30 actors you never knew played presidents in films

Can’t imagine Charlie Sheen as president? Catch a glimpse of him in 2013’s Machete Kills. 

In 2013’s The Butler, Marsden turned in a poignant performance as a young John F. Kennedy.

Quaid played Bill Clinton in 2010’s The Special Relationship, as well as a fictional president in American Dreamz in 2006.

George Clooney for president? Yes, please! We’re down to elect Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over‘s President Devlin.

Freeman first played POTUS back in 1998’s Deep Impact, but he also stepped in to take over as prez in Olympus Has Fallen.

Mr. Magnum, P.I. Selleck took on the persona of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2004’s Ike: Countdown to D-Day.

In the 1999 flick Wild Wild West, Kline played pre-presidency Ulysses S. Grant, alongside Will Smith. 

In the hilarious social satire Idiocracy, Wilson’s character becomes president for being the smartest man alive.

Iconic actor Murray was delightful in 2012’s Hyde Park on Hudson as Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

In the 2015 quirky comedy Pixels, James plays a fictional prez who must save the world from videogame aliens. 

In the presidentially packed 2013 film The Butler, the late (and great) Rickman acted as Ronald Reagan.

Kristofferson memorably mimicked Abe Lincoln in 1995’s Tad. He also played the president in 2015’s Texas Rising.

In 1998’s Primary Colors, Travolta played Bill Clinton–esque President Jack Stanton in an election year. 

Meet President James Sawyer! In White House Down, Foxx played a badass POTUS, alongside Channing Tatum.

In the 2000 historical film The Crossing, Daniels played our first president, George Washington… wig and all. 

In 1997 Hopkins played John Quincy Adams, making an eloquent plea for the release of slaves aboard the Amistad.

This former Batman adopted the role of fictional President Mackenzie in the Katie Holmes–helmed First Daughter.

In A Million Ways to Die in the West, Gottfried made the worst Abraham Lincoln impersonator ev-er. 

In 2012, Glover was President Thomas Wilson — but got impeached by the end of the world. 

In the comical 1998 alien invasion flick Mars Attacks!, Nicholson played slick President James Dale. 

Thornton was about as good at being president as you’d imagine he’d be in 2003’s Love, Actually. 

Before CSI: NY, Sinise adopted the persona of President Harry Truman in the 1995 biopic Truman. 

In 2013’s The Butler, Cusack took on the role of a young Richard Nixon. 

In Chasing Liberty, the NCIS star spent his time in the Oval Office fretting about First Daughter Mandy Moore.

Nolte played Thomas Jefferson in 1995’s Jefferson in Paris and will soon star as POTUS in the EPIX TV series Graves.

Pullman played the president in TV’s 1600 Penn and will reprise his presidential role in the Independence Day sequel.

Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston is taking his Broadway role as Lyndon B. Johnson to the big screen. 

Grammer played a fictional prez in 2008’s Swing Vote and George Washington in the 2003 TV movie Benedict Arnold. 

As President William Alan Moore in 2014’s Big Game, Samuel L. Jackson fought for survival in the Finnish wild.