With only days to go until the 2024 US Presidential election, Donald Trump’s face is everywhere, bronzer dialled up to 11.
The former President and current Republican Presidential candidate is no stranger to being on camera. Before he got into politics, he regularly appeared on television shows and in films, always playing himself, and often shoehorning in a reference to his personal wealth.
He’s technically an award-winning actor, having won three of the four Golden Raspberries he’s been nominated for. Trump was also the host and co-producer for 14 seasons of The Apprentice, a reality TV show where people competed for a contract promoting his property business.
A new biopic portraying Trump, titled The Apprentice, recently hit cinemas. Sebastian Stan plays a be-coiffed young Trump in Seventies New York, working as a rent collector for his father while he dreams of opening a midtown hotel. Jeremy Strong is the Svengali-like lawyer that takes the would-be property tycoon under his wing and moulds him into a success-at-all-costs businessman.
It’s been well received by critics, but Trump himself is not a fan of this portrayal. He called it a “disgusting hatchet job” on social media, and had his lawyers send a cease and desist letter to the producers following its premiere in Cannes.
Trump clearly prefers only Trump to play Trump. Here are just some of the many films and TV shows where he had at least a walk-on role.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
The year is 1992, and Donald Trump is beginning to infiltrate popular culture. Following an appearance on soap opera All My Children and TV mini series Lady Boss, he made his most famous cameo in Home Alone 2.
The equally festive sequel to Home Alone saw Macaulay Culkin reprise his role as Kevin McCallister to continue his japes all the way to the Plaza Hotel in New York, which Trump owned at the time. Trump appears for a few seconds, giving Kevin directions to the lobby.
Director Chris Columbus alleged that Trump “bullied his way” onto set by insisting his role be included as part of the deal to film in the hotel. Trump tells it differently, of course. “I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” he claimed. “They were very nice, but above all, persistent.”
Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1994)
For his next appearance, Trump turned up in an episode of Will Smith’s Nineties hit, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Accompanied by his second wife Marla Maples, Trump turns up at the Banks family home wanting to buy it under the mistaken assumption it was his childhood home.
For a two-minute appearance, it manages to cram in a lot of accomplishment-burnishing comments about Trump. The cast marvel at his alleged wealth, he offers to strike a deal, and Carlton faints from excitement when he meets “The Donald”.
The Little Rascals (1994)
Trump actually had a character to sink his teeth into in the film The Little Rascals, although the typecasting probably helped. Cast as Waldo the insufferable rich kid’s dad, he takes a phone call from his son during a children’s go-kart race. When Waldo promises to win, Trump tells him he’s “the best son money can buy”.
It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, but the Nineties brick mobile phones steal the scene.
The Nanny (1996)
Trump made a guest appearance on sitcom The Nanny, starring Fran Drescher in the titular role.
Drescher has since relayed a telling anecdote about notes Trump gave on the script. Speaking on Seth Rogan’s podcast, she said Trump’s team insisted the line “You millionaires know each other” be changed to reflect the businessman’s claim to billionaire status. A compromise was reached by calling Trump the less specific “zillionaire”.
There’s a two mobile phone gag Trump delivers with the raised index figure that has become one of his hallmark gestures.
Sex and the City (1999)
Yes, Trump was indeed in Sex and the City. Samantha is enjoying a smart cocktail post work in season two episode eight (The Man, the Myth, the Viagra) when Trump appears in a booth of the bar, checking out Kim Cattrall’s character and name dropping his office in (where else) Trump Tower.
“Samantha, a cosmopolitan, and Donald Trump,” trills Carrie’s voiceover. “You just don’t get more New York than that.”
The Plaza Hotel also gets a cameo at the end of the season, as the venue for Big’s engagement party to Natasha.
Zoolander (2001)
By the dawn of the millennium, Trump had already divorced two wives and was dating Slovenian-American model Melania Knavs. It’s the former First Lady who appears by his side in their Zoolander cameo, where they are shown on a red carpet.
The scene was filmed at an actual fashion awards show, with attendees asked to improv lines about the fictional male models.“Look, without Derek Zoolander, male modelling wouldn’t be what it is today,” says Trump.
Ben Stiller, who played Zoolander, has reported that people have since petitioned him to cut Trump’s appearance. “I’ve had people reach out to me and say, ‘You should edit Donald Trump out of Zoolander,’” he said. “But at the end of the day that was a time that existed and that happened.”
Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock star in this classic Noughties romcom about a clueless billionaire and his frustrated assistant driven to quit. Grant has an entire conversation with Trump where they spar over Trump’s threats to steal his new assistant.
The future president didn’t make much of an impression on the actor, however. “He always wanted to be in my stuff,” Grant said on the Graham Norton Show. “But the fact is, I don’t really remember him very well.” Trump clearly remembered – he made Grant a member of his golf club, Trump National New York.
Days of our Lives (2005)
It was during takes for his appearance on Days of our Lives where a hot mic recorded Trump making awful sexual remarks about women, including the infamous “grab them by the p***y” comment.
Trump’s onscreen appearance is pretty sleazy too, with actress Nicole Walker begging him for a job by alluding that she would sleep with him.
Trump has since faced multiple accusations of sexual assault.
WrestleMania 23 (2007)
Trump’s ties to WWE go back to the Eighties, when the wrestling show was held at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. Trump starred in the 23rd annual WrestleMania, billed as the “Battle of the Billionaires”, where he fought fellow businessman Vince McMahon via wrestling proxies. When Trump won, he got to shave McMahon’s head.
Trump has kept up his WWE connections since getting into politics, with Hulk Hogan becoming one of many celebrities to endorse him as a candidate.
