All 9 Actors Who Got Oscar Nominations For Playing A US President
Only one president has won an Oscar.
Sebastian Stan has just gotten nominated in the Best Actor category at the Oscars 2025 for his performance as Donald Trump in The Apprentice, but he is far from the only actor to get a nomination for portraying a president of the United States. Actors have been portraying presidents for almost as long as film has been around, with nearly every president having some kind of iconic portrayal in at least one film. The Academy Awards are often fans of these presidential performances, and here are all nine actors who got nominated at the Oscars for playing a president.
The 2025 Oscars are right around the corner, and the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories are packed full of talented performers. Ralph Fiennes, TimothĂŠe Chalamet, Colman Domingo, Adrien Brody, and Sebastian Stan were all nominated for Best Actor, while Yuriy Borisov, Guy Pearce, Edward Norton, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong were nominated for Best Supporting Actor. While these 10 actors play all kinds of interesting characters, one of the most notable roles is Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, with him getting nominated for his role in the controversial biopic The Apprentice.
9 Raymond Massey As Abraham LincolnAbe Lincoln In IllinoisThe first actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar for playing a President occurred at the 13th Academy Awards, with Raymond Massey having played Abraham Lincoln in 1940's Abe Lincoln in Illinois. The film is a biopic that explores Abe Lincoln's life leading up to him being elected as president, with it starting out as a Broadway play. Interestingly, Raymond Massey played Abe Lincoln in the stage version as well, with him reprising his role for the 1940 film adaptation.
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Raymond Massey's nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role was historic, with it being the first of the nine presidential Oscar nominations. Abe Lincoln in Illinois was also nominated for another Oscar, being Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. However, Raymond Massey didn't end up taking home the gold that night, with him losing to James Stewart's performance as Macaulay "Mike" Connor in The Philadelphia Story. Massey was also nominated alongside Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator, Henry Fonda for The Grapes of Wrath, and Laurence Olivier for Rebecca.
8 Alexander Knox As Woodrow WilsonWilsonIt wouldn't be long until another actor was nominated at the Oscars for playing a president, with it happening just four years later. Andrew Knox was nominated at the 17th Academy Awards for portraying President Woodrow Wilson in 1944's Wilson. The film attempts to paint a full picture of Woodrow Wilson's time in politics, following him from his time as the governor of New Jersey to his role in World War I. Although Wilson wasn't a box office hit, it received critical acclaim, with it still being beloved to this day.
Best Actor was far from Wilson's only nomination. Wilson ended up winning five Oscars, those being Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Recording, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Wilson was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and Best Effects, Special Effects. Bing Crosby won Best Actor for his performance as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way, with the other nominees being Charles Boyer in Gaslight, Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way, and Cary Grant in None but the Lonely Heart.
7 James Whitmore As Harry S. TrumanGive 'em Hell, Harry!It would be a while before another actor was nominated for an Oscar for portraying a President, with it not happening again until the 48th Academy Awards. James Whitmore received a Best Actor nomination for playing Harry S. Truman in the 1975 film Give 'em Hell, Harry!, which was adapted from the play of the same name. Give 'em Hell, Harry was a one-man show, with it being the third film to have its entire cast nominated for an Oscar after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Sleuth.
At the 48th Academy Awards, James Whitmore's Best Actor nomination was the only one that Give 'em Hell, Harry! received. Unfortunately, Whitmore lost, with Jack Nicholson winning Best Actor for his performance as Randle Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Whitmore was also nominated alongside Walter Matthau for The Sunshine Boys, Al Pacino for Dog Day Afternoon, and Maximilian Schell for The Man in the Glass Booth.
6 Anthony Hopkins As Richard NixonNixonIt would again be a few decades before the fourth presidential performance was nominated at the Oscars, with Anthony Hopkins being nominated at the 68th Academy Awards for his performance as Richard Nixon in Nixon. William Oliver Stone's legendary 1995 film is unlike some of its Oscars predecessors, as it takes a much more critical look at the titular president. Nixon chronicles various important points in Nixon's life, including the Watergate scandal.
On top of its Best Actor nomination, Nixon also received nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Although Anthony Hopkins had previously won an Oscar for his performance in Silence of the Lambs, he did not win for Nixon. Instead, Nicolas Cage won for his performance as Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas. Hopkins was nominated alongside Richard Dreyfuss for Mr. Holland's Opus, Sean Penn for Dead Man Walking, and Massimo Troisi for Il Postino: The Postman.
