From Hollywood to the White House: how American celebrities went into politics

For a long time, figures without great political experience have often appeared in politics. According to a poll conducted by Piplsay among more than 30 thousand US residents, Americans are not at all opposed to such people in various important positions. How various celebrities became politicians, told the publication "Voice of America".

The authors of the poll found out how favorably Americans are towards show business figures who have decided to realize their political ambitions. So, we managed to find out that 13% of respondents are against such figures, believing that they will rather be limited to creative activity.

At the same time, 63% of respondents said that musicians, actors and TV presenters can compete for a place in the government, including for the presidency, if they have a talent for politics and the right team.

Residents of the United States were asked which celebrity they would like to see as head of state. The list was headed by actress Angelina Jolie, who received 30% of the votes. Oprah Winfrey came in second (27%). The third place was taken by Tom Hanks (22%).

At the same time, none of the three leaders has ever publicly expressed a desire to take any political post, at the most - simply supported the candidates in the elections. However, in the modern history of the United States there are many examples when show business figures have successfully merged into the political life of the country.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

No sooner had the third installment of "The Terminator" conquered the audience, having only appeared on the screens of cinemas in 2003, when the leading actor announced that he plans to win the race for the post of the head of California.

Oddly enough, he succeeded - Arnold Schwarzenegger received 48% of the vote. Thus, he became the second governor of California to be born outside the United States - in Austria.

"Iron Arnie" ran for the Republicans and spoke positively about President George W. Bush, who, by the way, called Schwarzenegger "Conan the Republican (by analogy with the movie" Conan the Barbarian "). This significantly distinguished Arnold from other show business figures and opponents, who mostly supported the Democratic Party.

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Steel Arnie took office in not the best years for California, when the state was in a state of financial and energy crisis. He remained a popular politician for a long period and was able to be re-elected for a second term in 2006. Arnold tried to solve the problems of the budget deficit, was attentive to the problems of the environment and even changed his position on the legalization of same-sex marriage. At the end of the second term, the rating of "Iron" fell sharply, and the actor-politician himself managed to become a figurant of many scandals.

Schwarzenegger resigned in 2011, as the California constitution did not allow him to take up the post any longer. Forgetting about the announcement to end his acting career, Arnie returned to filming, in particular to his iconic role in the Terminator franchise.

Ronald Reagan

The 40th US President Ronald Reagan, like Arnold, began his political career as Governor of California. Reagan took over the White House in 1981.

Before politics, Reagan was a sports commentator in Iowa, and from 1937 he decided to act in films. He built an acting career for three decades: during this time he played in 70 films, mostly in westerns. Among them are the legendary historical film "The Road to Santa Fe", the westerns "Cattle Queen of Montana" and "Law & Order", as well as the Oscar-nominated film "Kings Row" and the melodrama "Defeat the Dark" with Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis.

Despite this, Reagan could not become the star of the first plan. Most of the films in which he starred were not blockbusters and did not receive high marks from critics, who, by the way, were in no hurry to praise the acting of the future president.

At the end of World War II, Reagan seriously considered a political career. He ran three times as a Republican nominee and in 1980 finally took the main post in the country, ahead of incumbent President Jimmy Carter in the election race.

Although Reagan did not manage to build a phenomenal career as an actor, he has achieved much more success in the presidency. The list of his achievements includes the reduction of inflation and the strengthening of the economy, the successful fight against unemployment. Also among his successes is the effective fight against the "evil empire" (as Ronald Reagan dubbed the Soviet Union). It was this confrontation that allowed the actor to become one of the most popular presidents in US history.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, one of the central characters in the western genre, owner of four Oscars, also contributed to the political life of the country. The beginning of his career also started in California, however, only from the post of mayor of the small town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

He won the elections in 1986 by a wide margin (72% of the vote). It is believed that he made the decision on the nomination after the city council refused to renovate his restaurant building. In the spirit of his characters from the "dollar" trilogy, Eastwood approached the issue with all decisiveness: he won the trial, and a year later took the mayor's chair.

