Amal Clooney, international human rights lawyer and new wife of actor George Clooney, has been named the most fascinating person of the year by Barbara Walters during her annual "10 Most Fascinating People" segment.
ABC News reported Sunday the list is rounded out by pop star Taylor Swift, football commentator Michael Strahan, billionaire David Koch, Oprah, technologist Elon Musk, "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin, comedian Chelsea Handler, actor Neil Patrick Harris, and actor Scarlett Johansson.
Clooney was born Amal Alamuddin to a prominent Lebanese family, who soon moved to London, where she was raised into a promising student. She attended Oxford University, and later got a law degree from New York University. She clerked for then-federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, who now sits on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Upon returning to London, she became well known as a human rights attorney, and throughout the years has represented or advised a number of prominent personalities including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Kofi Annan, and Yulia Tymoshenko, the first woman appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Yahoo News reported that Clooney is fluent in English, French, and Arabic, and this year worked with the British Foreign Secretary to push for international action in protecting children in conflict zones.
This year she has also worked a dispute between the U.K. and Greece over who owns sculptures taken long ago from the Parthenon, and recently lent to Russia for a public exhibit.
She and George wed in Venice, Italy, in September. Walters called it "perfect."