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Ian doesn't take his bio too seriously but uses every character to highlight everything about him.

He includes his skills as a marketer and podcast host, who he is outside work as a dad, and what he can help you do. His smiles also give the bio a sense of humor and realness.

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How to Write a Biography

Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us.

While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Mostly though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led a life that is in some way incredible.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal clear definition of a biography.

What Is a Biography?

Simply put, a biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of their childhood right up to the present day or their death if the subject is deceased.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality, and as well as their experience of life.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

• Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
• Explore the language and perspective of both.
• Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
• Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
• Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
• A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

What Are the Main Features of a Biography?

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of the genre. A good way to determine how well they understand these essential elements of the genre is by asking them to compile a checklist.

At a minimum, their checklists should contain the items below. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the biography.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach provides clarity on how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography

Biography writing tip #1: choose your subject wisely.

There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:

Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.

Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.

Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.

Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice in the form of a biography?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! Research! Research!

While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.

As with many types of writing , research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If a student wishes to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.

An effective way to approach the research process is to:

1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life

2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:

•      Physical looks
•      Character traits
•      Values and beliefs

3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:

• Childhood : Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
• Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
• Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
• Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.

As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.

Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.

Research Skills:

Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:

• Gather relevant information
• Evaluate different information sources
• Select suitable information
• Organize information into a text.

Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).

These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘ fake news ’ and misinformation after all!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing

Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.

Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.

One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life. For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.

Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Student Examples of Biography Writing

• Year 5 Example
• Year 7 Example
• Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:

This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.

Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.

When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:

• Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
• Which biographies didn’t?
• Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
• Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?

Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.

When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:

This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.

Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.

Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:

This session aims to get students into the researching phase and then prioritise events and organise them chronologically.

Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.

Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.

They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:

Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.

Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.

This is known as the thematic statement . With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

Get our FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.

Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.

HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO BIOGRAPHY WRITING

How to write an Autobiography

How to Write a Historical Recount Text

15 Awesome Recount & Personal Narrative Topics

Personal Narrative Writing Guide

How to Write an Interesting Biography

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A biography is a written account of the series of events that make up a person's life. Some of those events are going to be pretty boring, so you'll need to try to make your account as interesting as possible!

Every student will write a biography at some point, but the level of detail and sophistication will differ. A fourth grade biography will be much different from a middle school-level biography or a high school or college-level biography.

However, each biography will include the basic details. The first information you should gather in your research will include biographical details and facts. You must use a trustworthy resource to ensure that your information is accurate.

Using research note cards , collect the following data, carefully recording the source for each piece of information:

Including Basic Details

• Date and place of birth and death
• Family information
• Lifetime accomplishments
• Major events of life
• Effects/impact on society, historical significance

While this information is necessary to your project, these dry facts, on their own, don't really make a very good biography. Once you've found these basics, you'll want to dig a little deeper.

You choose a certain person because you think he or she is interesting, so you certainly don't want to burden your paper with an inventory of boring facts. Your goal is to impress your reader!

Start off with great first sentence . It's a good idea to begin with a really interesting statement, a little-known fact, or really intriguing event.

You should avoid starting out with a standard but boring line like:

"Meriwether Lewis was born in Virginia in 1774."

Instead, try starting with something like this:

"Late one afternoon in October, 1809, Meriwether Lewis arrived at a small log cabin nestled deep in the Tennessee Mountains. By sunrise on the following day, he was dead, having suffered gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

You'll have to make sure your beginning is motivating, but it should also be relevant. The next sentence or two should lead into your thesis statement , or main message of your biography.

"It was a tragic end to a life that had so deeply affected the course of history in the United States. Meriwether Lewis, a driven and often tormented soul, led an expedition of discovery that expanded a young nation's economic potential, increased its scientific understanding, and enhanced its worldwide reputation."

Now that you've created an impressive beginning , you'll want to continue the flow. Find more intriguing details about the man and his work, and weave them into the composition.

Examples of Interesting Details:

• Some people believed that Lewis and Clark would encounter elephants in the western wilderness, having misunderstood the wooly mammoth bones discovered in the United States.
• The expedition resulted in the discovery and description of 122 new animal species and subspecies.
• Lewis was a hypochondriac.
• His death is still an unsolved mystery, although it was ruled a suicide.

You can find interesting facts by consulting diverse sources.

Fill the body of your biography with material that gives insight into your subject's personality. For instance, in a biography about Meriwether Lewis, you would ask what traits or events motivated him to embark on such a monumental exercise.

Questions to Consider in Your Biography:

• Was there something in your subject's childhood that shaped his/her personality?
• Was there a personality trait that drove him/her to succeed or impeded his progress?
• What adjectives would you use to describe him/her?
• What were some turning points in this life?
• What was his/her impact on history?

