Not every celeb who runs for office. In fact, we have a list of them (READ MORE: Celebs Who Ran For Office But Lost).
But, these celebs had successful careers in the entertainment business before becoming politicians.
Jerry Springer
Photo Credit: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Before a live television chanted “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” with enthusiasm as they patiently awaited another live brawl on his tv set the voters of Cincinnati may have chanted it metaphorically speaking.
Before becoming the host of the wildly popular television show Jerry Springer, the Northwestern educated lawyer had a passion for politics.
He served as a campaign adviser for the political campaign of Robert F. Kennedy and was made Mayor of Cincinnati by its city council. He only served term, but later ran for Governor of Ohio unsuccessfully in the 80’s.
After Springer became a daytime television success in the 90’s, he considered running for US Senate but later decided against it.
Admittedly, it’d be tough to leave a television show that was beating Oprah in the ratings in some cities.
Senator Springer would sure have a ring to it, though.
Glenn Jacobs
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore Wikimedia Commons
Most may know Glenn Jacobs as WWE Superstar wrestler Kane who was the Undertaker’s half-brother according to WWW storylines.
Photo Credit: Miguel Discart, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jacobs successfully ran for Mayor of Knox County, TN and assumed office in 2018.
Despite overseeing a county with nearly half a million people, Jacobs still found a little time to make sporadic up until 2021.
World Wrestling Entertainment also put the former World Heavyweight Champion in the Hall of Fame and he won reelection as mayor in 2021. It was an eventful year for Jacobs.
While Jacobs character in the wrestling ring was scary, others who have met the Mayor described him as a “super nice guy”.
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Photo Credit: David Shankbone from USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Ok, so Mehmet Oz hasn’t won elected office, but earlier this year he won the Republican primary to be the Republican nominee for the US Senate in Pennsylvania.
The doctor –who was educated at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania – rose to fame as a regular guest on Oprah Winfrey’s daytime TV talk show before getting his own television show.
However, when he ran for Senate Oprah stayed out of the race, but it was none other than former President Trump who helped Dr. Oz get over the hump and win his primary.
He’s slated to face John Fetterman –who is seen a rising star in the Democratic Party– in November’s general election.
Clint Eastwood
Photo Credit: Series: Reagan White House Photographs, 1/20/1981 – 1/20/1989Collection: White House Photographic Collection, 1/20/1981 – 1/20/1989, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The producer, director and actor has filled his shelves with awards for his work on Mystic River, American Sniper, Unforgiven, and Million Dollar Baby.
Even with all of his success at the box office, Eastwood always had a passion for politics.
He has long been a proponent of pacifism. He expressed disapproval of the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Eastwood, who considers himself a libertarian, but has supported candidates from both parties.
In 1986, Eastwood took the dive into politics. He ran for mayor for a small town in California called Carmel-by-the-Sea.
After being elected he choose to only serve one-term and advocated for small business interests and environmental preservation. He even spearheaded construction of a library annex with public restrooms, beach walkways, and a parking lot for tourists.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Photo Credit: Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The Austrian-born former bodybuilder, turned actor, turned Governor made a splash when he starred in The Terminator in the 80’s.
He also made our list of wealthiest actors (READ MORE: 12 Wealthiest Actors in America)
Arnold terminated the competition when he ran for Governor of California in 2003. A position he served in from 2003 to 2011.
You could say the Golden State got the Governator Part I and Part II.
Despite making tons of money in Hollywood and as an entrepreneur he had a hunger for more.
He told The Hollywood Reporter, that if he would have been born in America he would’ve run for President.
Jesse Ventura
Photo Credit: Cory Barnes from Vancouver, WA, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jesse “The Body Ventura”, a Navy veteran, began his wrestling career with California body builder gimmick.
This gimmick eventually allowed for him to rise to the top of the then Worldwide Wrestling Federation (now called WWE) ranks.
This allowed him to launch an acting career where he received credits from films, including Predator, Major League II, and Demolition Man.
In 1991, Ventura hopped into a new ring. At the advice of one of his former teacher he ran for Mayor of Brooklyn Park, MN. He ended up defeating a mayor who served for 25 years.
After serving for 4 years, Ventura ran for governor of Minnesota as an independent. His persona and outside the box view on politics allowed him to win despite spending a considerably less amount of money than his opponents.
While he decided to not run for a second term, Ventura gathered a national following and has been urged to run for President on multiple occasions.
Al Franken
Photo Credit: Spc. Nathan Hoskins, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Franken started his career out in comedy and ironically focused on political satire.
He was recruited to become one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live (SNL) and made several appearances on the show.
After his tenure he went on to write a film based on his SNL character Stuart Smaller and wrote a book in 1996 titled Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.
In 2007, Franken launched a US Senate campaign challenging incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. He came away victorious but not until after a long recount process which took a few months.
He eventually resigned from the Senate in 2018 following misconduct allegations in which multiple women stepped forward to accuse the then Senator.
Fred Thompson
Photo Credit: freddthompson, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Thompson was an attorney by trade who was appointed as minority counsel to assist Republican senators during the Watergate Committee.
So it may have come natural for Thompson to play a recurring role on the hit series Law & Order.
Thompson also appeared in The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard 2 and Days of Thunder to name a few.
He was elected to the US Senate in 1994 to finish out the two remaining years of Al Gore’s term after he became Vice-President.
Thompson eventually made a run at the White House in 2008 which drew much fan fare, but he fell flat out of the gates and dropped out after the early primaries.
One interesting gig the late Senator had during his life was a fill-in for Paul Harvey when he would take vacations.
Manny Pacquiao
Photo Credit: rcelis, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
He was known as “PacMan” in the boxing ring, but to residents of the Philippines he was a Senator. A position in which he served from 2016 to 2022.
The four-time boxing welterweight champion earned $1.2 billion from his 25 pay-per-view bouts so you know he wasn’t serving in public office for the money.
Ronald Reagan
Photo Credit: Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“The Gipper” was a President before he became the US President.
His acting career led him to becoming the President of the Screen Actors Guild, a position which he was elected to 7 times.
However, he wasn’t always at the ballot box.
After becoming Governor of California in 1967 and serving for 8 years, Reagan launched a campaign for President in 1976 as a Republican.
He lost the primary to then-Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, but that didn’t deter The Gipper.
Reagan tried again in 1980 with much support from the Republican Party and became a two-term President.
Sonny Bono
Photo Credit: Peter Denton, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Almost everyone knows Sonny from his entertainment career alongside Cher.
However, after becoming frustrated with his local government, Bono made the jump to politics in 1988 in a successful bid to become Mayor of Palm Springs, California.
After 4 years as Mayor, Bono upped the stakes. He launched a bid for the Republican nomination for the US Senate unsuccessfully.
Two years later, he ran for the US Congress and won his election which made him the only member of Congress to ever have a number-one pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Sean Duffy
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Duffy just left office in 2019 after serving for 8 years as a Congressman from Wisconsin.
However, his first claim to fame was as a cast member on MTV’s The Real World: Boston in 1997, which was one of the first reality TV series to gain traction.
Duffy currently spends his time as a Fox News contributor.