See“ The Apprentice” Cast Side-by-Side with the Real-Life People They Play (Including Sebastian Stan as a Young Donald Trump)

‘The Apprentice’ stars Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as attorney Roy Cohn

Long before businessman and former President Donald Trump was firing contestants on his NBC reality show, The Apprentice, he was an apprentice himself.

In 1973, a young Trump met Roy Cohn — a cutthroat (and controversial) New York City attorney known for having friends in very high places. In the decade that followed, Cohn served as Trump's mentor until the lawyer's death in 1986.

Their mentor-protégé relationship is chronicled in director Ali Abbasi’s upcoming film The Apprentice, which highlights the pivotal moments in Trump's early career by way of Cohn's influence.

“But it’s also a story of a system, the depiction of the American system, the legal system, the inherent corruption in a system that allowed people like Roy Cohn to navigate freely and sort of pull the levers of power as they see fit," Abbasi told The Wrap of the project, which will premiere in 2,000 select theaters on Oct. 11.

“It’s an entertaining character piece. It’s not a hit piece," he added.

The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan, who earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Tommy Lee in Pam & Tommy, as Trump. He is joined by Succession's Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn.

“It was a 24/7 immersion process of living with him to some extent in my headphones,” Stan said of transforming into Trump for the film. “Whatever I was doing, if I was in the bathroom, I was listening to him. I don’t know how else to do it, except 100%.”

Keep reading to see the cast side-by-side with their real-life counterparts and what the actors have said about the film.

Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump

Sebastian Stan plays a young twenty-something Donald Trump in The Apprentice. The role was first brought to him by Abbasi in 2019.

“I think, my wanting to do this movie, and why I respect [Abbasi] for having the balls to do it, is because it does attack that very discomfort that you are referencing towards this film,” he explained to The Hollywood Reporter in September 2024.

“Everything in this film happened,” he added. “People perhaps like to forget that [Trump] was on Oprah and David Letterman and Larry King, and everybody embraced him and was championing him to be who he was in the eighties.”

Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn

Jeremy Strong plays attorney Roy Cohn, who is best known for serving as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954 and the man who helped Trump rise to power in the business world. Cohn died of complications from AIDS in 1986 at the age of 59.

“Roy Cohn, you can’t overstate his influence in our country, his legacy of the denial of reality and certain things that he imparted to Donald Trump,” Strong said during an interview with The New York Times Magazine in March 2024.

“His playbook has a tentacular reach that is staggering — the most fascinating person I’ve ever tried to inhabit," he continued. "I should say a disclaimer: My job is to be a humanistic investigator of a subject and to withhold judgment. So while I personally might have a lot of judgment about Roy Cohn, that is not the part of me that engages in the creative work.”

Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump

Maria Bakalova portrays Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump. The pair were married from 1977 to 1990 and had three children: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. Ivana died in 2022 at the age of 73.

“I hope I play her with respect and dignity because learning about her made me inspired," Bakalova told Deadline in May 2024, calling Ivana a "boss lady" and a "dedicated mother."

The actress added: "She wanted to live life. She loved to dance, loved to eat, loved to have experiences. We have this privilege to enjoy every single minute [of life]. And she was all about that."

Related: Donald Trump’s Family Tree: All About His Parents, Siblings, Wives and Children

Martin Donovan as Fred Trump Sr.

Martin Donovan plays Fred Trump Sr., Trump's father.

In 1927, Fred launched his real estate career — an empire his youngest son would eventually inherit. He got his start building single-family homes in New York City's Queens before going on to develop luxury apartment buildings and hotels, such as Trump Tower in Manhattan. Fred died in 1999 at age 93.

Joe Pingue as Anthony Salerno

Joe Pingue portrays American mobster Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno in The Apprentice.

Cohn served as Salerno's lawyer for many years. Salerno died at age 80 in 1992.

Charlie Carrick as Fred Trump Jr.

Charlie Carrick plays Fred Trump Jr. — Donald Trump's older brother.

Fred was a pilot, much to his dad's chagrin, and struggled with alcoholism. In 1981, he died of a heart attack at age 42.

Mark Rendall as Roger Stone

Mark Rendall portrays Roger Stone — a longtime friend and political advisor to Trump. Stone first met Trump and Cohn over bagels when he was trying to raise money for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1980.

In November 2019, Stone was convicted of seven charges — including lying to Congress under oath, obstruction of a congressional investigation and tampering with a witness during the Trump-Russia investigation. However, then-President Trump commuted his sentence in July 2020.

Ben Sullivan as Russell Eldridge

Ben Sullivan plays Russell Eldridge — Cohn's private secretary. He died of AIDS in 1985.

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