Be sure to use transitional phrases and words to link your paragraphs and make your composition paragraphs flow . It is normal for good writers to re-arrange their sentences to create a better paper.

The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim about your subject. It should point out your main points, re-name the person you're writing about, but it should not repeat specific examples.

As always, proofread your paper and check for errors. Create a bibliography and title page according to your teacher's instructions. Consult a style guide for proper documentation.

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How To Easily Write Your Personal Bio

A sentence-by-sentence template and guide..

“Great, send over your bio and we’re set.”  

* looks around empty room *

Your bio...you know, that pesky little paragraph you write about yourself in the third person. While short, that one paragraph is tough to put together. How are you supposed to summarize all you know and are and do (the whole of your existence!) in just a few sentences? 

It’s basically a one-paragraph perfect storm...which probably explains why it’s the request for help I get most often. Usually with an SOS attached. 

That single paragraph comes with a lot of pressure to sound amazing, yet humble; accomplished, yet down to earth—oh, and fun and funny, too. To distill who you are with a casual overview of the nitty-gritty on your work experience and education, both establishing your credibility as a human and creating a connection with whoever finds it. Phew .

Not to mention distilling it even further for your one-line Substack writer bio. We’ll cover that, too. 

Because it’s tricky, most bios come off stale and flat. Take this one that could be my own bio: 

Christin Thieme is a communications professional for The Salvation Army, an international nonprofit known for Doing the Most Good. Previously, Christin worked as an adjunct professor teaching journalism at California Lutheran University. She graduated from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a master’s degree in Specialized Journalism.

Snore, right? If it’s too bland, you simply blend in.

Thankfully, we can avoid that because you have the confidence to stand out as you . And so, taking the time to perfect your personal bio is not only a good writing exercise but a clarifying moment of personal development, too.

It comes down to one question: What do I want to invite people into?

And because it’s a paragraph you need in your back pocket, let’s get your personal bio pulled together so you have a working version ready for your about page, the next time you're appearing on a podcast or guest writing a post, as part of an application, in your social profiles, to be read as your introduction at an event or wherever you need a better bio!

What not to do in your bio

First, let’s get a few of these no-gos out of the way. In your personal bio, a mini-cover letter for your entire existence , let’s avoid: 

Creating a “trophy case” of every award you’ve won and all the teams you’ve belonged to. That would be a fun list for your mom, not a bio. And all those (surely impressive) pedigrees would miss the mark on a key ingredient: heart.

Filling it with small talk. Just say no to throwing everything you can think of about yourself into your bio and hoping for the best. (No favorite color or Enneagram number, please. At least not in your bio.)

Telling an epic survival tale. In writing about yourself, one of the biggest misconceptions I see is that you must have survived an outrageous, train wreck of an experience to be in any way interesting. Wehn you inject drama, it can come across as insincere, which will only mean missing the mark on your real message. 

Making it a sales page under the cover of a bio. Readers are savvy. They’ll sniff out an infomercial and move right along.

Copying what you commonly see. In all of your writing, avoid cliches. The brain skips over abstract concepts (ie. “I’m a coach who helps people stand in their power”), filing it under something seen before and therefore not worth paying attention to. This is a good list of cliches to avoid. 

Want to master your message? A new seasonal challenge is coming next month from The Content Brief to help you define and document your Writer’s Voice & Style Guide. 

Become a paid subscriber today and join the Voice Challenge free next month!

Keep these bio goals in mind

A well-written bio will: 

Introduce yourself

Share why you do what you do

Explain how you’re unique

Connect who you are and what you do with your audience and how you uniquely meet their needs

Build trust as an expert, a guide

Clarify the next step, your call to action

Your bio should be concise—about 10 sentences written in the third-person. It should include only what’s essential and interesting—easier said than done, I know.

Instead of abstract concepts (like helping people “stand in their power” above), use concrete specifics.

Something abstract, like power, is just an idea. It’s not something you can touch. When you instead use details, you put your audience there to experience it themselves. This is a technique creative writing expert Ash Ambirge of Meat & Hair (a really fun creative writing newsletter) calls “A Chicken in Every Pot, a Car in Every Garage.” That was Herb Hoover’s slogan during the 1928 presidential campaign when he promised America: “You’re going to have a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage!”

His opponent used the slogan: “Honest. Able. Fearless.” And he lost the election.

In everything you write, avoid abstract ideas (honest, able, fearless) in favor of concrete specifics (a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage).

Take inventory before you write

First things first, do not sit down to write your bio. That’s overwhelming. 

Instead, open a fresh doc and give some thought to these questions. Get your words—bullet points work just fine—down on the page as raw material to pull from when you write your bio later.

What is your title—what do you call yourself in your line of work? 

Who do you work with? 

