Saturday Night Live has chosen Hollywood star Alec Baldwin to impersonate US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

American television network NBC announced the 30 Rock actor would portray Trump in the new series of the long-running comedy sketch show.

Alec Baldwin at a screening of his film Still Alice
Alec Baldwin (Evan Agostini/AP)

Alec, who has hosted SNL a record 16 times, will debut his performance as the Republican candidate when the show returns this weekend.

He will go head-to-head with SNL cast member Kate McKinnon, who will play Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, in a skit on this week’s presidential debate.

Trump has previously been portrayed on SNL by Darrell Hammond and Taran Killam.

The show has gone over the heads of its cast in the past when it chose Larry David to play former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

Saturday’s premiere will feature actress Margot Robbie as guest host, with musical guest The Weeknd.