On one level, politics is all about the performance of the candidate, so it makes sense that actors would also be attracted to the world of politics. There have been quite a few actors over the years who have run for political office, and many of those have won their races and served in roles from mayors of their small town, like Clint Eastwood, all the way up to President of the United States, like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Here are 32 examples of actors who have dabbled in politics over the years.
Sonny Bono
Sonny Bono was first known for being the his partnership with (and marriage to) Cher. Sonny and Cher had a slew of hits and a wildly popular show in the 1970s before splitting as partners and spouses. Bono stayed in show biz, appearing in movies like Airplane 2, and eventually turned his attention to governance. First, in 1988, he was elected mayor of Palm Springs, then in 1995 he ran for Congress and won, serving until his untimely death in a skiing accident in 1998.
Cynthia Nixon
…And Just Like That and The Gilded Age star Cynthia Nixon takes her advocacy and politics seriously. The actor, who takes a very progressive stance on most issues, ran for New York Governor in 2018. Though she didn’t win, her voice in the race did raise many issues that have become staples of political campaigns in the state ever since.
Shirley Temple
She was the biggest little star of early Hollywood, but after her acting career, Shirley Temple got very involved in Republican politics for much of the latter half of the 20th Century. She ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 1967 and later became a US diplomat, serving in Ghana and Czechoslovakia, as well as in other positions in Republican administrations.
Clint Eastwood
Few people in Hollywood are as iconic as director and actor Clint Eastwood. Though he wasn’t the first actor to get into politics, his stint as mayor of his town, Camel-By-The-Sea, CA in the 1980s did open set a new precedent and opened the doors for other celebrities to get involved, no matter which side of the political aisle they stood on.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan is far better remembered and celebrated for his time in politics than his time in Hollywood, though his acting career for notable for movies like Knute Rockne, All American, and Bedtime For Bonzo. He shifted to politics in the 1960s, first as governor of California, then as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
Al Franken
Havard-educated Al Franken made a name for himself as one of the best comedy writers and stars of the ’70s and ’80s, writing for and starring in SNL and appearing in movies like Trading Places. In 2008 Franken ran as a Democrat for Senate in his home state of Minnesota. He won that race and won again in 2016 before resigning after a controversial photo emerged at the height of the #metoo movement.
Steven Michael Quezada
Albuquerque native and Breaking Bad star Steven Michael Quezada is passionate about his hometown and has served on the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners since 2017. Before that, he served on his local school board.
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Gilbert gained fame as Laura Ingalls on Little House On The Prairie and was active in the Screen Actors Guild throughout her career in Hollywood, eventually serving as the union’s president between 2001 and 2005. In 2016 Gilbert ran for Congress in Michigan but dropped out early in the race.
Hill Harper
Hill Harper first found fame in CSI: NY and later as a cast member of The Good Doctor. In 2024, he parlayed that fame into a Senate run in Michigan as a progressive candidate. Harper had long been active in politics, though he lost in the Democratic primary to Representative Elissa Slotkin.
Fred Grandy
Fred Grandy is most famous to TV audiences for playing Gopher in The Love Boat, but he’s been connected to politics his whole life. His roommate at boarding school was President Dwight Eisenhower’s son David and Grady even served as the Best Man when David married Julie Nixon at The White House in 1972. Grady served four terms in Congress, starting in 1987, as a Republican Representative from his home state of Iowa. He ran for Governor of Iowa in 1994 but lost.
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura is a rarity in Congress. Not only did he first get famous as a professional wrestler and later star in movies like Predator and The Running Man with fellow actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was elected as Governor of Minnesota as a third-party candidate. As the only member of the Reform Party to ever win major office, he served one term in the state house after first getting into politics as the mayor of Brooklyn Park, MN.
George Takei
Beloved Star Trek star George Takei has been active in politics for more than five decades. Not only is he a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, he has worked in local LA politics since the 1970s. He ran for local office in 1973, was later appointed to the mass transit board in LA, and ran for California State Assemblyman in 1978.
Gil Hill
Gil Hill was best known for playing Inspector Todd, Axel Foley’s boss in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. The late Hill was a police officer, which is how he ended up playing the police inspector in the movies, his only Hollywood role. In 1994 he was elected to the Detroit City Council and became President of the board in 1997. In 2001 he ran for mayor but lost to the notorious Kwame Kilpatrick.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Other than Ronald Reagan, the most famous actor-turned-politician has to be Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before conquering Hollywood completely, the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger became an American citizen in 1983 and registered as a Republican. He’s first official foray into politics was as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under George H.W. Bush in the early ’90s. In August of 2003, the Terminator star announced he would be running for Governor of California and won in a special recall election later in the year. In 2007 Schwarzenegger was reelected to serve a full term, retiring from the Governor’s mansion in 2011.
Will Rogers
Entertainer Will Rogers never had an official capacity in government, though he was named honorary major of Beverly Hills for two days in 1926. Still, the legendary vaudeville actor and humorist was actively involved in politics his whole life and even ran a fake campaign for President in 1928 to highlight the absurdities of campaigning.
