Greg Helker

Title: Leatherheads, feature film
Cast: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger
Extra: Greg Helker
Producers: Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Casey Silver
Director: George Clooney
Script: George Clooney, Stephen Schiff, Duncan Brantley, Rick Reilly

About Greg
Claim to fame: He’s a cinch for George Clooney's look alike.
Pride and joy: Andrew, 3-year-old son.
Family business: Community Cash Service, a short-term cash advance loan company in Simpsonville, S.C.
Agent: Sondra Helker, Greg’s mother. She sent Greg’s picture in to Regis and Kelly Show as a George Clooney double.
Hobbies: Camping and attending sporting events such as college football and NASCAR races.
Bouncer’s leading man: When Greg frequents Wild Wings Café in Greenville the bouncers give him “celebrity status”. He is frequently asked to pose for photos from the customers, mostly women!
Tell them Clooney sent you! Greg’s favorite hangout in North Myrtle Beach is Ocean Annies. “It’s an outside deck bar on the beach with bands playing all day long serving Hurricane drink. Everyone must check it out at least once in their lives. I’m there at least every month during summer, and sometimes more. If you go, tell the waitresses that ‘Clooney’ sent you… they will know who you’re talking about!”

Sometimes life is more than fair!
Oh, to be like George Clooney!

Oh, to walk in Greg Helker’s shoes!

Greg has been turning eyes and catching some quizzical, and romantic, looks for the past five years. He’s a lock for a George Clooney look alike. During the filming of “Leatherheads” Greg kiddingly wore a T-shirt, at times, that read: I’m Not Clooney.

“It can be a lot of fun at times but I don’t let go to my head,” said Greg. It’s hard for Greg to keep a serious outlook when more times than not strangers mistakenly think he’s the real George Clooney.

The hair and facial features are enough to make many who don’t know Greg do double takes. Even some casting agents and makeup/hair stylists on the set gave Greg a thorough once-over before speaking. Greg had to respectfully remind others it was a case of mistaken identity.

But that doesn’t mean Greg hasn’t had some fun being mistaken as one of Hollywood’s leading male actors.

“I remember the very first time I was mistaken for Clooney,” said Greg. “In 2002 I moved from Tennessee to South Carolina to start a family finance business. I had hair like Christopher Reeves at the time and went in for a haircut. When the woman got done restyling it she looked at me and said I was a sure look-alike for George Clooney.

“It was kind of weird at first. A lot of the people said they couldn’t get over the resemblance. It has gotten to the point that when I go to NASCAR races, of all things, I usually wear a hat, sunglasses and all the NASCAR gear and people still come up to me saying I look like Clooney. I've pulled off the sunglasses and hat at some races and you can hear people in the crowd start talking and pointing to me.|

“There’s not a day that goes by that someone doesn’t think I’m George Clooney. I went on a trip to Aruba with my family and before we even got to the airport and sat down at the gate, I asked my Mom (Sandra Helker), ‘How long do you think it will be before I’m asked if I’m George Clooney?’ I sit down and an elderly woman is staring at me but she can't quite pin it down who I looked like to her. It went downhill from there.”

Greg said he can’t imagine what it’s like to be like Clooney and be out in the public. But he only his mother to blame for getting him national exposure on a highly rated nationally syndicated morning TV show.

“The Regis and Kelly Show was promoting a look alike contest and asked viewers to send in photos of people they thought were doubles for celebrities. My mother sent my picture to Regis and Kelly but it was too late to be put into the production sequence they had scripted. Instead they used my photo in a split screen next to George Clooney as a promotion to the show. They said ‘This is George Helker, a George Clooney look alike’ and right then everything blew up. It ran for about two weeks. We laugh now because I got more airtime with the promotional than I would have had if I was part of the show.

“At first I got calls from family members and friends telling me they had seen me on TV. Now, every time Clooney comes into the news people look at me and do a double take.

“But being recognized as the Most Sexiest Man is great.”

Coming soon: Greg’s casting call.