Though George Clooney made his acting debut on television in 1978, he gained fame and recognition by portraying Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999. While working on ER, George Clooney started attracting a variety of leading roles in films including Batman & Robin (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), where he first teamed with long-term collaborator Steven Soderbergh. In 2001, George Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Ocean's Eleven, the first of a profitable film trilogy. George Clooney made his directorial debut a year later with the 2002 biographical thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and has since directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Leatherheads (2008). George Clooney won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005).
