Bio and true story movies
List activity
420 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
36 titles
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
- DirectorMichael AptedCurtis HansonStarsJonny WestonGerard ButlerElisabeth ShueWhen young Jay Moriarity discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsJames WoodsJohn HeardWilliam HurtChronicles the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsMickey RourkeMarisa TomeiEvan Rachel WoodA faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsLeonardo DiCaprioArmie HammerNaomi WattsJ. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsPaul NewmanDwight SchultzBonnie BedeliaThis film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret WWII project, and the first atomic bombs designed, built, and tested in Los Alamos.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierCedric HardwickeNicholas HannenShakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
- DirectorDon SharpStarsRobert PowellDavid WarnerEric PorterIn March 1914, a mining engineer named Richard Hannay tries to prevent Prussian Agents from executing a political assassination designed to trigger World War I.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRobert PowellGeorgina HaleLee MontagueComposer Gustav Mahler's (Robert Powell) life, told in a series of flashbacks as he and his wife (Georgina Hale) discuss their failing marriage during a train journey.
- DirectorBenoît JacquotStarsDaniel AuteuilMarianne DenicourtJeanne BalibarA man prepares himself to be transferred to a detention center and rest home where he will relive one more time the highlights of his youth.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsMichael FassbenderKeira KnightleyViggo MortensenA look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsJames Earl JonesJane AlexanderLou GilbertA Black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.
- DirectorShari Springer BermanRobert PulciniStarsPaul GiamattiShari Springer BermanHarvey PekarAn original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
- DirectorRod LurieStarsTim MathesonCynthia NixonPatrick St. EspritA look at John Hinkley's 1981 assassination attempt against U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsIngrid BergmanYul BrynnerHelen HayesAn opportunistic businessman tries to pass off a mysterious impostor as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and she is so convincing that even the biggest skeptics believe her.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsNicolas CageCynthia DaleChristopher PlummerA biography of the famous sculler Ned Hanlon who led a colorful life as a bootlegger at the turn of the 20th century.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierVictor FlemingJosef von SternbergStarsLuise RainerFernand GraveyMiliza KorjusIn 1845 Vienna, Johann Strauss II (Fernand Gravey) - 'Jonahi' to his friends - would rather write and perform waltzes than anything else, this at a time when a waltz is not considered proper society music. After he is fired from his clerical bank job because of his preoccupation with composing, he decides to follow his passion and form an orchestra. After some famed opera singers, including Carla Donner (Miliza Korjus), hear his music, they expose Johani's music to the masses, to royalty and to music publisher Julius Hofbauer (Hugh Herbert). As such, Johani becomes the toast of Vienna. With his new found musical fame, Johani's life, which includes his work in the European Revolutions, changes. He becomes torn for his love for his loving and faithful wife Poldi Vogelhuber (Luise Rainer) and his more emotionally passionate but somewhat destructive love for Carla Donner, who herself is involved with Count Anton Hohenfried (Lionel Atwill).
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsMilla JovovichJohn MalkovichRab AffleckA young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
- DirectorAnthony HemingwayStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Gerald McRaneyDavid OyelowoA crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.
- DirectorByron HaskinBurt LancasterStarsBurt LancasterJoan RiceAndré MorellA Yankee sea captain has adventures in paradise trying to become an entrepreneur in Micronesia.
- DirectorMauro LimaStarsSelton MelloGiulio LopesJúlia LemmertzThe true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBarbra StreisandOmar SharifKay MedfordThe life of Fanny Brice, famed comedienne and entertainer of the early 1900s. We see her rise to fame as a Ziegfeld girl, subsequent career, and her personal life, particularly her relationship with Nick Arnstein.
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsNancy McKeonDale MidkiffGraham JarvisA victim of domestic violence winds up in an ongoing struggle to get the police to take her seriously, until the abuse escalates to the worst extreme.
- DirectorDaniel RezendeStarsVladimir BrichtaLeandra LealTainá MüllerBased on a true story, "Bingo" is a film about the man behind the mask. Augusto is an actor hungry for a place in the spotlight, following the footsteps of his mother, a stage artist in the 50's. While starring in soft porn and soap operas he finally gets the chance to conquer the crowds when he is cast as "BINGO", a television host clown. With his irreverent humor and natural talent, the show is a big hit, but a clause on his contract forbids him to reveal his true identity. Augusto becomes an anonymous celebrity. With makeup on, he brings happiness to children across the country but not to his own son Gabriel, that sees his father distancing himself in search of recognition. Filled with irony and humor and an exaggerated pop look from the backstage universe of the Brazilian 80's television, the film tells the incredible and surreal story of a man that whilst looking for his artistic value, finds his personal decay.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChadwick BosemanJosh GadKate HudsonThe story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.
