We decided to commemorate America’s Independence Day by watching Independence Day a movie where President Thomas J. Whitmore leads an squadron of fighter jets against an alien attack. Which got us wondering – what does Hollywood think a President should look like? We went through Wikipedia’s list of fictional Presidents and figured out how they compared to their real world counterparts.

First we looked at where those who become President on-screen or in reality are from:

Ohioans seem particularly Presidential as both the American electorate, and entertainment casting agents, have selected individuals from the the Buckeye State to lead the country. Virginia also accounts for a large number of America’s Presidents although Hollywood had tended to select New Yorkers and Californians to play Commander in Chief.

While in the real world there have been more Republicans than Democrats in office, the entertainment industry is slightly fonder of depicting Democrats running the show.

On-Screen Presidents are a touch more diverse than those who have actually sat in the Oval Office, though we have yet to see an Asian President, despite Asians making up about 5% of America’s population.

And so it is that we live in a world where 9% female representation seems shockingly progressive.

One place where the entertainment industry gets it exactly right is age. Since George Washington took the oath the average age of a President being sworn into office has been 54.7. The average age of an actor playing President has been 54.5.

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