12 Actors Who Have Switched Political Sides

Here are 12 actors who have switched political sides over the course of their careers.

Some moved left, some moved right.

All have changed.

Rob Schneider

Rob Schneider left the Democratic Party in 2013, when he was quoted telling The Blaze: “The state of California is a mess, and the super majority of Democrats is not working. I’ve been a lifelong Democrat and I have to switch over because it no longer serves the people of this great state.”

In 2017, he told Larry King he was “an independent, but I’m definitely more conservative. … I’m against any form of taking away people’s rights. He said the right-wing used to be more likely to take away people’s rights, but that it’s now liberals.

Last June, he endorsed Robert Kennedy Jr., who was running against President Biden in the Democratic primaries. Kennedy then announced he would run as an independent, and Schneider remained a supporter, taking part in an event called A Night of Laughter with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

But when Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and got behind Trump, Schneider endorsed Trump as well.

“As a fellow American Citizen and Robert Kennedy Jr. supporter, I hope that you will OPPOSE TYRANNY and join us and VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” Schneider wrote on X.

James Woods

James Woods, the star of classics like Videodrome and Casino (above), has tweeted that he was a Democrat “for years, until Clinton was impeached.”

He added: “Every single Democrat without exception stood behind a convicted perjurer. That was the end.”

He’s now one of the most outspoken Hollywood conservatives, and made no secret of his disdain for Kamala Harris after she replaced Biden as the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Ronald Reagan

Yep, even the Gipper switched parties. He once considered Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt a “true hero,” and supported Democrat Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election.

But in 1952, he supported the Republican presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and in 1960 supported Ike’s vice president, Richard Nixon.

That’s him above in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American.

Lindsay Lohan

The Mean Girls star has repeatedly bounced back and forth, politically. During the 2008 presidential campaign, she offered to help Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign, and received a thanks but no thanks. She later blogged against Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, criticizing her environmental positions and calling her a “a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe.”

But she backed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, then tweeted words of support for President Obama. And in 2017, she asked her Twitter followers to take it easy on President Trump, urging them to “Stop bullying him and start trusting him.”

Curiously, in 2004, Trump had opined to Howard Stern that Lohan, 18 at the time, was “probably deeply troubled and therefore great in bed. How come the deeply troubled women, you know, deeply, deeply troubled, they’re always the best in bed?”

Anyway, that’s Lohan above in Netflix’s Falling for Christmas. Lately the Freaky Friday star has kept out of politics.

Isaiah Washington

Former Grey’s Anatomy starIsaiah Washingtonexplained in a 2019 interview his decision to “walk away” from the Democratic Party and back President Trump.

“Walking away … is a sacrifice, it’s a risk, and there’s a penalty for it,” Washington told Fox Nation’s “Nuff Said,” adding that “the reason why I’ve chosen to walk away from the Democratic Party as I know it … is that something doesn’t feel right.”

He added: “I don’t know where I’m going, but I know where I come from. And if I look at the political image of the Democratic Party over the last 50 years of my life since I was 5, and very little has changed for my community, then I have some questions— more than questions.”

Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris said in a 2014 interview that he “used to be a Democrat, but the unfortunately the Democrats went too far too the left,” adding, “What the Democrats believed 40 years ago, the Republicans believe today. … The Democrats went too far off the trail.”

Norris now endorses Republican candidates and writes a regular column for right-wing WorldNetDaily.

Prior to the Biden-Trump debate in June, he offered an evenhanded analysis likening the debate to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and urged both candidates not to be overconfident.

That’s him supporting the troops, above.

Robert Duvall

The Lonesome Dove (above) and Godfather icon was a longtime conservative, though he said in a 2014 interview that he would “probably vote Independent next time” and expressed his opinion that “the Republican Party is a mess.”

He added: “I think it was Jack Kerouac who said something like, ‘Don’t run down my country. My people are immigrants, so I believe in this country with all its faults. To me, it’s a big country that’s made mistakes.’”

But he’s not fan of the far left, either: “Some of the bleeding-heart left-wing, extreme left-wing, are actually different from liberals.”

And he criticized Democrats’ record on race during the Civil Rights Era, saying “all the atrocities in the South were committed by the Democratic Party.” He also said, however: “I believe in a woman’s choice.”