- DirectorPeter HallStarsMatthew ModineLara Flynn BoyleSean BeanIn the foreign land of Canaan lives Isaac, son of Abraham, with his clever, strong-willed wife Rebekah and his twin sons Esau and Jacob. The first-born, Esau, is a strong and fearless hunter with a voracious appetite for sensual pleasures. Jacob is a shepherd, more tender and compassionate han Esau. Just as Esau is the pride of his father, so is Jacob the apple of his mother's eye. Rebekah is convinced that Jacob, though the second born son, is the chosen one and the rightful heir of Isaac and Abraham. And she tells him that when she was with child, God announced to her: "Two nations are within thy womb. Two manner of men shall be delivered to you. The one shall be stronger than the other and the elder shall serve the younger". One day Esau returns from a hunt to find Jacob preparing a lentil porridge. Famished, he asks Jacob for some food. Jacob agrees, but on one condition: that Esau sell him his birthright. Since Esau ascribes little value to its meaning, he readily agrees and they conclude the pact. Time has passed. Isaac has grown old and nearly blind. It is time to pass on his paternal blessing to the firstborn. He asks Esau to hunt and prepare some game for him, after which he will give him his blessing. Rebekah knows she must act now. Cornering Jacob, she pressures him into deceiving Isaac so that he obtains the blessing instead of Esau. Jacob resists, but when Rebekah vows to take the blame for this ploy, he finally consents. And thus does Jacob trick his father. When Esau returns from the hunt and appears before his father, he explodes in anger when he learns of the scheme. Having obtained only a lesser blessing from Isaac, he vows to kill Jacob as soon as his father passes away. Isaac, following Rebekah's suggestion, advises Jacob to flee to Harran, to the home of Laban - Rebekah's brother, and to ask him to marry one of his daughters. Laden with gold, silver, skins, spices and oils, Jacob sadly leaves his home and his loved ones. Soon, however, he realizes that he is being followed: a Canaanite, one of Esau's brothers-in-law, robs him of the treasure that was to be his dowry. One night, as he is asleep, Jacob has a vision of a stairway with angel-like figures on it. During this vision God promises him protection and prosperity. The next morning, Jacob swears to remain faithful and devoted to God. After an arduous journey, Jacob arrives in Harran. Haggard and drained of his strength, he immediately forgets his fatigue when he sees a pretty young girl at the fountain. The girl is Rachel, the youngest daughter of his uncle Laban. And Jacob falls head over heels in love with her. Though Laban greets his nephew heartily, he cannot conceal his disappointment that Jacob has arrived without any gifts. Laban's two sons, Morash and Be'or, are less delighted by Jacob's arrival. Jacob soon asks Laban to let him marry Rachel, and he even accepts Laban's rigorous conditions: that Jacob become his indentured servant for a full seven years. Jacob proves to be a singularly successful herdsman and contributes mightily to the welfare of Laban's people. Thus after seven years, Laban is unwilling to let him leave and devises a cunning scheme... When Jacob awakens on the morning following the consummation of his marriage with Rachel, he is horrified to discover that he has slept with Rachel's older sister Leah instead. Laban forced Leah to take her sister's place in the dark tent. As Jacob rages, Laban claims that according to the law of the land, a father must marry off his older daughter first. He is willing, however, to make Jacob another offer: for another seven years in his service, he can take Rachel as his wife in one week's time. And again, Laban and his people enjoy seven more years of rich harvests and expanding flocks, all thanks to Jacob's superior abilities. But while the unloved Leah bears Jacob many children, Rachel, his one and only love, remains barren for many years, until Joseph finally sees the light of day. After his second period of indenture is over, Jacob strikes another deal with Laban, whereby he is allowed to assemble his own herd. His prosperity soon sparks the envy of Laban's sons Morash and Be'or, who accuse Jacob of deceiving them and of stealing their property. Jacob decides it is time to move back to Canaan, and flees with his wives, children and servants. As soon as Laban hears about their escape, he rounds up his sons and his men and gives chase. He finally meets up with Jacob on Mount Gilead. But before he can reach Jacob, God appears to Laban and warns him not to harm Jacob or his people. Jacob's most grueling ordeal, however, still awaits him: his meeting with his brother Esau. Fearing that Esau still intends to kill him, Jacob sends messengers with gifts to his brother to announce his coming. The messengers return sooner than expected, reporting that Esau is already on his way to meet him - with 400 armed men. Jacob sets up camp on the banks of the river Jabbok. That night, while his people await Esau with fear and trembling, Jacob withdraws to collect himself on the other side of the river. There Jacob is attacked by a mysterious being whom he cannot identify. It is an angel. As the struggle intensifies and the angel realizes that he cannot subdue Jacob, he strikes him fiercely on the hip. But Jacob, who gradually realizes who his adversary is, continues to grapple with him and refuses to relinquish his hold until the angel has blessed him. Ultimately the angel yields and gives Jacob the blessing together with the new name of "Israel". He thus confirms Jacob's right to the blessing which he originally obtained by deceit. The following morning, as Esau's army approaches, Jacob gathers his people behind him and awaits his brother. As Esau arrives at the head of his troops, Jacob humbly throws himself at his brother's feet. Esau breaks the tension by coming towards Jacob with open arms and welcoming him home. Reconciling their past differences, Jacob and Esau embrace.
- StarsBen KingsleyPaul MercurioMartin LandauThe Biblical story of Joseph, who was sold to slavery by his brothers who were jealous of his prophetic abilities to analyze dreams and of his being their father's favorite.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsDustin HoffmanValerie PerrineJan MinerThe story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.
- DirectorJames MarshStarsColin FirthEleanor StaggRachel WeiszThe incredible story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his solo attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The struggles he confronted on the journey while his family awaited his return is one of the most enduring mysteries of recent times.
- DirectorBobby RothStarsKathleen YorkViveka DavisBruce GreenwoodBased on the lives of mother-daughter singers the Judds.
- DirectorRoy Campanella IIStarsPam DawberMichael NouriBess MeyerA real-life story about a high school teacher and football coach who is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease but refuses to give in.
- DirectorKen KushnerStarsZach McGowanAmy SmartJoe PantolianoIn 1975, a Bayonne, New Jersey underdog boxer gets a shot to fight the champ.
- DirectorSean HanishStarsMichelle MonaghanLeem LubanyCommonThe story of immigration attorney Judy Wood, and how she initiated the change in U.S. law of asylum to save women's lives.
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
- DirectorJason EnslerStarsCybill ShepherdTim MathesonJoanna CassidyA grim look at homemaking business tycoon Martha Stewart's story, behind the facade of her motherly housewife appearance, including a crime she committed that brought her fame to a halt.