How do you help them? What problem do you solve?

Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? What do you believe about your work? 

What are a few of your impressive and relevant achievements, clients, results, etc.—your big wins?

Any trainings, certificates, degrees? 

Any awards?

Been featured in the media?

When you’re not “on the clock,” what are you up to?

Your go-to call to action?

And, here’s the template!

Let’s pull the info from above into your new bio...

Start your bio in the present with what you do now. Just like a good story drops you into the action, you’re going to take the same approach with your bio rather than moving chronologically through your life.

[First and Last Name] is a [title/how you refer to yourself] who works with [who you help] to [how you help them]. Or [Name] is a [title/what you call yourself] who is known for [the problem you solve].

Next include a sentence to illustrate why what you do matters. This part is key to give your audience a sense of why you do what you do, of what inspires you.

[First Name] believes [what you know about the work you do].

Here’s where to share your track record. Brag a little! Share up to three of your most impressive and relevant achievements—your big wins.

[He/She] has [landed/created/supported/produced/secured/garnered] [insert your most compelling experiences and wins, top tier results, big accomplishments, etc].

Include the essentials on what brings you to where you are today. Share your relevant and notable trainings, certificates, awards and degrees. If you’ve been featured anywhere recognizable, include that, too.

[First Name] is a [trained/certified/awarded] [insert relevant trainings, awards, honors]. [He/She] holds a [insert degree] in [insert area of study] from [insert university].

If it’s appropriate in the context of where your bio will be used, share an interesting or quirky fact about you. Tell us where you can be found when you’re not working to add a touch of the you behind your work.

When [Name]’s not [another way to say what you do], you can find [him/her] [insert a touch of your personality].

Finally, again depending on your bio’s intended venue, tell your audience what to do next. If you have a specific call to action (even to follow you on your preferred social profile), include it here.

[Follow/Grab/Download/Join/etc.] [insert call to action].

For example…

When it is all pulled together into a nice little package, a personal bio might sound like this: 

Christin Thieme is editor-in-chief for The Salvation Army in the western U.S., where she directs content marketing efforts to tell stories about people making an impact for good and prompt others to action. Whether she’s interviewing a best-selling author, a government leader in Cuba, a single mom in Los Angeles or a coffee farmer in Vietnam, Christin knows telling our story is something everyone needs to feel connected in this world.    Christin holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and taught journalism as an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University for four years until bringing home her own live-in student. She’s the host of the 5-star Do Gooders Podcast and holds multiple first-place prizes from the Evangelical Press Association. When not writing about other people (or herself in the third person), she’s often helping creatives get more eyes on their work using content or playing some version of superheroes at home with her three boys. Subscribe to The Content Brief by Christin on Substack to take control of your content (and make it simple) at thecontentbrief.substack.com.

Better than that snooze-worthy one up top, right? 

For a shortened version, I might say: 

Christin Thieme is editor-in-chief in The Salvation Army USA Western Territory, where she tells stories about people making an impact for good and prompts others to action. She holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California, previously taught journalism as an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University and helps creatives simplify their content strategies on Substack. See more at thecontentbrief.substack.com.

Now, about your Substack Writer Bio 

Similar to your personal bio, your Substack writer bio is a "mini sales pitch" to your readers. It should address: 

"This is who I am"

"This is what I do"

"This is what you can expect to hear about from me"

“And this is why you can trust me”

Start with the nuts and bolts of establishing your credibility before adding a “Helping [who you help] [how you help them]” line. I like to divide the two with the bar: | . Remember you can always (and should) update your bio so don’t feel like you have to perfect it in your first draft.

Here’s how I list mine: 

Nonprofit Editor in Chief. Podcaster. Former J-school Professor. | Helping creatives take control of their content (and make it simple) in The Content Brief. 🪄

Finally, a few editor’s tips for your new bio

Like anything you write, once it’s drafted step away from it for a few hours, at least. Come back to it with fresh eyes and edit for spelling and grammar along with readability. Read it out loud a few times to make sure it sounds natural, or try having it read aloud to you with a free text to speech tool like Natural Reader .

Decide where you’ll house your bio (Asana, Google Drive, etc.) so you always have it easily accessible. Bonus points for keeping a professional headshot of you stored alongside your bio (chances are you’ll need both!).

My sentence-by-sentence template will result in a bio of no more than 10 sentences, but there’s times you’ll want a shorter, one- or two-sentence bio. You don’t need to start from scratch! Pull what’s most essential for that context (and see an example of how to do this above). 

Adjust your bio to best fit its intended use. A personal bio going on a “meet the team” page, for example, will need to read a bit differently than a bio for an upcoming podcast appearance. Consider the draft you now have your foundational bio that you can customize as needed before you send or post it for any specific purpose.

