The 15 best biopics of all time

From Mozart to Gandhi to Jake LaMotta, Hollywood's obsession with the true(ish) stories of larger-than-life figures never seems to fade out

By Cindy White, Mark Keizer | July 20, 2023 | 12:00pm

Film Features Daniel Day

Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter, Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List Image: Universal Pictures, MGM, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures

As we prepare to learn about the story of the man who created the atomic bomb in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming biopic Oppenheimer, we started thinking about other great biopics to come out of Hollywood. With the industry becoming more reliant on familiarity and nostalgia to draw in audiences, history and pop-culture have become fertile ground for original projects based on the stories of real people with famous names. Some have been more successful than others, but when everything clicks the results can be magic.

You’ll find some of the greatest films Hollywood has ever produced here. We’ve been selective in our definition of what counts as a biopic; just because a film is based on a true story doesn’t necessarily make it a biopic. For a film to be defined as a true biopic it must dive deep into the subject’s background, mindset, and world view. It should reveal the complex qualities that made this person who they are or were. Whether the story spans decades or only a few months, we should walk away with a complete portrait in our minds. If it also happens to be a great film in its own right, well, that’s a wonderful bonus.

Oh, and when you’re done with our look at the best biopics, be sure to check out the flip side of this list: our countdown of the 15 worst biopics of all time. You’ll find some truly terrible takes on Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Bobby Darin, and, yes, Genghis Khan.

15. Ed Wood

Ed Wood - Official Trailer

has often been reductively described as the best biopic about Hollywood’s worst filmmaker. And while that may be true, it still undersells how joyously and gently twisted this celebration of eternal optimism really is. Director Tim Burton embraces his subject—low-budget schlock director Ed Wood, who gifted the world with iconic turds like and —with affection and a kindred sense of wide-eyed wonder at the magic of moviemaking. In one of his best performances, Johnny Depp plays Wood as an innocent barreling through life in a cocoon of unbridled positivity despite the fact he has zero ability as a director, his movies are terrible, and his personal behavior is—shall we say—extremely odd for the post-war ’50s. Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of horror movie mainstay Bela Lugosi, addicted to morphine and long past his prime, who found the final act of his career performing in Wood’s films. Ed Wood—which Burton released between 1992’s and 1996’s —is a charming, quirky, and imaginative shout-out to anyone with a dream in their heart that no lack of talent can divert them from. [Mark Keizer]

14. Lincoln

Lincoln Official Trailer #1 (2012) Steven Spielberg Movie HD

When you consider how many ways in which Steven Spielberg’s 2012 could have gone wrong, it’s even more impressive that he created not just a great film but a near masterpiece that manages to tower above previous Lincoln bio-efforts like John Ford’s . Instead of a cradle to grave hagiography that further mythologizes a president who hardly needs more positive press, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner make the brilliant decision to winnow down the story to deal solely with Lincoln’s efforts to get the 13th Amendment—which would outlaw slavery—through Congress. Kushner populates his story with vividly realized supporting characters like abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn). But it’s Daniel Day-Lewis’ mesmerizing, Oscar-winning performance as Lincoln that sends Spielberg’s underappreciated biopic into the stratosphere. Bearing a striking resemblance to our 16th president, Day-Lewis’ air is either folksy or stern depending on the situation and he conveys both worry and intelligence in stillness. Through it all, Lewis’ Lincoln remains human-scaled, never forgetting that all politics, even the most consequential, is personal. [Mark Keizer]

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13. Walk The Line

Walk The Line | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX

Songwriters and musicians are a popular subject for biopics, for lots of reasons (that’s why there’s a few of them on this list). For one thing, it never gets old to watch a struggling artist rise up from obscurity to worldwide fame, especially when that road to stardom is a rocky one. That was certainly true of Johnny Cash, whose story is told in Walk The Line. Joaquin Phoenix plunges himself into the role of The Man In Black, while Reese Witherspoon is electric opposite him as June Carter. Phoenix was nominated for several awards (including an Oscar) and won the Golden Globe for best actor. But it was Witherspoon who got most of the attention that awards season, achieving a clean sweep in the category of best actress at the Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards. [Cindy White]