While the actor was in power, he was actively involved in the improvement of beaches and urban spaces, made the process of building houses more accessible to the population. He was remembered in the city as the man who lifted the strange ban on eating ice cream in public places.

Eastwood held his position for two consecutive terms, after which he returned to the cinema.

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple is one of the most famous actresses who reached the peak of her film career as a child. When she was seven years old she managed to win the Oscar, and by the age of nine her most famous films were released: Curly, Shining Eyes, Heidi, etc.).

During the Great Depression, she was one of the most recognizable figures on the silver screen, and US President Franklin Roosevelt personally recommended watching the tape with her participation. However, her popularity subsequently declined, which forced Temple to go into politics.

At the age of twenty, she became an active member of the Republican Party and even ran for the US House of Representatives (but unsuccessfully). Her popularity, according to some sources, was able to drag many voters to the side of Richard Nixon, whom Shirley actively supported.

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In turn, Nixon appointed the young actress as a delegate from the United States to the 24th meeting of the UN General Assembly, and his successor Gerald Ford sent Temple to Ghana as ambassador. Upon her return to the United States, she became the first woman to head the protocol service: it was she who organized the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter.

By the end of the 1980s, Shirley had been appointed US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. So she became the first woman to hold this post. At that time, she did not hide her sympathy for the supporters of the Velvet Revolution and adhered to anti-communist views.

According to her recollections, the events of the Prague Spring of 1968 made a strong impression on her. Subsequently, she recalled that she watched from the hotel window as Soviet tanks entered the city, as well as the moment when Soviet soldiers shot, according to her, an unarmed woman.

Cynthia Nixon

The namesake of the 37th US President Cynthia Nixon is best remembered for her role in the TV series Sex and the City, where she played Miranda Hobbs.

Her political career developed at the headquarters of the current mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. After gaining experience and confidence, Cynthia announced the nomination for Governor of New York State in 2018, opposing Andrew Cuomo.

Nixon holds democratic views on politics, actively defends the rights of LGBT people and often raises issues related to women's health issues. Nevertheless, she did not manage to defeat Cuomo: the current governor received 65,3% of the vote, but Nixon was able to boast a decent result for a newcomer - 34,7%.

Jesse Ventura

Unlike Cynthia Nixon, the success in the political race was accompanied by James Janos, who is better known to the public as Jesse Ventura. Ex-soldier, former bodyguard for The Rolling Stones, actor, radio and TV presenter, Ventura entered the world of show business through wrestling. Acting under the pseudonym "Body" (The Body), he earned popularity as a fighter and commentator in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

Following the advice of his schoolteacher, in 1990 Jesse took over as mayor of the small town of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Nine years later, he decided to run for governor of Minnesota. At that time, he was a member of the Reform Party, an opponent of the Democrats and Republicans, and was able to win.

After some time, due to internal disagreements, he subsequently left the Reform Party and became a member of the Independence Party.

As governor, Ventura implemented tax reform and completed a high-speed rail link in the state capital, Minneapolis.

Ventura took over as governor long before his co-star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, could. Together they starred in several films at once: "The Predator", "Batman and Robin", "The Running Man".

On the eve of the 2016 elections, Jesse announced his intention to take part in the election race for the presidency of the country, but he nevertheless refused this idea.

George Takei

Science fiction fans are well aware of such an actor as George Takei, who plays Hikaru Sulu, one of the main characters in the original Star Trek series. In the political sphere, he is much less known, although here he made several attempts to build a career.

In 1973, he took part in the election race for a seat in the city council of Los Angeles, but still could not win, while taking second place, gaining 33% of the vote. His character, Hikaru Sulu, influenced the campaign: local TV stations had to stop broadcasting Star Trek episodes in order not to give any candidate an advantage in the amount of air time.

The same argument was used by his opponents in 1980, when, during the race for a seat in the California Legislative Assembly, they tried to reduce the number of Star Trek episodes on the screen. Takei decided to withdraw his candidacy, stating that "now is not the right time to end my career as an author and actor."

