He's making it his mission to champion human rights with his powerful speeches at this year's Venice Film Festival.

And George Clooney continued his quest on day two as he made a series of talks on politics and activism at his masterclass on Thursday.

The 65-year-old Hollywood actor, who picked up the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on Wednesday, made sure to praise his '[expletive]' lawyer wife Amal, 48.

Amal, a British-Lebanese human rights lawyer, has represented Yazidi survivors and helped secure historic legal victories holding ISIS members accountable for genocide.

'By the way, my wife's the only person to have ever put ISIS on trial and won,' he lauded. 'She's a [expletive], and she gets the job done. We do it for our families. We do it for our friends.' 

He added: 'Amal’s taken some very difficult stands over the years, and we’ve had to face some pretty heavy criticism based on that. I wrote an op-ed about President Joe Biden. I got some [expletive].

'We have really interesting conversations around the table. But you know, we also have two nine-year-old kids, and we have a normal family life, and there’s a lot of laughing and a lot of love, and we’re very lucky, and we’re really aware of that.'

Clooney also added that he braces against people telling actors to 'shut up' about human rights and political issues.

'I didn't give away my freedom of speech the minute I became an actor,' he defiantly said. 'It also means that people can get mad at you and not like you anymore. Fair enough. That's how this works. 

'You can't demand freedom of speech and then say, "But don't say bad [expletive] about me". Right? That's the deal.' 

Taking a swipe at President Trump, Clooney added: 'I get mean tweets from the President of the United States. That's okay. I can handle it. I'll do all right. I'll be fine. But that's part of life.' 

Clooney and Trump have taken plenty of swipes at each other over the years. 

On Wednesday, Clooney launched a scathing attack on the US administration, branding those in charge 'the least qualified people' and slamming what he said was a complete absence of 'decency'.

'We've had some other difficult times but this is one of them,' he said. 'There is a great word, kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people. I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now but we will get through it.

'We will have an election in November that should be a check and balance and then in 2028, with any luck, we will have some restoration.'

The Oscar-winning star went on to denounce Trump's administration as 'cruel', arguing that basic standards of decency had disappeared from public life.

'The idea that cruelty is the base, that being cruel and unkind is part of the fun of all this,' Clooney told press, in the latest of a string of attacks the actor has made against the running of the US.

'You see what the secretary of defense just tweeted out a picture about women in the military in Canada and you're going, "What is wrong with you?"

'"Where is the sense of decency in all this?" I'm ashamed of all of that but we will get through it and we will come out better on the other side.'

Clooney drew on a tweet by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appearing to mock the physical appearance of an overweight female Canadian soldier presenting a medal at a youth camp.

On Monday night, Hegseth posted the image from a cadet training center in British Columbia with the caption: 'This is real'.

Calling himself an optimist, Clooney said he remembered living through dark times in the country's history - which he likened to today.

'I'm old enough to have been through 1968 in the States when every city in the United States was set on fire and we lost Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in the same year,' he said.

'There was tons of violence. The Capitol was surrounded with tanks. We've had some other difficult times, but this is one of them.'