Set a monthly or even quarterly calendar reminder to review and refresh your bio. Just like your bio is not one-size-fits-all, it’s also not one-and-done. It should evolve and grow with you.  

I can’t wait to see your bio(s) in the wild. If this helped, one FREE way to show your support for this newsletter is by sharing it with others. Forward it, link it, Instagram it, text it, and be sure to hit the heart. Thank you, friend!

Enjoy this nuts-and-bolts approach to the writing you need? A new seasonal challenge is coming next month from The Content Brief to help you master your message. 

You’ll receive 6 weeks of posts and structured prompts so you end the 6-week challenge with your own Writer’s Voice and Style Guide—a working doc that defines and documents your message in one place to serve as a constant reference and filter for you moving forward. 🪄📝

Along the way, you can share snippets of your work, ask questions, share breakthroughs and challenges, and I’ll be there to answer questions, give feedback, and provide clarifications, encouragement and inspiration. 

If you are a free subscriber and want to participate in the challenge, you can upgrade for a discounted $50 annual subscription here. I hope you’ll join me and take control of your content!

Ready for more?

Published In: Brief

How to Write a Biography (Examples & Templates)

A biography is a written account of a person’s life that details their life in chronological order. Another person usually writes this detailed account, and it contains reports of their childhood, career, major life events, relationships, and social impact. It also details their relationships with their family, children, and life accomplishments.

The best way to find out more about a popular figure is through reading their biographies, so you need to make sure you get the correct information. Before writing a biography, you need to do a lot of research and interviews to represent a person’s life accurately.

Types of Biography

A biography is the story of someone’s life as written by another writer. Most biographies of popular figures are written years, or even decades, after their deaths. Authors write biographies of popular figures due to either a lack of information on the subject or personal interest.

A biography aims to share a person’s story or highlight a part of their life.

There are different types of biographies, depending on the story. Some biographies are written true to the story, while some are written as fictional works. Biographies can give you true understanding of a person on an internal as well as external level along with a lot of life lessons.

Autobiography

An autobiography is different from a biography because it is written by the subject of the story, themselves. The author writes in the first-person narrative, and it flows step-by-step like a story of their life. Autobiographies contain personal accounts of the subject’s life, along with their perspectives and opinions on events in their life.

How To Write a Biography

Pick a subject.

Picking a subject is the first step in writing a biography. You can pick an already famous person or a relatively unknown person with a great life story. If you already have a few in mind, you can start by asking yourself some questions such as;

• What has the subject accomplished that makes them a good subject?
• Have they had an impact on society?
• Is the subject a celebrity or a well-known personality?
• Will the biography appeal to a wide audience?

Get Permission

When you pick a subject, the next thing to do is to get permission from them or their family or rights owners. Although, with some historical figures, there may not be any need for permission. Getting permission from your subject makes it easier for you to get stories to put into your book. You can get the chance to obtain additional personal stories and anecdotes that will make your book more interesting by doing so as well.

Do The Research

Research is the most important part of a biography’s process as the entire content of the book is dependent on it. Irrespective of what you know about the subject, you need to carry out as much research as possible to get the story’s facts precisely.

Biography research comes from various sources, depending on the book’s subject. Firsthand reports from family, friends, or personal accounts from the subjects are primary sources. They are usually the most accurate and reliable, and they are crucial for a biography. Secondary sources come from other sources like magazines or documentaries.

Pick a Format

Biographies come in various formats, with each of them having their pros and cons. A typical biography will start at the beginning, usually with the birth and childhood of the subject. Yet, if the biography’s theme involves a different event in their life, the author may want to explore the flashback option or one with concurrent events from different times.

Usually, biographies have a theme or a general life lesson at the center. The author’s role is to tell the subject’s story leading up to the major event.

Which-ever format you choose should place the theme at the center, with the other events detailing the journey.

Create a Timeline Of The Story

Since a biography takes place in chronological order, there needs to be a timeline of the events in the right order. The timeline should contain the key events in the subject’s life, in the order the author plans on revealing them. A great way to declutter the story and keep it interesting is to use flashbacks . This way, the author can introduce past events and explain later events excluding the element of monotony.

Add In Your Thoughts

The good thing about biographies is that you don’t have to stick to the hard facts only. As the author, you can share your opinions and emotions in writing. The author has the freedom to do this by commenting on a significant action by the subject in a manner that describes why they feel the subject may have done what they did.

The author can also include commentary on events depicted in the biography – how it was influenced society or its impact on the lives around them. Recounting these events through a different perspective can make the biography more relatable and interesting to read.

FAQ’s

Why is a biography template important.

