Jerry Haleva

Jerome M. Haleva^[1] (born 1945 or 1946 (age 78–79))^[2] is an American actor and political lobbyist. He gained fame as an actor as a doppelgänger of Saddam Hussein due to his physical resemblance to the late Iraqi leader, with all of his film roles having him portraying Hussein.

Jerry Haleva, a Sephardic Jew,^[3] is a member of the Republican Party and has worked as a lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, among others.^[4][5] In 1973, he was an adviser to a legislative committee investigating prison conditions in California.^[6] He served in the California Senate in 1977 as chief of staff for William Campbell.^[7] Haleva was nicknamed the "41st Senator" for "his aggressive style and legislative adroitness".^[8] Haleva was thrice noted by the Fair Political Practices Commission for potential mishandling of funds.^[8]

Both Haleva and Campbell were briefly investigated following the BRISPEC sting operation for possible connections to Paul Carpenter, who had been connected to racketeering activities.^[1] They were mentioned in a tapped phone conversation by Carpenter's aide John Shahabian in August 1986. Campbell was described as "'available' to receive a cut of the contribution money in return for a potential vote on a bill" while Haleva was said to be a potential obstacle since he "will want a cut", telling an undercover FBI agent posing as a potential donor that if Haleva found out, they would "end up paying Jerry too. He’s famous for it". The FBI ultimately did not press charges against either Haleva or Campbell.^[8][9]

In 1989, a colleague of Haleva distributed a photo of the then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein among his co-workers with the text "Now we know what Haleva does on his weekends".^[10] A few years later, Haleva contacted Ron Smith, who represented doppelgängers in the film industry, and Smith had a small role for Haleva in the feature film Hot Shots! (1991), followed by a more prominent role in its sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993). Haleva played Hussein in half a dozen films.^[11] Besides the Hot Shots! movies and The Big Lebowski, he appeared in a few other films and also appeared in commercials (including for Nintendo).^[5]

In the spring of 2003, when Iraq was invaded, he decided to stop working as Hussein's doppelgänger.^[12][13] In January 2004 he came back to this decision and said in an interview that he was interested in continuing his acting career.^[14]

As of 2016, he was a contract lobbyist (Sergeant Major Associates) and lived in Sacramento, California.^[15]

• Jerry Haleva at IMDb