All the presidents’ women: 12 actresses who have played first ladies on screen

As a new US TV show casts Viola Davis as Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, we look at the first ladies who have been given the Hollywood treatment

Viola Davis as Michelle Obama: The three-time Oscar nominee and one-time Best Supporting Actress winner will be playing Michelle Obama in ‘The First Lady’, alongside actor O-T Fagbenle as Barack Obama. AFP, Getty Images

Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt: Anderson follows her role of Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Crown’ by playing the longest-serving first lady in history. Wife to four-term president Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor spoke out about civil rights and pushed the US to join and support the United Nations, becoming its first delegate. AFP, AP

Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford: Pfeiffer is set to play Betty Ford in 'The First Lady', opposite Aaron Eckhart’s Gerald Ford. She helped raise awareness of addiction issues by going public with her own battles with alcoholism and substance abuse. AFP, Getty Images

Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton: Emmy-winning ‘The Sopranos’ star Falco will portray Clinton in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’, about impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, who will be played by Clive Owen. AFP, Newsmakers

Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy: The actress played Jackie Kennedy in ‘The Kennedys’ and ‘The Kennedys: After Camelot’ opposite Greg Kinnear as JFK. ‘She was so graceful, even when she was scared or sad,’ Holmes told ‘Town and Country’. ‘I really admire her protection of the Kennedy name, her husband and how much she wanted her children to be as grounded and normal and successful on their own as possible.’ Courtesy Reelzchannel, Getty Images

Lois de Banzie as Eleanor Roosevelt: De Banzie played a young Eleanor Roosevelt in the beloved musical ‘Annie', when Mr Warbucks takes the orphan to the White House to visit FDR. Courtesy Columbia Pictures, AP

Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy: Portman received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the first lady, with whom the public’s fascination endured long after she left the White House in 1963 following the assassination of John F Kennedy. Courtesy Fox Searchlight, AFP

Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush: ‘Hunger Games’ actress Banks took on the role of the popular first lady Laura Bush in the film ‘W’, saying: ‘I just wanted to honour her voice, her stillness and her hairstyle.’ Shutterstock, Getty Images

Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy: The US actress played a youthful Jackie Kennedy opposite James Marsden’s JFK in Lee Daniels' 'The Butler’ in 2013. Courtesy Weinstein Co, Shutterstock

Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan: The veteran actress took on the role of Nancy Reagan in Lee Daniels’ 'The Butler’. The Reagans were in the White House from 1981 to 1989. ‘I tried to be who she was: a forceful, loyal, powerful first lady,’ Fonda told ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. Courtesy Weinstein Co, Getty Images

Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush: First lady to George HW Bush, who was president from 1989 to 1993, Barbara was portrayed by actress Burstyn in the movie ‘W’. Shutterstock, Getty Images

Jodi Balfour as Jackie Kennedy: Actress Balfour played Kennedy in Netflix show ‘The Crown’, as she famously fell afoul of Queen Elizabeth II by criticising Buckingham Palace during the president’s one visit there. Courtesy Netflix, Getty Images

There has always been a fascination with first ladies, the women who share the White House with their president husbands. From their style to their politics, first ladies have long wielded power, even if historically many had to do so quietly behind the scenes, so as not to upstage their men.

The new US TV show The First Lady is set to lift the lid on what really goes on beyond the Oval Office and Rose Garden, reframing life at the White House to show it through the eyes of the women who lived through some of the biggest moments in history alongside their husbands.

Having so far cast Michelle Pfeiffer as 1970s first lady Betty Ford, Viola Davis as Michelle Obama and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, the show will focus on the contribution of these women to the running of the US, and their influence on their husbands and policy.

While some first ladies were content to take a back seat, many others, including Ford, Roosevelt, Obama and Hillary Clinton, were front and centre to offer their opinions and input on both political and social issues.

In the 1960s, Jackie Kennedy brought legendary and enduring glamour to the White House, making it her mission to preserve the history of the building, and presiding over a period in American politics that would forever become entwined with the Camelot mythology.

In the 1970s, president Gerald Ford's wife, Betty, went public with her alcohol and substance issues, helping to reduce stigma around the disease, and her name became synonymous with the nationwide clinics she helped establish to treat others. In the 1980s, meanwhile, Nancy Reagan famously made the anti-drugs message "just say no" her personal project.

Along with the new TV show, many actresses have portrayed first ladies on the big and small screen, with Natalie Portman scoring an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of one of the most emulated first ladies of all time in Jackie.

Scroll through the gallery for all the actresses set to play first ladies in The First Lady, as well as other stars who’ve played some of the world’s most powerful women on screen …