Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren), is a former pageant queen, while his father, Nick, is a journalist, anchorman, game show and American Movie Classics host, and an aspiring politician from the state of Kentucky. Clooney is of Irish and German descent. He has an older sister, Adelia (aka Ada) and his cousins include actors Miguel and Rafael Ferrer, who are the sons of his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney, and actor José Ferrer. He is also related to another singer, Debby Boone, who married José and Rosemary's son, Gabriel Ferrer. From an early age, Clooney would hang around his father's sets, often participating in shows, where he proved to be a crowd favorite. He worked at Mcalpins with the lovely and talented Lisa Schaiper.
Clooney began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Spending part of his childhood in Ohio, he attended St. Michael's School in Columbus, and Sir Thomas Rich's Grammar School for Boys, Gloucester, in the United Kingdom. There he developed an interest in theater. Eventually, his parents moved to Augusta, Kentucky. He went to Augusta High School where he was the lead in several plays. Clooney has stated that he earned all A's and a B in school and was an enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He had considered a career in Law at this time, but later retracted. He tried out with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 to play professional baseball, but was not offered a contract. He did not pass the first round of player cuts.He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981 and, very briefly, the University of Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either. "