best biography series

Top Rated Biography TV Shows

1. Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story

2. Farouk Omar

3. The Last Dance

4. When They See Us

6. I, Claudius

7. Bose: Dead/Alive

8. The Crown

9. Spartacus

10. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena

11. John Adams

12. Jesus of Nazareth

14. The Defiant Ones

15. American Crime Story

18. Gentleman Jack

19. Wu-Tang: An American Saga

20. Victoria

21. The Durrells

22. Manhunt

23. The Great

24. Wolf Hall

25. Pretend It's a City

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The Best TV Shows About Real People of the Last Few Years

Biography TV series in general are interesting because getting inside details on the people at the center of famous stories scratches a very specific itch, but the best biographical dramas elevate the storytelling with a stellar cast and juicy details. Whether it's about politics, crime, or something as seemingly silly as fashion, dramatized stories about real people both stoke and satisfy the fires of curiosity. And to help you quench any desire for delicious drama and interesting history, this list of the best biographical dramas of the past few years is ranked from best to worst thanks to your votes.

Some dramatic biography TV shows take a healthy amount of liberties with history, like the silly swashbuckling series Our Flag Means Death or The Great, but that's where the drama comes in - putting some of these shows as far as they can get from biography documentaries while still telling stories of real people. Most biography dramas due stick pretty close to the facts, especially when they're about relatively recent events such as the scandal around Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's The Dropout . And it is centering a story around one or two people that turn a historical drama , or a story based on true events , into a biographical drama.

Which of these biography TV series is the best fictionalization of a real person's life? Vote up your favorites and watch as the best new biographical dramas rise to the top!

Our Flag Means Death

People at the center of the story: Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach (Blackbeard)

• Premiered : March 3, 2022

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George & Tammy

People at the center of the story: Tammy Wynette and George Jones

• Premiered : December 4, 2022

Feud Anthology Series

People at the center of the story: Joan Crawford & Bette Davis

• Premiered : March 5, 2017

The Staircase

Person at the center of the story: Michael Peterson

• Premiered : May 5, 2022

Inventing Anna

Person at the center of the story: Anna Delvey

• Premiered : February 11, 2022

Person at the center of the story: Halston

• Premiered : May 14, 2021

Gentleman Jack

Person at the center of the story: Anne Lister

• Premiered : April 22, 2019

The Dropout

Person at the center of the story: Elizabeth Holmes

People at the center of the story: Catherine the Great & Peter III of Russia

• Premiered : May 15, 2020

Person at the center of the story: Julia Child

• Premiered : March 31, 2022

People at the center of the story: Gypsy Rose Blanchard & Dee Dee Blanchard

• Premiered : March 20, 2019

Person at the center of the story: Dr. Christopher Duntsch

• Premiered : July 15, 2021

The Thing About Pam

Person at the center of the story: Pamela Hupp

• Premiered : March 8, 2022

• Premiered : January 25, 2024

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

Person at the center of the story: Madam C.J. Walker

• Premiered : March 20, 2020

Fosse/Verdon

People at the center of the story: Bob Fosse & Gwen Verdon

• Premiered : April 9, 2019

Person at the center of the story: Albert S. Ruddy

• Premiered : April 28, 2022

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans

• Premiered : January 31, 2024

Selena: The Series

Person at the center of the story: Selena Quintanilla

• Premiered : December 4, 2020

The New Look

People at the center of the story: Christian Dior, Coco Chanel

• Premiered : February 14, 2024

Person at the center of the story: Candy Montgomery

• Premiered : May 9, 2022

Person at the center of the story: Cary Grant

• Premiered : November 23, 2023

Mrs. America

Person at the center of the story: Phyllis Schlafly

• Premiered : April 15, 2020

Person at the center of the story: Emily Dickinson

• Premiered : November 1, 2019

Santa Evita

Person at the center of the story: Eva Perón

• Premiered : 2022

Genius: Aretha

• Premiered : March 21, 2021

• Premiered : February 7, 2023

Person at the center of the story: Clark Olofsson

People at the center of the story:   Adam and Rebekah Neumann

• Premiered : March 18, 2022

Colin in Black & White

Person at the center of the story: Colin Kaepernick

• Premiered : October 29, 2021

Marie-Antoinette

Person at the center of the story: Marie Antoinette

• Premiered : October 31, 2022

Person at the center of the story: Angelyne (born Ronia Tamar Goldberg)