A biography template has an outline that makes the writing easier for the author. Biography templates usually contain a sample timeline, format, and questions that provide more information about the subject. With a great biography template, you can cut your writing time in half and spend less time coming up with an outline.

How are biographies better in comparison to autobiographies

Since a different person writes biographies, they tend to be more objective and somewhat accurate than autobiographies. An autobiography tells things from the author’s perspective, so their views and perspective cloud it. Thus, a biography will likely tell a more factual story.

These are the important steps you need to take to help you write a great biography. Now, to make things easier for you, we have a free customizable autobiography and biography template that you can use to start your first book. Get the template and start writing today

What are some of the most important elements to keep in consideration while writing a biography?

Any author looking to write a biography must consider the factors below. They aren’t the only important factors, but a biography isn’t complete without them. • Date and place of their birth • Academic background • Professional expertise • Death, if deceased • Facts and anecdotes about the person • Main accomplishments • Detailed accounts of their child and adult life

Biographies tell the untold stories of some incredibly relevant people in the world. But biographies are not always strictly accurate. So, every biographer needs to follow the necessary steps to provide a biography with all the requirements.

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Biography Sentence Starters

Biography sentence starters are a great way to begin writing a biography or autobiography. They can provide structure, direction, and inspiration for your story. These sentence starters can help you craft an engaging narrative and bring life to your story. They can also help you focus on key elements of a biography, such as a person’s accomplishments, struggles, and relationships. Once you start writing, you can use these sentence starters to create a powerful story that captures your subject’s life experience.

What is a Biography?

A biography is a detailed account of a person’s life, typically including their experiences, relationships, and accomplishments. It is written by a biographer, usually in the form of a book or essay. Biographies provide readers with a glimpse into the life of an individual, from their childhood experiences to their successes and failures. They offer insight into the motivations and passions of the subject, and can even provide a glimpse into the future of the individual. Biographies are often used to inspire readers, as well as to provide a comprehensive understanding of a person’s life. Whether one is reading a biography of a famous celebrity, a great leader, or a relative, biographies offer an opportunity to gain insight into the human experience.

Benefits of Writing a Biography

Writing a biography is an excellent way to share someone’s life story with the world. It can help to capture the essence of someone’s life and showcase their achievements, struggles, and impact on society. In addition to creating a lasting legacy, there are a number of other benefits of writing a biography.

Biographies can provide an opportunity to learn from the past. They can help introduce readers to people they may not have otherwise known about, and share the lessons learned from their experiences. Biographies can also help to inform and shape future generations by allowing readers to gain insight into how others have solved problems or navigated difficult times.

Moreover, biographies can help foster empathy and understanding. By reading about someone’s life, readers can gain perspective on their own experiences and gain insight into the perspectives and feelings of others.

Finally, biographies can be an excellent source of inspiration. Reading about someone’s accomplishments can be motivating and can help provide readers with the courage to pursue their own ambitions.

Writing a biography can be a great way to honor someone’s life and to spark meaningful conversations. By considering the benefits outlined above, authors can create compelling biographies that will have a lasting impact.

Identifying Your Audience

Having a clear understanding of your target audience is essential when crafting a biography. Knowing who you are trying to reach with your story can help you to determine the tone and language of your piece. Consider the age, gender, and interests of the readers that you want to reach and tailor your writing to them. Additionally, you may want to consider the geographical locations of your readers and vary the way you refer to certain places to better capture their attention. Keeping in mind the type of readers you are aiming to engage with can help you to create a more effective and engaging biography.

Types of Biographies

Biographies come in many different types, each with its own unique purpose. Whether you are looking to write a short personal profile or a full-length academic biography, there are some common elements and sentence starters that can help you get started. Knowing the different types of biographies will help you structure your story and make the writing process easier.

Autobiographies tell the life story of the person who wrote it. They provide a first-person account of the writer’s life, from childhood to adulthood. Autobiographies often include anecdotes, personal reflections, and insights into the person’s life. To start, consider using a sentence like, “My life has been shaped by my experiences and the people I have encountered.”

Biographies focus on the life of a particular person. They can be written about famous people such as politicians, artists, or scientists, or about everyday people in your community. To capture the person’s essence, consider using a sentence like, “John Smith was a man of many talents and passions.”

Collective biographies are written about a group of people, such as a family or a business. They provide an overview of the group’s history and accomplishments, as well as individual stories and profiles. To introduce the group of people, try a sentence like, “The Johnson family has been an integral part of the local community for generations.”

Finally, hagiographies, or saints’ lives, are biographies written about holy figures. These provide an in-depth look into the person’s life and the impact they had on the world. To begin, try a sentence like, “Saint Mary was a woman of immense faith and determination.”

No matter which type of biography you are writing, understanding the various types and sentence starters can help you craft a compelling story. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to create a captivating biography that you can be proud of.