Dennis Miller

Saturday Night Live alum and Joe Dirt actor Dennis Miller said in a 2003 Time interview that he’s been both a Democrat and Republican. Asked about his parents’ politcs, he replied:

“I didn’t know my Dad — he moved out early. And my mom’s politics were kind of hardscrabble. She didn’t think about Democrats or Republicans. She thought about who made sense. I’ve been both in my life. Somebody can say they don’t understand why somebody drifts. But I’ve always found people who drift interesting, ’cause it shows me the game’s not stagnant in their own head. They’re thinking.”

He became known for conservatism after 9/11, telling the New York Times that he is conservative on taxes and foreign policy, but not social issues:

“If two gay guys want to get married, it’s none of my business. I could care less. More power to them. I’m happy when people fall in love,” he said. “I think abortion’s wrong, but it’s none of my business to tell somebody what’s wrong. So I’m pro-choice. I want to keep my nose out of other people’s personal business.”

He urged conservatives to back Donald Trump in 2016, tweeting: “Don’t kid yourself. At this point, any vote for anyone that is not Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. Also, both Presidential boxes left blank is a vote for Hillary Clinton because, as mindless as Liberals can be, even they don’t enter into suicide pacts with that petulant, whiny part of themselves.”

Whatever you think of his politics, he has a very secure spot on our list of the Best SNL Stars of the ’80s.

Donald Trump

Why is Donald Trump on a list of actors who have switched political sides? The former Apprentice host has appeared in films including Home Alone 2 (above) and Ghosts Can’t Do It, with the person on the next slide.

Politifact reports that according to the New York City Board of Elections, the former president and current Republican presidential candidate has changed his party affiliation five times since registering as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987.

In 1999, he joined the Independence Party, in 2001, he became a Democrat, in 2009 he registered Republican, in 2011, he registered as an independent, and in 2012, he went back to the Republicans.

Bo Derek

Bo Derek, star of 10 (above) and Bolero, supported several Republican candidates, but said in Variety in 2020 that she was through talking politics and was an independent.

“I don’t talk about who I vote for anymore. I supported Bush 43 and I became one of the poster girls for the Republicans. But I’m an independent. I don’t want to be pigeonholed and labeled as one thing or another,” she said.

She also commented on Donald Trump’s cameo in her 1989 film Ghosts Can’t Do It:

“You know that telephone recording that a journalist had of Donald Trump’s publicist calling to get him in the papers and everybody thinks that is his voice promoting himself? It was at that time. We had a mutual friend who said, ‘You’re making a movie and Donald Trump is looking to be a cameo in something. Do you have anything?’ So we wrote a scene and he was great.”

Snoop Dogg

You may think of Snoop as a rapper, not an actor, but he’s acted in films from Training Day to Starsky & Hutch (above) to the new Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie.

Snoop said in 2017 he would “roast” any artist who was willing to perform for Trump at his inauguration, apparently had a change of heart. In 2020, he saidhe wanted to vote Trump out of the White House.

But Snoop changed his tune after Trump pardoned Michael Harris, co-founder of Snoop’s first label, Death Row, when Harris was in prison for drug offenses.

“He ain’t done nothing wrong to me,” Snoop said of Trump in 2024. “He has done only great things for me. He pardoned Michael Harris. … So I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump.

In January 2025, he performed at the Inaugural Crypto Ball, an event “intended to honor the 60th Presidential Inauguration, America’s first ‘crypto president,’ President elect Donald J. Trump, his incoming cabinet and administration.”

Charlton Heston

The star of some of The 10 Commandments and The Planet of the Apes (above) started out endorsing Democratic candidtaes for president, and visibly supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He also supported gun control.

In the 1972 presidential election, he shifted rightward, supporting Republican President Richard Nixon over his Democratic challenger, George McGovern.

He subsequently became a strong backer of Republican President Ronald Reagan (who of course appeared previously on this list) and eventually became an outspoken Second Amendment advocate as the president of the National Rifle Association.

If you liked this list of actors who have switched political sides, you might also like this list of 11 Actors Who’ve Held Their Breath for a Very Long Time.

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Main image: Bo Derek in 10. Warner Bros.