• Premiered : May 19, 2022

The Law According to Lidia Poët

Person at the center of the story: Lidia Poët

• Premiered : February 15, 2023

Genius: MLK/X

• Premiered : February 1, 2024

This England

Person at the center of the story: Boris Johnson

• Premiered : September 28, 2022

The Loudest Voice

Person at the center of the story: Roger Ailes

• Premiered : June 30, 2019

Pam & Tommy

People at the center of the story: Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee

• Premiered : February 2, 2022

The Playlist

People at the center of the story: Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon

• Premiered : October 13, 2022

American Soul

Person at the center of the story: Don Cornelius

• Premiered : February 5, 2019

Person at the center of the story: Livia Drusilla

Person at the center of the story: Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory & Terry "Southwest T" Flenory

• Premiered : September 26, 2021

Maradona: Blessed Dream

Person at the center of the story: Diego Maradona

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld

• Premiered : June 7, 2024

• Premiered : April 12, 2024

Person at the center of the story: Rocco Siffredi

• Premiered : March 6, 2024

Joe vs Carole

People at the center of the story: Carole Baskin & Joe Exotic

Alexander: The Making of a God

Person at the center of the story: Bernard Tapie

• Premiered : September 13, 2023

The Romantics

Person at the center of the story: Yash Chopra

• Premiered : February 14, 2023

Sam: A Saxon

Person at the center of the story: Sam Meffire

• Premiered : April 26, 2023

Love After Music

Person at the center of the story: Alexander Litvinenko

• Premiered : December 16, 2022

Person at the center of the story: Steve Jones

• Premiered : May 31, 2022

Strange Angel

Person at the center of the story: Jack Parsons

• Premiered : June 14, 2018

How We Roll

Person at the center of the story: Tom Smallwood

Person at the center of the story: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

• Premiered : February 16, 2021

People at the center of the story: Douglas Fregin, Mike Lazaridis, Jim Balsillie.

• Premiered : November 13, 2023

Billy the Kid

Person at the center of the story: Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty)

• Premiered : April 24, 2022

The Naked Director

Person at the center of the story: Toru Muranishi

• Premiered : August 8, 2019

Pancho Villa: The Centaur of the North

• Premiered : July 19, 2023

Doctor Climax

• Premiered : June 13, 2024

Person at the center of the story: Miguel Bosé

• Premiered : November 3, 2022

El rey, Vicente Fernández

Person at the center of the story: Vicente Fernández

• Premiered : August 3, 2022
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Looking closer at films, TV shows, docs, and miniseries that explore, recreate, and occasionally flub up real historical events.

10 Best Biographical TV Shows, Ranked

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The TV industry is just as obsessed with true stories as much as the movie industry is, hence numerous biographical TV shows have been made. Such shows either shed more light on the lives of world-famous figures or educate viewers about the adventures of people only known in niche circles.

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Among the numerous biographical projects that have been made for TV, a few are likely to be enjoyed by all because they are more historically accurate. On the other hand, there are also those that are entertaining because they are a perfect blend of dramatized and factual content.

10 Genius (2017 – Present)

Stream on disney+.

Genius is a smorgasbord of a TV show as it covers the lives of several influential historical figures instead of one. Viewers can follow Albert Einstein as he develops the Theory of Relativity, watch Pablo Picasso paint the Guernica, or dance as Aretha Franklin records "Natural Woman."

All these individuals are accorded their own complete season, hence qualifying Genius as one of the best anthology TV series . The format allows any potential viewer to pick only the seasons featuring the legends that they care about. Even so, fans would be advised to watch everything since the show has outstanding performances from the likes of Antonio Banderas and Geoffrey Rush, who all received Emmy nominations.

9 Welcome To Chippendales (2022)

Stream on hulu.

The Chippendales dance troupe achieved global recognition in the '80s by offering wild striptease performances that shocked society. Interestingly, the man who founded the group never got the same recognition because his business partner took all the glory. How such a toxic business atmosphere permeated behind the scenes is explained in Welcome To Chippendales.

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Still, the show isn't all about money. A couple of dance routines are shown, and they are as well choreographed as what people watched in the '80s. Even so, the source of entertainment remains Steve Bernajee: the real brains of the operation, and overall first founder of America's first male strip club. He is as vindictive as he is ambitious hence it doesn't take long for events to descend into murder and mayhem.