12. Chaplin

Chaplin 1992 Trailer HD | Robert Downey Jr. | Geraldine Chaplin

Believe it or not, there was a time when Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t only playing Iron Man and that time reached its zenith in 1992 with his Oscar-nominated performance in Richard Attenborough’s . By all measure, the role was a fool’s errand: Charlie Chaplin was one of cinema’s foundational figures and his career, not to mention his personal life, was interesting for over 70 years, so packing it all in was going to be difficult. But Downey Jr. nails Chaplin’s unique mannerisms, his British accent and, most notably, his ability to act refined off-camera and bumbling on-camera. The film also boasts impeccable production design and a terrific supporting cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Marisa Tomei, Dan Aykroyd, and Chaplin’s daughter, Geraldine, playing her own grandmother. Some folks knocked the film for failing to delve deeply enough into Chaplin’s filmmaking process and for being too glossy and sentimental which you often get with Attenborough (). But Downey Jr. proves he’s an actor capable of such greatness that we can’t stay silent on the merits of Chaplin. [Mark Keizer]

11. Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

is not a particularly deep or probing account of the formation and early success of the rock band Queen, but it works where it counts: as a broad-strokes look at the band’s formation, how they created a couple of their signature songs and, most notably, as an Oscar-winning showcase for Rami Malek, who explodes off the screen as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Band members Roger Taylor and Brian May were consultants on the film, which might have accounted for its lack of serious bite. And yet the story of Mercury is so interesting and Malek so electric that the film’s shortcomings are easily ignored. Malek conveys Mercury’s drive, his stage presence, and his charming humor effortlessly and he rocks that overbite like a pro. The highlight here, other than Malek, is the music, which needs to be cranked up to neighbor-annoying levels upon home viewing. It all climaxes with Queen’s stadium-rattling, 20-minute set at the 1985 charity concert, Live Aid. To quote the title song, it sounds gloriously like “thunderbolts and lightning.” So while its story might be rote, the music and Malek will make you absolutely rhapsodic. [Mark Keizer]

10. Milk

“MILK” Official Trailer

Second only to musicians, the most popular subject of biopics has to be political figures. Whether they present the unvarnished truth of who these people really were or a more palatable and sanitized version often depends on the legacy they leave behind. , Gus Van Sant’s study of San Francisco politician Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn in the film), doesn’t let the infinite complexities of the man at its center get in the way of a bigger story. Milk, the first openly gay man elected to office in California, was assassinated in 1978, along with San Francisco mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber). His journey through the film serves as a parallel narrative marking the progress of gay and lesbian Americans and the acceptance of alternative sexual identities heading into the AIDS crisis and the Reagan era. [Cindy White]

9. Ray

Ray | Every Great Musical Performance—”Hit the Road Jack,” “Mess Around,” “What’d I Say” and more!

Ray pretty much follows the musical biopic playbook, introducing poor young Ray Charles Robinson (played by Oscar winner Jaime Foxx) who overcame poverty and disability to become a superstar. As the familiar story goes, Charles is eventually brought down by his own vices, but manages to overcome them and rise again. It’s a classic tale, because it always works. And in this case it works especially well because we’re gifted with a magnetic performance from Foxx. He manages to convey both sides of Ray Charles—the larger-than-life figure we know from stage and screen, and the down-to-earth, flawed human being behind the music. [Cindy White]

8. Gandhi

Gandhi (1982) Original Trailer [FHD]

Sir Ben Kingsley teamed up with Sir Richard Attenborogh to honor the incredible life of Indian spiritual leader and freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi in the film that bears his name. Gandhi would go on to win eight Oscars, including best actor for Kinglsey, best director for Attenborogh, and best picture. The historic saga depicts Gandhi’s life from the age of 23, when he’s thrown off a South African train in 1893 for sitting in the wrong compartment, through his history-making pursuit of Indian independence via non-violent protests, until his assassination in 1948. Attenborogh and Kingsley both approached the project from a place of deep respect and veneration for the man who inspired not just his own nation but the entire world, and that shows in the care they put into every scene. [Cindy White]

7. Coal Miner’s Daughter

Coal Miner’s Daughter | Oscar Winner Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn Sings at a Honky-Tonk Bar