Glenda Jackson
American actors are not the only ones who have gotten involved in politics. English actress, and two-time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson gave up show business to run Parliament as a member of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Jackson was first elected to Parliament in 1992 and served for 23 years before retiring and returning to acting in 2015. Jackson passed away in 2023.
Donald Trump
This entry doesn’t need much explanation; it’s obvious. Donald Trump, though not an actor per se, found a lot of success in the entertainment business with cameos in movies like Home Alone 2: Alone in New York and Zoolander, and, of course, starring on the hit reality show The Apprentice. Trump parlayed that notoriety into a White House run in 2016, and the rest is history.
Fred Thompson
Fred Thompson was known for playing stern characters like an Admiral in Top Gun and probably most famously as District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order. He also served nine years as a Republican Senator from his home state of Tennessee from 1994 until 2003. Thompson ran for president in 2008 but lost in the primary to John McCain.
Diane Neal
While Fred Thompson may be the most famous actor in the Law & Order universe to get into politics, he wasn’t alone. Law & Order: SVU‘s Diane Neal ran for Congress in New York in 2020 as a progressive independent, but finished a distant last in a four-person race won by Democrat Antonio Delgado.
Sonny Landham
Almost everyone knows that two members of the cast of Predator became governors, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura both serving as such. But they weren’t the only cast members to run. Sonny Landham, who played Billy Sole in the movie, ran in the Republican primary in the race for Governor of Kentucky. Though he lost that race, he stayed involved in Kentucky politics, running for various offices over the years without winning. Landham died in 2017.
Sheila Kuehl
Sheila Kuehl started acting on television in the 1950s and is best know for her role as Zelda on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis in the early ’60s. In the early ’70s she left show business and became a lawyer. Since 1994 Kuehl has served in numerous appointed and elected positions in California and has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
Ben Jones
Though Ben Jones played kind of an idiot on The Dukes of Hazzard (the mechanic, Cooter), in his real life, he served two terms in Congress as a Democrat representative from Georgia. He’d long been involved in political movements dating back to the ’60s when he was active in the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
Kimberlin Brown
Soap opera legend Kimberlin Brown has played the role on Sheila Carter in well of 1000 episodes of soaps, most notably The Bold And The Beautiful. In 2016 she became a staunch advocate from Donald Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention that year. In 2018 she ran for Congress in California’s 36th District, losing to incumbent Raul Ruiz.
Ralph Waite
Ralph Waite is most famous for playing the patriarch of the Walton family in The Waltons in the 1970s. Later he starred as Jackson Gibbs, father of Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in NCIS. Three times Waite ran for Congress as a Democrat in California, including once in a special election to replace the recently deceased Sonny Bono in 1998. Later that year he ran again for the same seat in the general election. He lost both races to Bono’s widow, Mary Bono.
George Murphy
Before Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, there was another actor who won a statewide election in California. George Murphy served as a Republican Senator from California for one term from 1965 until 1972. Before that, he was also president of the Screen Actors Guild and starred in some of the biggest musicals of the 1930s and ’40s.
Antonio Sabàto Jr.
Antonio Sabàto Jr. made a name for himself as a model and actor in the 1990s, starring on shows like General Hospital and Melrose Place. He has long been a staple of Reality TV in the years since. In 2018, Sabàto ran for Congress as a Republican in California’s 26th District. He lost to incumbent Julia Brownley in the heavily Democratic district.
Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter was a legendary actor in Westerns and on stage as a country singer. He was also the father of the late, great John Ritter. In 1970 he for the Senate in the Republican primary in Tennessee, but lost to Bill Brock. Brock went on to pull off an upset in the general election when he defeated Al Gore, Sr.
Park Overall
Park Overall is best known to sitcom fans as the sassy nurse on Empty Nest, a spinoff of The Golden Girls. In 2012, she was a progressive candidate for a Tennessee Senate seat and finished third in the Democratic Primary.
Stephen Peace
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is one of the all-time great B-movies from the 1970s. The man behind the whole series is producer and actor Stephen Peace. The low-budget movie became such a hit in video rentals that it spawned a franchise. After developing the first film, Peace got into politics, first getting elected to the California State Assembly in 1982, where he served for 12 years before moving to the State Senate in 1994 and serving eight more years there.
Bob Dornan
As an actor, Bob Dornan is best known for his recurring role as a pilot in the legendary ABC series 12 O’Clock High. He is far better known for his staunch conservative politics as a Congressman from California for almost twenty years from the ’70s until the ’90s.
Tracy Brabin
Coronation Street star Tracy Brabin entered politics in 2016 when she stood for a seat in Parliament in the U.K. as a Labour Party candidate. She won the seat and served in the House of Commons for five years, leaving in 2021 to stand for mayor of West Yorkshire. She’s served in that role since winning that year.
Alan Autry
After a brief career as a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers (starting three games in 1976), Alan Autry turned to Hollywood and co-starred as Bubba Skinner on NBC’s In The Heat Of The Night. He left show business after becoming a born-again Christian and settled in Fresno, CA. He served as the mayor of Fresno for two terms before leaving because of term limits in 2008.