8 The Crown (2016 – Present)

Stream on netflix.

The Crown is advertised as a show about Elizabeth II, but the queen's story only serves as the skeleton, with most of the flesh coming from the scandalous personal lives of other royal family members. Additionally, the professional careers of Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher make for some entertaining political plots too.

The Crown has established itself as one of the most adored political dramas because it often picks tabloid tales over what is considered actual fact — but fans don't mind the dramatization. The lack of accuracy in the story has been made up for in the costume design, with the show constantly featuring the exact same stunning attire the characters were photographed with in real-life.

7 Narcos (2015 – 2017)

A show about the most infamous drug kingpin of all time is unlikely to fail, especially if the world's biggest streaming service is behind it. That's the case with Narcos , which wowed global audiences instantly because of its captivating chronicles and high production values that had initially only been reserved for American projects.

Extreme violence and a fast-paced plot make Narcos a perfect binge, and so does the narration, which provides context to every single subplot. The show also expands beyond the Medellín Cartel, going on to cover the more reserved Cali Cartel before branching off into Mexico for a spinoff of the Guadalajara Cartel.

6 Wu Tang: An American Saga (2019 – Present)

In Wu Tang: An American Saga , a couple of young Black men are forced to make the tough choice between dealing drugs and getting into music. After all, it's the early '90s when the crack epidemic is still wide and those trading in drugs are living large. Hip Hop, on the other hand, is becoming a global phenomenon.

RELATED: 10 Most Meta TV Shows

Well, the talented youngsters choose right, leading to the formation of one of the greatest rap groups of all time: The Wu-Tang Clan. Fans thus get to see what made them connect and how they were able to make such classic songs. With fame also comes plenty of drama and the show explores that too through personal relationships.

5 Spartacus (2010 – 2013)

Stream on starz.

A decade after Spartacus ended, few shows have managed to match the flowery dialogue fans got to hear in the Starz series. The real Batiatus might have never asked a question such as "Do you sh** gold coins?" but the show runs away with such outrageous remarks to good effect.

Overall, Spartacus thrills through its fight sequences, where the emphasis is placed on blood splatter and the cries of victory. There are hardly any boring characters either and even though the mannerisms of most are exaggerated, the course of their lives mirrors that of those that existed at the height of the Third Seville War, hence qualifying the show as one of the greatest historical dramas .

4 The Offer (2022)

Stream on paramount+.

There have always been rumors about the behind-the-scenes tussles that occurred during the making of one of the best crime epics so Paramount decided to tell the story through The Offer . The miniseries covers the development of The Godfather and how the process impacted the lives of several others by default.

Watching The Offer feels like watching a spinoff of the movie itself since real-life Cosa Nostra members are included as supporting characters. Overall, it sheds a light on the office politics that happen in major film studios as well as the outside forces that inspire the tone of Hollywood projects.

3 American Crime Story (2016 – Present)

American Crime Story is yet another neatly done anthology series that only picks the sappiest of tales. From the O.J. Simpson murder case to President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, viewers are given plenty to feed on.

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The show doesn't just recount what happened but also uses supporting characters to condemn the injustices. Moreover, by focusing only on specific moments in the lives of the characters rather than the whole journey, American Crime Story comes off as positively precise and more educative.

2 Mike (2022)

The development of Mike drew plenty of criticism after Mike Tyson clarified that he never authorized it, but it could be argued that this was a good thing. Without the boxer's green light, the miniseries unapologetically explores his controversial moments and avoids painting him as an angel.

The format used is laudable since it involves an older Tyson telling his story to an audience and then cutting to the actual events using flashbacks. Additionally, there are plenty of fourth-wall-breaking moments which help sprinkle humor and make the boxer appear funnier than he probably is in real life.

1 Band Of Brothers (2001)

Stream on hbo max.

There are plenty of Hollywood biopics about members of the military but TV shows often opt to go the fictional route when exploring the armed forces. Thankfully, Band Of Brothers discards the trend by delving into the adventures of the famed 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The HBO series perfectly balances the horrors of the battlefield with the heroic acts of the soldiers, hence the mood alternates between joy and heartbreak. Generally, everything from the production to the acting is handled with meticulous perfectionism and that's no shocker because the series is created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

NEXT: 10 Best TV Shows That Are Surprisingly Short

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Best Biography TV Shows (October 2024)