Tips for Writing a Biography

Writing a biography can be a daunting task, but with a few simple tips, you can get started on your masterpiece. Before you begin, consider collecting meaningful quotes, stories, and anecdotes from the person you’re writing about. This will help you craft a more detailed and accurate portrait of the subject. Additionally, you should outline the main points of the biography and divide the work into sections. This will make the process of writing much easier.

When writing the biography, make sure to use active verbs and detailed descriptions. Additionally, you should consider the audience of the biography and use language they will understand. Additionally, be sure to incorporate relevant facts about the subject’s life, such as their education, profession, and accomplishments.

Finally, remember to proofread your work. With a few simple steps, you can craft an accurate, engaging, and informative biography. Start by gathering quotes, stories, and anecdotes, then outline the main points of the biography and divide the work into sections. Make sure to use active verbs and detailed descriptions, and consider the audience of the biography. Incorporate relevant facts about the subject’s life, and proofread your work. By following these tips, you’ll be able to write a compelling biography that captures the life of the subject.

Examples of Biography Sentence Starters

Biography sentence starters are a great way to get started on writing a biography. Whether you are writing a biography for a school project or for a professional purpose, these sentence starters can provide you with a good foundation to develop the story of someone’s life. From childhood to adulthood, these sentence starters can help you capture the story of any individual.

When it comes to writing a biography, it is important to make sure that the sentences you use are creative and informative. Using sentence starters can help you craft a compelling story of someone’s life, from their early days to their later achievements. Below are some examples of sentence starters that can help you get started on writing a biography about someone.

For childhood: “From a young age, [Name] was always interested in…”

For education: “[Name] went on to attend [Name of School] to further their studies in…”

For accomplishments: “Throughout their life, [Name] achieved many successes, including…”

For later years: “In their later years, [Name] was admired for their…”

By using these biography sentence starters, you can craft a compelling story of someone’s life. They can serve as the foundation for the narrative, helping to provide structure and focus to your writing. Once you have outlined the facts, you can then add further details to develop the story. Remember that the goal of writing a biography is to capture the personality of the individual, so be sure to include details that will bring the story to life.

FAQs About the Biography Sentence Starters

Q1: How can I use biography sentence starters to write my biography? A1: Biography sentence starters can be a great help when writing a biography. They provide ideas and starting points for writing your story, whether it is about yourself or someone else.

Q2: What kind of information should I include in my biography? A2: The information you include in your biography should depend on the type of biography you are writing. Generally, biographies include information about the person’s life, accomplishments, and legacy.

Q3: What are some examples of biography sentence starters? A3: Examples of biography sentence starters include: “Born on [date], [person] was a [adjective] [profession].”, “[Person] was known for [accomplishment].”, “[Person] made a lasting contribution to [field/cause].”, “[Person] left a legacy of [legacy].”, etc.

Biography sentence starters are a great tool for those who are new to writing biographies. They provide an easy way to get started, and to help focus the writing process. They can also be used to help create structure and provide guidance for the overall writing. By using these sentence starters, writers can begin crafting an engaging and informative biography that will capture the essence of the subject.

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Alex Murdaugh sentenced to 40 years for financial crimes after polygraph controversy

A federal South Carolina judge sentenced Alex Murdaugh to another 480 months, or 40 years, in prison on Monday after the former personal injury lawyer pleaded guilty to 22 federal financial crimes charges in September of last year.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel said he was committed to impose 480 months and mandatory restitution totaling more than $9 million. Because the defendant does not have the ability to pay restitution, however, Gergel waived the fee and required Murdaugh to pay $2,000 in special assessment immediately.

"I do want you to know and all of the victims to know I am filled with sorrow. I am filled with remorse. I am filled with guilt," Murdaugh said Monday.

Murdaugh, 55, is already serving a life sentence for fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in June 2021 on their family's hunting estate in Colleton County. Prosecutors argued that their murders were an attempt to distract from Murdaugh's mounting financial crimes, which were beginning to come to light around that time.

ALEX MURDAUGH'S LAWYERS WANT TO MAKE PUBLIC STATEMENTS ABOUT STOLEN MONEY. FBI SAYS MURDAUGH LIED

The disgraced South Carolina lawyer was also sentenced to 27 years for his financial crimes in a state case in November of last year.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of 17 to 22 years in prison for the nearly two-dozen crimes, including bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, stemming from Murdaugh's schemes to steal millions from his clients and the firm where he served as partner.

ALEX MURDAUGH COURT CLERK BECKY HILL RESIGNS AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF JURY TAMPERING

In court documents filed last week, however, federal prosecutors alleged that Murdaugh failed part of a polygraph test regarding $6 million in stolen funds, violating his plea agreement. His defense attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, are asking a judge to dismiss the allegations and said they want to publicize Murdaugh's statements from the test.

