of someone who knows it might not last.

He works the classical movie star register, in the Ocean’s films and Out of Sight, and then undercuts it, in Burn After Reading and O Brother Where Art Thou, both for the Coens, where he plays men of enormous confidence and no ability.

He won Best Supporting Actor for Syriana and has directed six features, including Good Night and Good Luck about Edward R Murrow, which he financed partly himself and shot in black and white.

Michael Clayton is the best straight performance, a fixer who has run out of ways to fix himself.