Subsequently, George made loud political statements, as a rule, in defense of the rights of the LGBT community (Takei is openly gay).

Cal Penn

When watching the comedy "Harold and Kumar", few people would have thought that one of the marijuana lovers would go into politics. But in 2009, Kal Pen took a seat in the public relations department of the Barack Obama administration. His responsibilities included working to establish relationships with communities of Asian Americans (the actor's parents are immigrants from India).

Since 2010, the actor returned to his usual acting routine and starred in the third part of the comedy "Harold and Kumar". But even then not for long, after playing the role of a marijuana lover, the policy "called" the guy back. He took the chair of a member of the presidential committee on the arts.

In 2017, he left the committee to protest some of Donald Trump's comments.

John Gavin

One of the most prominent Hollywood actors of the 1960s, John Gavin, who played the role of Julius Caesar in Stanley Kubrick's legendary Spartacus, also decided to take part in the country's political life.

In 1971, John had the chance to become the next James Bond. He was expected to replace 007's George Lesenby in Diamonds Are Forever, but Seann Connery was chosen by the studio.

As a consequence, Gavin replaced Ronald Reagan as Screen Actors Guild President. He, in turn, after winning the presidential elections in the United States, appointed Gavin ambassador to Mexico, where he worked until 1986. The period of his work was accompanied by economic and political instability in Mexico and a large-scale earthquake in 1985.

Kanye West

The infamous rap musician, record holder for the number of Grammy awards and the ex-husband of the equally famous Kim Kardashian first announced his intention to take the presidency of the United States back in 2015. On July 5, 2020, he finally announced his nomination and belatedly began his election campaign.

He managed to register as a candidate in 12 states (in most states, he missed the deadline for submitting documents). Only 66 yew cast their votes for West. voters - 0,32%.

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In the election, West's opponents were incumbent President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, with whom the rapper has a long-standing friendship. Trump spoke very warmly of West, invited him to the White House, but later the rap artist said that he was "taking off the red cap" (meaning the Make America Great Again cap, popular among Trump supporters).

Kanye West might have run for the GOP "if it hadn't been for Donald Trump." Instead, he founded his own political group, the Birthday Party. West's campaign headquarters explained the name this way: "When we win, it will be like everyone's birthday."

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Kanye has drastically changed his political preferences. In 2012, he was one of the sponsors of the election campaign of Barack Obama, and in 2015 he already gave money for the campaign of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's main rival. At the same time, according to Kanye, he did not vote in the 2016 elections.

Matthew McConaughey and Dwayne Johnson

The authors of the Piplsay poll also wondered what Americans think of other actors who indirectly hinted at a possible future political career. In particular, we are talking about the famous wrestler and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - who, by the way, did not rule out the theory that he would run for the presidency of the United States.

46% of respondents said they are ready to support Johnson right now. In response to this poll result, the actor wrote on his Instagram: “I'm not sure if our founding fathers ever imagined that a two-meter, bald, tattooed, half black, half Samoan, tequila drinker and a guy with a pickup truck would join their club. belt bag - but if this ever happens, it will be an honor for me to serve you, people. "

41% percent of those polled also said they would support actor Matthew McConaughey if he nominated himself for the post of Governor of Texas (the actor had previously stated that he did not rule out such a possibility).

Donald Trump

A businessman, showman, actor and construction magnate, Donald Trump has become one of the most prominent political figures in US history.

Even before becoming the head of the White House, Donald starred in many legendary films: The Prince of Beverly Hills, Nanny, Sex and the City, etc. In most cases, he played himself. The most popular cameo of the 45th President of the United States was his role in the movie "Home Alone 2". In the film, he appears literally for a moment, showing the protagonist Macaulay Culkin the way to the lobby in his Trump Tower skyscraper.

In addition, Trump hosted The Apprentice and left the post for the presidency.

But Donald Trump's acting merits were not appreciated by critics, twice awarding him the Golden Raspberry anti-award, which means the worst actor and the worst supporting actor.