During Monday's hearing, the defense asked for a motion to review the polygraph test. Judge Gergel said the motion was withdrawn.

SOUTH CAROLINA JUDGE DENIES ALEX MURDAUGH'S REQUEST FOR A NEW MURDER TRIAL

"[T]he polygraph examination that forms the basis of the Government’s motion was plagued by many irregularities and violated in material respects the standards for designing appropriate polygraph questions," Murdaugh's attorneys wrote. "For these reasons, the Government should not be permitted to rely on the results of that polygraph examination in the first instance."

In the state case, prosecutors said Murdaugh used his power and family influence in the Lowcountry to take on clients' cases, win them "significant funds" and then keep a decent portion of the earnings for himself.

ALEX MURDAUGH'S PUSH FOR NEW TRIAL COULD DEPEND ON ONE JUROR, ATTORNEY SAYS

At the conclusion of the state financial crimes case last year, South Carolina prosecutor Creighton Waters said that in the "many instances" of people who were trustworthy of Murdaugh and sought his legal help, there were "significant funds that Mr. Murdaugh paid to those individuals, but that was how the scheme usually worked. It was a sleight of hand."

Murdaugh was initially charged with about 100 financial crimes totaling about $10 million in both the state and federal cases, but that number was lessened to 22 counts as part of his respective plea deals.

ALEX MURDAUGH 'A SHELL OF A MAN' FOR FINANCIAL BETRAYAL, GLORIA SATTERFIELD SISTER TELLS INTERVIEWER

After being convicted in 2022 for killing his wife and son , Murdaugh appeared back in court in January for a hearing focused on allegations of jury tampering against Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill, who announced in March she will not be seeking reelection for the position.

Murdaugh's attorneys argued that the allegations warranted a new murder trial for the former South Carolina legal scion. Justice Jean Toal ultimately decided after hearing from jurors who presided over Murdaugh's trial that the allegations against Hill were not enough to grant the defendant a new trial in the murder case.

Fox News' Kennedy Hayes contributed to this report.

Original article source: Alex Murdaugh sentenced to 40 years for financial crimes after polygraph controversy

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Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

Mr. Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of stealing $8 billion from customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, faced a maximum sentence of 110 years.

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By David Yaffe-Bellany and J. Edward Moreno

David Yaffe-Bellany and J. Edward Moreno have covered the collapse of FTX extensively.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange who was convicted of stealing billions of dollars from customers , was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday, capping an extraordinary saga that upended the crypto industry and became a cautionary tale of greed and hubris.

Mr. Bankman-Fried’s sentence was shorter than the 40 to 50 years that federal prosecutors had sought after a jury found him guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering — charges that carried a maximum penalty of 110 years behind bars. But the punishment was far above the six and a half years requested by his defense lawyers.

Mr. Bankman-Fried, 32, did not visibly react as Judge Lewis A. Kaplan handed down the sentence in Federal District Court in Manhattan. His parents, the law professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, sat two rows from the front, staring at the floor.

“He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal,” Judge Kaplan said of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s actions.

Before the sentence was delivered, Mr. Bankman-Fried, cleanshaven and wearing a loosefitting brown jail uniform, apologized to FTX’s customers, investors and employees.

“A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down,” he said. “I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.” He added that his decisions “haunt” him every day.

Mr. Bankman-Fried was also ordered to forfeit about $11 billion in assets.

At the sentencing, Judge Kaplan pointed to testimony from Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial that showed the FTX founder’s extreme appetite for risk, saying it was his “nature” to make colossally dangerous bets. “There is a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future,” he said.

Judge Kaplan also said Mr. Bankman-Fried had lied on the witness stand and failed to take responsibility for his crimes. “He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught,” he said. “But he’s not going to admit a thing.”

Mr. Bankman-Fried, currently housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, will be sent to a low- or medium-security prison, the judge said, very likely near his parents’ home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The sentencing signified the finale of a sweeping fraud case that exposed the rampant volatility and risk-taking across the loosely regulated world of cryptocurrencies. In November 2022, FTX imploded virtually overnight, erasing $8 billion in customer savings. At a trial last fall, he was convicted of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

His sentence ranks as one of the longest imposed on a white-collar defendant in recent years. Bernie Madoff , who orchestrated a notorious Ponzi scheme that unraveled during the 2008 financial crisis, received a 150-year sentence in 2009. He was in his 70s and died 12 years later. Elizabeth Holmes , who was convicted of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up, Theranos, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in 2022.

A representative for Mr. Bankman-Fried declined to comment. In a statement, his parents said, “We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son.”

