Donald J Trump was born in Queens, New York, in 1946, his father one of the biggest real-estate developers in New York City.
His parents instilled in their five children an ethic of hard work.
But a young Donald Trump was playing around at school, so, at the age of 13, he was sent to a military academy -- and he flourished.
Given control of his father's business at the age of 25, he set about shaping the skyline of Manhattan by building skyscrapers.
Source: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
In 1977, he married a model from the former Czechoslovakia, Ivana Winklemyer Zelnickova, and they had three children together. But their marriage did not last.
In 1981, he opened Trump Tower, followed by the Trump Plaza. Casinos and golf courses came next, and his net worth jumped from the millions into the billions.
Source: AAP EPA/JASON SZENES
In the late 1980s, Mr Trump's first marriage broke up after he met a young model named Marla Maples.
He later married her, and they had a daughter.
The idea of "Trump for President" was first raised 28 years ago, when Donald Trump was campaigning for George Bush Senior. An NBC reporter in the United States asked, in 1988, if there was a possibility Mr Trump would run for president in the future.
"I think I'd have a very good chance. I mean, I like to win. When I do something, I like to win, I like to do well, and I think I probably would have a pretty good chance."
But the next few years were tough for him. He filed for bankruptcy four times in the early '90s. Still, he bought the Miss Universe franchise in 1996, only selling it last year.
And then in 2004, he became a reality-television star with The Apprentice. The show continued for 14 series, including seven seasons of The Celebrity Apprentice.
In 2005, Donald Trump married his third wife, Slovenian model Melania Knauss. They had a son a year later.
After two more bankruptcies, in 2004 and 2009, Mr Trump once again recovered to launch his greatest gamble yet.
"I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again."
Donald Trump, the kid from Queens, property mogul, bankrupt businessman, billionaire, reality star, a US cultural icon -- and, now, the next president of the United States.
