How old is Danny Ocean (George Clooney) in the Ocean’s Eleven movies, which span Steven Soderbergh’s 2001-2007 trilogy and Gary Ross’ 2018 female-centered sequel, Ocean’s 8. Frank Sinatra originated the character Danny Ocean in 1960’s Ocean’s Eleven, but besides sharing his name and his dishonest profession, George Clooney’s cool, gentleman thief has no relation to Sinatra’s version. Despite being a criminal (and proud of it), Danny Ocean is the protagonist of Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, and Ocean’s Thirteen.
Little is known about Danny Ocean’s past. Ocean’s 8 revealed that Danny comes from a family of career criminals, which includes his younger sister Debbie (Sandra Bullock), who masterminded the Met Gala Job in 2018. When Danny was 22, he traveled to Las Vegas, took a shine to the gambling lifestyle, and was mentored by high roller Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), who would earn Danny’s lifelong loyalty. Danny married Tess (Julia Roberts), who separated from him when she learned he lied about being a professional thief. Danny was implicated in 13 confidence schemes and frauds and he was sentenced to prison; he was paroled after 4 years and immediately assembled a crew to take down Terry Benedict’s Bellagio Hotel and Casino for $150-million. Since Terry was romantically involved with Tess, Danny’s side hustle was to win Tess back — he was successful at both.
Ocean’s 8 killed Danny off-screen, although there were numerous hints that this was just another scheme to evade the law or his enemies, and even Debbie isn’t sure that her big brother is really gone. Regardless, as of Ocean’s 8, Danny is legally deceased and his gravestone in New York City offers the answers to how old Danny Ocean really was during the trilogy of films he headlined: Danny Ocean was born in 1963 and died in 2018. Therefore, Danny was 38 during Ocean’s Eleven in 2001, he was 41 during Ocean’s Twelve in 2004, and he was 44 during Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007 when they took down Willie Bank (Al Pacino) in Las Vegas. Danny was also 55 when he died in 2018.
The question of Danny’s actual age was hilariously raised in Ocean’s Twelve while he and his crew were in Europe trying to steal $198-million to return to Terry Benedict, which would save their lives. On top of being the group’s brains, Danny’s salt-and-pepper hair color and his earned, easy confidence give him an air of leadership. His crew clearly defers to him, whether they’re relatively inexperienced like Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) or have spent years as a confidence man like Frank Catton (Bernie Mac). Ocean’s Eleven (which they disliked as a group moniker) all thought Danny was 50-years-old, even his closest friend Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), a fact that greatly distressed the normally unflappable Ocean. But Danny was actually not 50 yet in 2004, which is when Ocean’s Twelve took place.
In real life, George Clooney was born in 1961, which makes him two years older than his criminal counterpart in the Ocean’s films. Today, Clooney is 59, so he outlived Danny Ocean — but like the easygoing gentleman thief and Tess, the Academy Award-winning actor, writer, and director has been happily married to international lawyer and activist Amal Alamuddin since 2014. George Clooney may never reprise the role of Danny in Ocean’s sequel, but the role will forever be synonymous with him throughout Hollywood history.