The Academy loves to honor performances based on real people, and Sissy Spacek proved it once again when she won an Oscar for playing country music legend Loretta Lynn in . Not that Spacek didn’t deserve it. Not only did she sing all of Lynn’s songs herself, she got a chance to show off her wide range in the role, believably transitioning from a meek, country girl born in poverty to the superstar performer Lynn eventually became. Spacek also gets a valuable assist from Tommy Lee Jones as Lynn’s force-of-nature husband and manager, Doo. [Cindy White]

6. Lawrence Of Arabia

The Most Famous of Edits

Martin Scorsese once described T.E. Lawrence, portrayed by Peter O’Toole in , as a character out of a B-movie, someone “filled with self destruction and self loathing.” You’d have to be to throw yourself into the middle of conflict between the Ottoman empire and the desert tribes of Arabia during World War I. The story of Lawrence’s remarkable life becomes visual poetry in the hands of director David Lean. The film’s astonishing scope, accompanied by Maurice Jarre’s stirring score, captivated audiences when it was released in 1962. There had never been a film like it, and there probably never will be again. [Cindy White]

5. The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor Official Trailer (4K)

chronicles the tumultuous life of Emperor Pu Yi of China (John Lone), who ascended the throne at the age of three, but was forced to abdicate less than four years later following the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. What sets Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping biopic apart is how it weaves the intimate story of one man’s personal and political struggles into a historical drama of epic scale. Bertolucci worked with the Chinese government to develop the film and was in turn granted permission to film in The Forbidden City in Beijing, a first for a Western film. He and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro did not waste their chance, creating some spectacular and memorable sequences that earned them each an Oscar (the film won a total of nine) for their work. [Cindy White]

4. Amadeus

Salieri in Awe - Amadeus (1984)

In Amadeus we see the life and extraordinary work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) through the eyes of his most bitter rival, Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham). Salieri recognizes Mozart’s musical genius even as he resents that god would bestow such talent on an unworthy, immature playboy. It’s a complex, one-sided rivalry, and completely made up for the film (actually, the stage play it’s based on). We’re still counting it as a Mozart biography, though, because Salieri’s retelling of the life of the famed composer is presented as the unvarnished truth, wigs and all, from his ethereal gifts to his all-too-human failings. [Cindy White]

3. Raging Bull

RAGING BULL (1980) | Official Trailer | MGM

Hollywood has always had a fascination with the sport of boxing. Perhaps it’s the raw drama of watching two skilled fighters face each other directly in the ring, or the temptation to see it as an allegory for the human struggle. What’s special about Raging Bull, besides Martin Scorsese’s visceral shooting and editing style, is that it doesn’t bother with the conventions of a boxing film. Scorsese is just as interested in the life of middleweight champ Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro, in one of his most famous roles) outside the ring as within it. LaMotta is no hero in the film—he represents a greater threat to himself and his legacy than any opponent he ever faced. And Scorsese captures it all with haunting grace. [Cindy White]

2. Schindler’s List

Schindler’s List | “I Didn’t Do Enough”

Director Steven Spielberg filmed his holocaust epic in black and white (most of it, anyway) to give viewers the feeling that they’re watching a documentary. It’s an effective formal technique that becomes an affecting narrative device in that famous scene where we, along with Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, track a girl in a red coat through the streets of Krakow as she tries to evade capture by the Nazis. Through this film Spielberg brought the world’s attention to the story of a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Polish Jews from certain death by keeping them employed for the duration of World War II. It’s a fitting tribute. [Cindy White]

1. Goodfellas

Goodfellas - Steadicam Shot

In case you weren’t aware, yes, is a biopic. And seeing as it’s Goodfellas, it wouldn’t be right to put it anywhere but at the very top of our list. Before he was brilliantly portrayed by Ray Liotta, Henry Hill was a real person, and he told his fascinating life story to journalist and screenwriter Nicolas Pileggi, who published Hill’s story in 1985 under the title Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family. Pileggi would later team up with Martin Scorcese to adapt it into a screenplay for one of the best crime films ever made. Goodfellas is so masterful and holds up so well it’s essentially eclipsed the true story that inspired it. [Cindy White]