Veteran actor John Lithgow has been offered a role to portray the US President Donald Trump, but he passed on the opportunity, and says he's unlikely to accept another one if it comes his way.

"They (producers) actually asked me to play Donald Trump in a project," Lithgow said in a forthcoming episode of "Sunday Today with Willie Geist", reports aceshowbiz.com.

He added: "I turned it down mainly because I was doing something else. I don't think I would do it (play Donald Trump), it's almost too close."

Lithgow went deep into character as late Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, another controversial figure who resigned from his position at the media outlet after being accused of sexual harassment by anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly, in his new movie "Bombshell".

Although Lithgow finds himself playing a number of prominent political personalities in his work, having also just depicted late wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Netflix series "The Crown" and Bill Clinton in the Broadway play "Hillary and Clinton", he says he doesn't go out looking for political roles.

He said: "It's what was offered to me. You get offered one and they come after you for another."

"Bombshell", which also stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie and centres around Ailes' sexual harassment fallout, was released on December 20.