The criteria for inclusion in this category are that both a person's acting and a person's political career would meet Wikipedia's notability criteria independently. For an actor to be included in this category, they should notably have been elected or ran for public office or had a notable political appointment (such as an U.S. ambassadorship or presidential cabinet position). As a counter example of this, Ron Silver's Chairmanship for the Millennium Committee, Directorship of the United States Institute of Peace, and his political activism, while all political, would not be notable enough to count him as a politician.

Politicians who are professionally known for being politicians and have only played themselves in film and television shows (such as John McCain and Al Sharpton) and thus are not professionally known as actors should not be included. Thus Rudy Giuliani's appearance on Seinfeld would not qualify him as a notable actor, as his notability stems solely from being a politician.