Politicians who have starred in films

Bill Clinton is following another former President on to the big screen.

Ronald Reagan in Bedtime for Bonzo (1951)

Bedtime for Bonzo was a comedy directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future American. President Ronald Reagan. He plays Professor Peter Boyd and has to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, using 1950s-era child rearing techniques. It is perhaps the most remembered of Reagan's film, although he claimed it was his least favourite and said he had never even watched it. 

Nelson Mandela in Malcolm X (1992)

Nelson Mandela's career in films was brief. It came just after his release from prison and just before he became president of South Africa and won the Nobel peace prize. It was a cameo part in Spike Lee's biopic of black nationalist leader Malcolm X. Mandela played a Soweto schoolteacher who talks to his pupils who one by one declare, "I am Malcolm X."

John McCain in Wedding Crashers (2005)

Senator John McCain, the Vietnam war hero and one-time critic of Hollywood's excesses, is trying to laugh off accusations of hypocrisy after coming under fire for a cameo appearance in the bawdy film Wedding Crashers. Mr McCain's role lasts just 10 seconds as he plays himself at a political wedding reception alongside fellow guest star James Carville, an outspoken Democrat strategist.

Patrick Leahy in The Dark Knight (2008)

Senator Patrick Leahy, the 68-year-old chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a brief cameo as a man who is roughed up by Heath Ledger's knife-wielding Joker."It was a pretty tense scene but I didn't wear tights," the Vermont senator joked.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables (Dec 2010)

He'll be back. The former Terminator and now Governor of California was persuaded out of acting retirement to be part of Slyvester Stallone action heroes in his upcoming action film The Expendables. It’s only a cameo, with a one-day filming role. And he plays himself as boss of California. It's the tale of an “expendable” team sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator.


From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/8137877/Politicians-who-have-starred-in-films.html