John Di Domenico

John Di Domenico
Di Domenico in 2018
Born (1962-11-04) November 4, 1962 (age 62)
OccupationActor
Years active1980–present
Websitejohnnyd.net

John Di Domenico (born November 4, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and writer, best known for his award-winning impersonation of Donald Trump.[1][2][3][4][5] He has portrayed Donald Trump many times on television, movies and web series, which includes Meet the Spartans, Conan, Red Eye, You Got Trumped and others.[6][7][8]

Early life and education

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Di Domenico was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania to John and Selena Di Domenico. When he was a teenager, he started performing with a community theatre group which worked out of the Ambler Theatre and Opera house. Di Domenico attended East Stroudsburg University in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, majoring in Speech Communications.[9] He then transferred to Temple University in Philadelphia.[10] After he graduated from Temple with a BA in Speech Communications Di Domenico joined a Philadelphia advertising agency as a copywriter.

Career

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He began his acting career in the late 1980s in Philadelphia. He first joined SKITZOID Comedy Troupe and started performing and touring nationally with the company. He became the head writer and artistic director. In September 1989 Di Domenico auditioned for and landed the role of Joey Vitale in the hit off-Broadway interactive improvisational show "Tony n' Tina's Wedding."[11] While working in New York John became a member of Some Assembly Required, one of the city's finest improvisation companies.

Di Domenico has portrayed Donald Trump many times on Conan,[12] Fox News Redeye and the Netflix original series Chelsea.[13][14][15] Di Domenico won ABC's The View's "Best Donald Trump" competition.[16] John's non-Trump appearances include the CBS series True Detective, "Labor Day" for PBS, and the hit HBO series, The Sopranos, where he played Howie Reinstein.

In 2016 during Trump's candidacy for President of the United States, Di Domenico's celebrity surged with media appearances and coverage with news media outlets worldwide all over the globe.[17][18][19]

During his career, he has impersonated celebrities including Dr. Phil, Guy Fieri, Jay Leno and Mike Myers.[20][21]

Trump Impersonation

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He began his Donald Trump impression in 2004 when asked if he could do a voice-over of "The Donald" for The Apprentice type game.[22][23] Di Domenico has closely studied Trump's vocal and physical changes over the years to adapt his own impersonation, spending for Donald Trump wigs and creating personalized make-up and wardrobe to capture the essence of Trump.[24][25] He has appeared as Donald Trump on Fox & Friends (Fox News) in 2006 and has appeared multiple times since then.[26][27][28] In January 2021, Di Domenico began acting in a YouTube webisode series, Orange Acres, where he and actress Mikalah Gordon portray Donald and Melania Trump as they navigate the post-Presidency life, searching for jobs and attempting to get out of crippling debt.

Credits

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Movies

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Year Movies Role Notes
2008 Meet the Spartans Donald Trump [29]
2008 Disaster Movie Dr. Phil lookalike/The Love Guru
2013 Not Another Celebrity Movie Donald Trump [30]
2013 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Ronald Crump [31]
2012 Plurality Director Allan Pollard
2019 Purge of Kingdoms Lord Trumpet of Orange
2020 Trump Card Donald Trump (voice)

Television

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Year Television Role Notes
2020 The Good Fight Donald Trump Episode: "The Gang Goes to War"
2017 Chelsea 3 episodes
2017 The View Actor
2017 The New Movie Show Donald Trump
2016 You Got Trumped: The First 100 Days 13 episodes [32]
2016 Marino
2016 President Trump: Can He Really Win?
2016 ABC News Nightline
2015-2018 Conan 49 episodes
2015–2017 Red Eye w/Tom Shillue
2015 Who Is Donald Trump?
2014 American Native
2007 The Sopranos Howie Reinstein Episode: "Kennedy and Heidi"

Awards

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His appearance on ABC's The View helped him the win for "Best Trump" impersonation which made him a finalist in the L.A. Laugh Factory's International Trump Impersonation contest, for which he took top spot.

