Donald Trump's weirdest movie and TV cameos you totally forgot about

Before he was President, before he dominated cable news, and long before he made headlines with courtrooms and campaign trails, Donald Trump was busy doing something else - popping up in movies and TV shows across decades of pop culture.

Whether he was giving Macaulay Culkin directions in Home Alone 2, telling his onscreen son in The Little Rascals "You're the best son money can buy," or stealing a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene in Sex and the City, Trump mastered the art of the surprise cameo.

Often playing himself - the flashy billionaire with a gold tie and an even shinier ego - Trump used these appearances to cement his brand long before reality TV made him a household name. Some cameos were campy, others unintentionally hilarious, and a few aged like milk, but all of them paint a picture of a man who was as obsessed with fame as he was with fortune.

He even brought that flair to the wrestling ring, shaving Vince McMahon's head at WrestleMania 23 in front of a roaring crowd. Here's a look back at the forgotten, bizarre, and iconic screen moments that helped turn Donald Trump into one of the most recognisable faces on - and off - television.

Ghosts Can't Do It (1989)

Trump's big-screen debut wasn't exactly a hit - in fact, it earned him a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor.

In Ghosts Can't Do It, a bizarre romantic comedy starring Bo Derek, Trump plays himself, appearing in a surreal boardroom scene involving business deals and reincarnated love.

In an interview with , Derek said Trump did "great" in the 1989 film. "Looking back, I knew Donald Trump," Derek recalled when speaking to Yahoo!'s Editor Ethan Alter.

"We just got a call from a mutual friend saying, 'Donald you know is looking to be in movies. And I know you're making a movie now. Can you-is there a cameo you could put him in?'"

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Trump's most famous cameo sees him giving Macaulay Culkin's Kevin directions in the Plaza Hotel lobby - a property Trump actually owned at the time. The appearance is just seconds long, but became iconic.

When the scene was later edited out of some broadcasts, it sparked uproar from fans and even Trump himself, who claimed he "made the movie successful."

Like it or not, it's the Trump cameo everyone remembers.

The Little Rascals (1994)

Playing the rich and aloof father of spoiled kid Waldo, Trump delivers the now-infamous line: "You're the best son money can buy."

It's peak 90s Trump - smug, suited, and sitting behind a gold-plated desk.

The cameo didn't age well, with some fans mocking its over-the-top delivery, but it perfectly captured his larger-than-life image long before politics came calling.

Zoolander (2001)

Alongside Melania, Trump appears on the red carpet praising male model Derek Zoolander. "Without Derek, male modelling wouldn't be what it is today," he declares.

Ben Stiller later revealed that, despite outcry from fans calling for a brief scene featuring the current United States President to be cut from the film, he won't be editing Donald Trump out of his 2001 comedy.

Stiller discussed the controversy on a recent episode of The Daily Beast's podcast, saying: "I've had people reach out to me and say, you should edit Donald Trump out of Zoolander.

"But at the end of the day, that was a time when that exists and that happened,"

Two Weeks Notice (2002)

In this romcom starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, Trump shows up briefly to give Grant's character some sarcastic career advice at a glitzy event.

Although Hugh Grant shared the screen with Donald Trump nearly 15 years before the former president took office, the moment didn't leave much of an impression.

While reminiscing about his 2002 romantic-comedy Two Weeks Notice, the Golden Globe winner said Trump's cameo "didn't really register" to him as he was preoccupied with a bet he made with co-star Sandra Bullock.

"He always wanted to be in my stuff, yeah," Grant joked as he appeared on The Graham Norton Show. "He played a bit part as himself in a romantic comedy I did with Sandra Bullock," he explained. "But the fact is, I don't really remember him very well."

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994)

In 1994 he and his second wife, actress and TV presenter Marla Marples, played themselves in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

As prospective buyers of the family home, Will Smith's on-screen cousin Carlton screams: "It's The Donald, oh my god!" before fainting, before his sister Hilary says: "You look much richer in person."

The Nanny (1996)

Fran Fine's brush with Trump came at a charity event in season four. He appeared as himself - naturally - and exchanged polite, awkward banter with Fran.

"I stood in this scene," Fran Drescher recalled on Late Night With Seth Meyers, "and I said to the two of them, 'All you millionaires are alike.' And "Peter [Jacobson], now my gay ex-husband, he got a note from his assistant, Donald Trump's assistant that said, 'Mr. Trump is not a millionaire. He's a billionaire and we'd like you to change the script."

But the actress wasn't swayed that easily. "I thought that seemed too on the money because I know Fran would have described anyone who was rich as a millionaire," she confessed. "But to say billionaire seems like a specific choice. So we asked him if it would be OK if we wrote zillionaire. And he said that was fine."

Sex and the City (1999)
Trump popped up in the episode "The Man, the Myth, the Viagra," where Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones eyes him up at a cocktail bar.

Sarah Jessica Parker's narrator voice Carrie Bradshaw explains: "Samantha, a Cosmopolitan and Donald Trump ... you just don't get more New York than that."

Days of Our Lives (2005)

Trumo made a cameo appearance in a 2005 episode of the soap opera Days of Our Lives.

During the episode, Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker) approaches Trump and asks him for a job at his company, insinuating that sexual favors would be involved. "That's an interesting proposition, Mrs. Walker. I'll get back to you," Trump tells her.

"Really?" she asks, to which he replies, "Yeah, really."

"Really?" Nicole asks again.

"No," Trump says as he walks away.