5 celebrities who have run for president or discussed a potential campaign

Over the years, a handful of celebrities have transitioned from the silver screen to public office.

Most notably, President Ronald Reagan spent 30 years in the movie business, contracting with Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures and Universal Pictures, before his political career, according to Remind Magazine. Before being elected president in 1980, Reagan ran for governor of California and won that office in 1966 “by a margin of a million votes,” according to the White House.

Here are five celebrities who have likewise attempted, though somewhat less successfully, to become the president of the United States.

1. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

On Nov. 9, Johnson appeared on Trevor Noah’s podcast “What Now?” and discussed the validity of recent rumors that the actor will soon announce a presidential campaign.

He said, “I got a visit from the parties asking me if I was going to run, and if I could run.”

On the show, Noah referred to a 2021 poll claiming “46% of U.S. adults would support Johnson’s campaign for president.”

The actor explained what it was like being approached by political parties. “It was one after the other, and they brought up that poll, and they also brought up their own deep-dive research that would prove that should I ever go down that road (I’d be a real contender),” he said, per Variety. “It was all very surreal because that’s never been my goal. My goal has never been to be in politics. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot about politics that I hate.”

The odds of Johnson running in the near future seem to be low. He told Noah he doesn’t want to spend that much time away from his children. He explained he regrets being gone for so much of his 22-year-old’s childhood and wants to be more present for his 5-year-old and 7-year-old.

2. Kanye West

Rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, announced his bid for the White House on July 4, 2020, according to Ballotpedia. He lost the general election several months later on Nov. 3.

During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s show in the middle of his presidential campaign, West explained why he decided to run for president. He said it was “something that God put on my heart back in 2015.”

“A few days before the MTV Awards, it hit me in the shower. And when I first thought of it, I just started laughing to myself, all this joy came over my body, through my soul. I felt that energy, I felt that spirit,” he said.

3. Joe Exotic

In February of this year, Netflix’s Tiger King filed to run for president as a Libertarian, the Deseret News reported. Though Joe Exotic has not made an appearance at any debates so far, it seems as though his aspiration of winning the presidency is not over.

On Nov. 9, in an X post, Joe captioned a photo of a woman holding a tiger next to his campaign slogan, “America has spoken.”

4. Howard Stern/Bradley Cooper

Longtime radio host Howard Stern said on his SiriusXM show in June 2022 that he’ll pursue the presidency if former President Donald Trump becomes the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

“The problem with most presidents is they have too big of an agenda. The only agenda I would have is to make the country fair again,” Stern said.

Stern didn’t just announce his own potential run for the presidency, he added who his vice president would be. He said, “This guy is gonna bring in the female vote like you wouldn’t believe.”

“My vice president: Vice President Bradley Cooper. I know, it sends chills up your spine. ... I told him I’m announcing it today,” Stern said, according to Entertainment Weekly.

5. Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr was born in Salt Lake City in 1952 and had her own sitcom called “Roseanne,” according to PBS.

In 2012, she ran for president with the left-wing Peace and Freedom Party. At the time, she supported legalizing marijuana, and her candidacy website included the claim that, “The legalization of marijuana is the way to end all drug wars and stop the monopoly of the subsidized prison systems,” as Fox News reported.

Since her 2012 presidential run, Barr’s political views have shifted to the right. Last week, she posted a photo of herself on Instagram with Trump, captioned, “The new American gothic.”