References

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  1. ^ "Trump Impersonator shares GOP candidate's hilarious plans for the White House". USA Today. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  2. ^ Wollan, Malia (May 20, 2016). "How to Impersonate Someone". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  3. ^ "Yuge news: Kirk Cousins shoots Super Bowl commercial with fake Trump". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  4. ^ O'Neill, Josh (March 28, 2016). "At £7,000 per booking, is this man the world's BEST Donald Trump impersonator?". Daily Express. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  5. ^ "Political Parodies: The Best Trump and Clinton Impersonations..." ksat.com. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  6. ^ "The Hardest Working Trump Impersonator in Showbiz". Narratively. November 7, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  7. ^ "Meet the Trump Impersonator Who Was in a Local Heating Company's Super Bowl Ad | Washingtonian". Washingtonian. February 6, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  8. ^ Kisner, Jordan (June 23, 2017). "Being Donald Trump: the life of an impersonator". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  9. ^ "Ambler native John Di Domenico impersonates Donald Trump for big bucks". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  10. ^ "Odd Super Bowl ad starring Temple grad and ex-NFL star didn't air in Philly". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  11. ^ correspondent, Michael Elkin. "No ducking this Donald impression". Bucks County Courier Times. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2018. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ "Seizing on Trump's Political Rise". BernardGoldberg.com. June 6, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  13. ^ "Di Domenico's Trump even trumps Trump". Las Vegas Review-Journal. November 3, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  14. ^ Reporters, Telegraph (June 8, 2016). "Is Meryl Streep the best Donald Trump? The top five celebrity impersonators". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  15. ^ "Le sosie de Donald Trump profite de la campagne de son modèle". cnews.fr (in French). Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  16. ^ Fitz-Gerald, Sean (June 24, 2016). "The Best Donald Trump Impressions, Ranked". Thrillist. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  17. ^ Confidential. "Trump impersonator at National Enquirer party won't say who has his vote – NY Daily News". Daily News. New York. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  18. ^ "This Donald Trump impersonator is so good he is a celebrity in his own right". Deccan Chronicle. October 11, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  19. ^ Corner, Natalie (September 27, 2016). "Donald Trump impersonator FOOLS This Morning viewers". mirror. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  20. ^ "Trump impressionist John Di Domenico's next portrayal: himself". Las Vegas Review-Journal. February 19, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  21. ^ "Best Celebrity Impersonator John Di Domenico Booking Agent – Booking Best Celebrity Impersonator and Political Comedian for Live Political Comedy Shows and Corporate Event Entertainment – Politicos Comedy Brigade". politicoscomedy.com. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  22. ^ "The art of Trump-speak: How to talk like The Donald". July 21, 2016. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  23. ^ Virtue, Graeme; Mumford, Gwilym; Holland, Luke; Dean, Will; Raeside, Julia; Sherwin, Skye; Jonze, Tim (November 5, 2016). "Pop goes Trump! The artists, comedians and meme-makers deflating the Donald". The Guardian. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  24. ^ "Meet the World's Most Tremendous Trump Impersonator". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  25. ^ "As long as Trump is in the race, these impersonators will have jobs". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  26. ^ "Trump that! Donald Trump impersonator earns £35k a month for gigs". Daily Star. United Kingdom. October 9, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  27. ^ "Donald Trump's Plan to Build a Border Wall Is Mercilessly Mocked in This New Ad". Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  28. ^ Bellantoni, Christina (June 22, 2016). "Why is this company using Donald Trump's border wall to sell a camera?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  29. ^ "Yuge news: Kirk Cousins shoots Super Bowl commercial with fake Trump". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  30. ^ "Exclusive : Gaga, Sheen & Bieber in Not Another Celebrity Movie? – Moviehole". moviehole.net. Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  31. ^ "John Di Domenico". IMDb. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  32. ^ "You Got Trumped : les 100 premiers jours de la présidence de Donald Trump déjà parodiés". Le Figaro (in French). November 9, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
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