Donald Trump’s most memorable appearances in TV and film: from Sex and the City, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Nanny, to Zoolander and Home Alone 2 – but which cameos won him Razzies for Worst Actor?
- Will Smith got pally with Trump and his second wife Marla Maples in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, while in Ben Stiller’s Zoolander, a young Melania Trump appeared on Don’s arm
- The team working on 90s sitcom The Nanny were asked to correct the script after calling Trump a ‘millionaire’ instead of a ‘billionaire’, while the CBC cut Trump’s cameo from Home Alone 2
In less complicated times, Trump courted Hollywood producers and even impersonated his own publicist to get in front of the camera (more on that later). The former president has an impressive 32 acting credits on IMDB – so which cameos stand out? We survey the highlights … and lowlights.
Late 80s beginnings
Trump’s first acting credit is for the 1989 Bobby Brown music video “On Our Own” from the Ghostbusters II soundtrack. In a video stacked with New York celebrities, Trump is first to appear. Sauntering out of Trump Tower, he looks left and right before spotting a projection of Brown singing and dancing on the building’s facade.
Keeping with the supernatural theme, the future president cameoed the same year in the fantasy romcom Ghosts Can’t Do It. Written and directed by John Derek, and starring his wife Bo Derek, Ghosts has an IMDB user rating of 2.2 out of 10 and was described by TV Guide as “the worst-ever movie from John and Bo Derek, which makes it one of the low points of what passes for civilisation in the 20th century”.
In a line laden with foreshadowing, Bo Derek’s character says flirtatiously to Trump – who appears as himself – “I think you like to make mischief.”
Discussing her “co-star” in an August 2021 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Derek recalled, “We got a call from a mutual friend saying, ‘Donald is looking to be in movies.’” She added that, with hindsight, she believed the call came from Trump himself. As reported in The Washington Post, the Donald made a habit during his early career of impersonating his own publicist.
Trump’s turn in Ghosts Can’t Do It earned him a Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie, for Worst Supporting Actor. He was also nominated in the category of Worst New Star.