The entertainment industry has a history of honoring former leaders of this country in film and television.
Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Dennis Quaid, Josh Brolin and more, have taken on the role of bringing the lives of former United States presidents to the screen, whether that be in movies or on TV.
Here are some actors who have played our nation’s leaders on-screen.
DENNIS QUAID NEARLY REJECTED ‘REAGAN’ ROLE UNTIL ONE THING CONVINCED HIM TO DO IT
Dennis Quaid portrayed the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in the 2024 film, “Reagan.”
The film spans Reagan’s entire life, briefly going over his childhood in Illinois, where he was raised with strong Christian values, before moving on to his life as an actor, and later, his career in government.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Quaid shared he was fearful of taking on the role of the former president, saying, “Reagan was my favorite president personally,” and he “wanted to really kind of get to the core of who he was as a person” in his portrayal.
“He was not a rich man, and there was a humility about him that was kind of the bedrock of who he was,” Quaid said. “And I felt him. I felt this core there. They had the ‘Western White House.’ It was bought by a circle of friends after he passed to keep it as it was. And their clothes – he and Nancy’s clothes were in the closet still, just like they were.”
In addition to playing Reagan, Quaid also portrayed the 42nd president, Bill Clinton, in the 2010 film, “The Special Relationship.” The movie gives audiences an inside look at the relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Clinton, from 1997 to 2001, during his time as president.
Josh Brolin put his spin on the 43rd president, George W. Bush, in the 2008 comedy-drama movie “W.”
“W.” is a satirical look at Bush’s life, jumping back and forth in time from the former president’s years at Yale during his father’s presidency, to his time as the governor of Texas and his decision to run for president in 2000, also briefly covering his handling of the Iraq war.
“I didn’t want to [see those parallels] because of how I felt politically, but I couldn’t help it,” Brolin told New York Magazine in 2008, referencing the similarities between him and Bush. “I was reading these books about W., and I took out a pen to record the similarities between me and him: He and his father, he and his mother – I grew up with a very strong mother, too. But professionally, I was never embittered by the whole process like he was.”
The 2001 romantic war drama “Pearl Harbor” featured actor Jon Voight as the 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A key scene in the film features Voight addressing Congress as FDR, and delivering the famous speech declaring war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film itself follows two friends, both of whom are pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, during World War II.
Daniel Day-Lewis won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, in the 2012 movie “Lincoln.”
The film follows Lincoln in the final months of his presidency as he works to ensure the passage of the 13th Amendment as the Civil War is ending. It ends with Lincoln’s assassination, with the final scene showing him passing with a look of content on his face, as a flashback of him delivering his second inaugural address begins to play, ending with the words, “With malice toward none, with charity for all”.
When he first read the script, Lewis recalled thinking “it was a great idea,” but just “for someone else.”
“I thought this is a very, very bad idea,” he told The New York Times about his casting. “But by that time it was too late. I had already been drawn into Lincoln’s orbit. He has a very powerful orbit, which is interesting because we tend to hold him at such a distance. He’s been mythologized almost to the point of dehumanization. But when you begin to approach him, he almost instantly becomes welcoming and accessible, the way he was in life.”
Unlike the previous films, Robin Williams’ portrayal of the 26th president, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, in the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum,” is a fictional take on the president rather than a biopic.
In the film, a nighttime security guard at a museum learns that the exhibits, one of them being Roosevelt, come to life every night due to an exhibit featuring an ancient Egyptian artifact.
The actor also appeared as the 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the 2013 movie “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” in a briefer and serious role.
Bill Murray portrayed the 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the 2012 historical drama “Hyde Park on Hudson.”
Based on journals written by the president’s cousin and childhood friend, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, the film tells the story of their close relationship, and the 1939 visit of King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, and their stay at the president’s home in Hyde Park.
Kiefer Sutherland is another actor who has had the honor of portraying the 32nd president, having starred as Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 2022 series “The First Lady.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
The series followed the presidencies of FDR, Barack Obama and Gerald Ford, but the events are told through the lens of their wives, first ladies Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston portrayed the 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson, in the 2016 film “All the Way.”
The movie picks up as Johnson is sworn in as president, following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, in November 1963. It then follows his work passing the Civil Rights Act, before diving into his campaign for re-election, highlighting the lengths he went to in order to secure the win.
“It seemed to be the right man, for the right time, for the right purpose and, yet, he ascended to that office by the most tragic circumstances,” Cranston told “Good Morning America” in May 2016. “In order to accomplish what he was able to accomplish, he had to go against the people who helped get him there. He had a lot at risk, and he lost a lot, but he did the greater good.”
Anthony Hopkins starred as the 37th president, Richard Nixon, in the 1995 movie “Nixon.”
The film begins with the break-in at the Watergate Hotel by a group known as the White House Plumbers, and is mostly told through a series of flashbacks influenced by the infamous Nixon tapes. It ends with Nixon’s resignation, followed by real-life footage of the former president’s funeral.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Hopkins also portrayed the country’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams, in the 1997 film “Amistad.”
Academy Award-winning actor Sam Rockwell played the 43rd president, George W. Bush, in the 2018 comedy satire movie “Vice.”
The movie mostly focuses on the vice president during the Bush administration, Dick Cheney.