Ira Lee Sorkin, the defense lawyer who represented Mr. Madoff, said he was not surprised Mr. Bankman-Fried got a stiff sentence, albeit a shorter one than his own client.

“He is 32 years old, and he will see the light of day,” he said of Mr. Bankman-Fried. “But he is going to spend a lot of time in a cell.”

Just 18 months ago, Mr. Bankman-Fried was a corporate titan and one of the youngest billionaires on the planet. With his face plastered on billboards and magazine covers, he could raise money seemingly at will. He hobnobbed with actors, musicians and superstar athletes, cultivating an image as a nerdy do-gooder who intended to donate all his wealth to charity.

Based in the Bahamas, FTX was one of the largest marketplaces for cryptocurrencies — an easy-to-use platform where investors could exchange dollars or euros for digital coins like Bitcoin and Ether. Its valuation was north of $30 billion.

But over less than a week in November 2022, a run on deposits exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounts. Mr. Bankman-Fried resigned, handing over power to a team of lawyers who promptly filed for bankruptcy. The next month, he was arrested at his luxury apartment in the Bahamas and charged with stealing from customers to finance billions in political contributions, charitable donations and investments in other start-ups.

The investigation moved with startling speed for such a complex case. Within months, three of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s top deputies, including a former girlfriend, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Mr. Bankman-Fried was initially granted home detention, but the judge revoked his bail in August after ruling that he had tried to intimidate witnesses, and sent him to the Brooklyn detention center.

At the trial in October, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s former colleagues testified for the prosecution, telling a jury that they had conspired with him to loot customer accounts. When he took the witness stand, Mr. Bankman-Fried seemed evasive at times, repeatedly claiming that he couldn’t remember crucial details of his FTX tenure.

“When he wasn’t outright lying, he was often evasive, hairsplitting, dodging questions,” Judge Kaplan said on Thursday. “I’ve never seen a performance quite like that.”

After he was convicted, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers and family embarked on a long-shot campaign to secure a lenient sentence and rewrite the public narrative about FTX’s failure. In a sentencing memo, Marc Mukasey, one of the defense lawyers, argued that Mr. Bankman-Fried had sometimes behaved strangely on the stand because he was autistic. He also cited the mogul’s charitable initiatives, arguing that FTX was supposed to be a force for good in the world.

But the defense’s case centered on the money that FTX users lost when the exchange went under. Since FTX’s bankruptcy, its new leaders have cobbled together billions of dollars to return to customers, partly by liquidating stashes of digital coins and selling Mr. Bankman-Fried’s stakes in other companies. Mr. Mukasey claimed those customers would eventually be made whole through the bankruptcy process, putting the losses caused by Mr. Bankman-Fried’s actions at “zero.”

The prosecutors rejected that argument. While FTX’s new leadership has predicted that customers will eventually get their deposits back, the money they receive will be equivalent to the dollar value of their holdings in November 2022 — and won’t account for a recent surge in the crypto markets that sent Bitcoin to its highest-ever price .

Mr. Bankman-Fried “demonstrated a brazen disrespect for the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “He knew what society deemed illegal and unethical, but disregarded that based on a pernicious megalomania.”

On Thursday, Judge Kaplan said of FTX’s victims: “The defendant’s assurance that they will be paid in full is misleading. It is logically flawed. It is speculative.”

Over the past several weeks, the prosecutors filed hundreds of letters from FTX customers that laid out how the financial losses had devastated their lives. One customer said the collapse had led to “suicidal thoughts.”

“Sam Bankman-Fried has to think for the rest of his life of the multitude of lives he destroyed with his selfishness and superficiality,” the customer wrote. “I really hope that justice will teach him the difference between life and video games.”

Another FTX user, Sunil Kavuri, who lost $2 million when the company collapsed, testified at the hearing that the implosion had wiped out money he planned to spend on a house and his children’s education.

“I’ve lived the FTX nightmare for almost two years,” he said.

When Mr. Bankman-Fried spoke, he offered a sometimes-rambling assortment of thoughts, apologizing for his mistakes while insisting that FTX had enough assets to make customers whole.

“I made a series of bad decisions,” he said, his leg shaking. “They weren’t selfish decisions. They weren’t selfless decisions. They were bad decisions.”

Mr. Bankman-Fried has vowed to appeal his conviction, hiring a lawyer from the law firm Shapiro Arato Bach to oversee that effort. But in his remarks, he appeared to accept that he would be in prison for some time.

“At the end of the day, my useful life is probably over now,” he said.

Matthew Goldstein contributed reporting.

David Yaffe-Bellany writes about the crypto industry from San Francisco. He can be reached at [email protected]. More about David Yaffe-Bellany

J. Edward Moreno is a business reporter at The Times. More about J. Edward Moreno