5 Anthony Hopkins As John Quincy AdamsAmistadAnthony Hopkins is the only actor who has been nominated for playing a president twice, with him getting a nomination only a few years later at the 70th Academy Awards. Hopkins was nominated for portraying John Quincy Adams in Steven Spielberg's 1997 historical drama Amistad, which explored the fallout of a slave uprising that took place on the titular ship.
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Although Amistad didn't win any awards, it was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Dramatic Score. Anthony Hopkins did not win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, with Robin Williams winning it for his role as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. Hopkins was nominated alongside Robert Forster for Jackie Brown, Greg Kinnear for As Good as It Gets, and Burt Reynolds for Boogie Nights.
4 Frank Langella As Richard NixonFrost/NixonFrank Langella's Oscar nomination was another interesting milestone, with his performance as Richard Nixon making Nixon the first president to have two Oscar nominations for separate performances. Frank Langella was nominated for Best Actor at the 81st Academy Awards, with him playing the titular president in 2008's Frost/Nixon. The film tells the story of David Frost's interview with the President in the wake of the Watergate scandal, with it being directed by Ron Howard.
Frost/Nixon was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, with it winning none. Instead, Sean Penn won Best Actor for his performance as Harvey Milk in Milk. Langella was also nominated alongside Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler.
3 Daniel Day-Lewis As Abraham LincolnLincolnAfter decades of presidential Oscar nominations, Daniel Day-Lewis set a record by being the first (and as of the writing of this article, only) actor to actually win an Oscar for playing a president. Daniel Day-Lewis was another repeat president, with him being nominated at the 85th Academy Awards for playing Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film Lincoln. The Steven Spielberg biopic tells the story of Lincoln's attempts to end the Civil War.
At the Oscars, Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for his performance as Abraham Lincoln, with Lincoln also winning Best Production Design. On top of that, Lincoln was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. Daniel Day-Lewis was nominated alongside Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook, Hugh Jackman for Les MisĂŠrables, Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, and Denzel Washington for Flight.
2 Sam Rockwell As George W. BushViceFollowing Daniel Day-Lewis' historic win, Sam Rockwell was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 91st Academy Awards for his performance as George W. Bush in 2018's Vice. Coming just one year after he won the award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Rockwell's performance was considered to be one of the funniest of the year. However, this didn't translate into Oscars gold.
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Vice won Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 91st Academy Awards, with it also being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Rockwell didn't win Best Supporting Actor, with the Oscar instead going to Mahershala Ali for his performance as Don Shirley in Green Book. Rockwell was also nominated alongside Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman, Sam Elliot for A Star is Born, and Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
1 Sebastian Stan As Donald TrumpThe ApprenticeAs of the writing of this article, the most recent actor to get nominated for an Oscar for portraying a president is Sebastian Stan. Sebastian Stan was nominated at the 97th Academy Awards for his performance as Donald Trump in 2024's The Apprentice. The film tells the story of Donald Trump's start in the business world, with it focusing on his life decades before he became president.
Alongside Best Actor, The Apprentice also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jeremy Strong's performance as Roy Cohn. Stan was nominated alongside Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, TimothĂŠe Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, and Ralph Fiennes for Conclave. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on March 2, 2025, so tune in to see if Sebastian Stan becomes the second actor to win an award for playing a president at the Oscars.
Your RatingThe OscarsTV-14
Release Date March 19, 1953 Network ABC, NBC Directors Glenn Weiss, Alan Handley, George Seaton, Hamish Hamilton, Roger Goodman, Max Miller, Trevor Newman Writers Buz Kohan, Dave Boone, David Steinberg, Ed Driscoll, Hal Kanter, Jeff Cesario, Marc Shaiman, Jon Macks, Carol Leifer, Bruce Vilanch, Robert Wuhl, Dan Harmon, Phil Alden Robinson, Billy Crystal, Amberia Allen, John Hoffman, Mason Steinberg, Colleen Werthmann, Joelle Boucai, Greg Martin, Agathe Panaretos, Blaire Erskine, Louis Virtel, Jordan RubinThe Oscars, first held in 1929, is an annual American awards ceremony honoring achievements in the film industry. Winners across multiple categories receive a statuette officially named the Academy Award of Merit, commonly known as the Oscar.
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