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Definition of biography

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So You've Been Asked to Submit a Biography

In a library, the word biography refers both to a kind of book and to a section where books of that kind are found. Each biography tells the story of a real person's life. A biography may be about someone who lived long ago, recently, or even someone who is still living, though in the last case it must necessarily be incomplete. The term autobiography refers to a biography written by the person it's about. Autobiographies are of course also necessarily incomplete.

Sometimes biographies are significantly shorter than a book—something anyone who's been asked to submit a biography for, say, a conference or a community newsletter will be glad to know. Often the word in these contexts is shortened to bio , a term that can be both a synonym of biography and a term for what is actually a biographical sketch: a brief description of a person's life. These kinds of biographies—bios—vary, but many times they are only a few sentences long. Looking at bios that have been used in the same context can be a useful guide in determining what to put in your own.

Examples of biography in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'biography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Late Greek biographia , from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Dictionary Entries Near biography

biographize

Cite this Entry

“Biography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biography. Accessed 9 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of biography, more from merriam-webster on biography.

Nglish: Translation of biography for Spanish Speakers

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about biography

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What Is a Biography?

Learning from the experiences of others is what makes us human.

At the core of every biography is the story of someone’s humanity. While biographies come in many sub-genres, the one thing they all have in common is loyalty to the facts, as they’re available at the time. Here’s how we define biography, a look at its origins, and some popular types.

“Biography” Definition

A biography is simply the story of a real person’s life. It could be about a person who is still alive, someone who lived centuries ago, someone who is globally famous, an unsung hero forgotten by history, or even a unique group of people. The facts of their life, from birth to death (or the present day of the author), are included with life-changing moments often taking center stage. The author usually points to the subject’s childhood, coming-of-age events, relationships, failures, and successes in order to create a well-rounded description of her subject.

Biographies require a great deal of research. Sources of information could be as direct as an interview with the subject providing their own interpretation of their life’s events. When writing about people who are no longer with us, biographers look for primary sources left behind by the subject and, if possible, interviews with friends or family. Historical biographers may also include accounts from other experts who have studied their subject.

The biographer’s ultimate goal is to recreate the world their subject lived in and describe how they functioned within it. Did they change their world? Did their world change them? Did they transcend the time in which they lived? Why or why not? And how? These universal life lessons are what make biographies such a meaningful read.

Origins of the Biography

Greco-Roman literature honored the gods as well as notable mortals. Whether winning or losing, their behaviors were to be copied or seen as cautionary tales. One of the earliest examples written exclusively about humans is Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (probably early 2 nd century AD). It’s a collection of biographies in which a pair of men, one Greek and one Roman, are compared and held up as either a good or bad example to follow.

In the Middle Ages, Einhard’s The Life of Charlemagne (around 817 AD) stands out as one of the most famous biographies of its day. Einhard clearly fawns over Charlemagne’s accomplishments throughout, yet it doesn’t diminish the value this biography has brought to centuries of historians since its writing.

Considered the earliest modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) by James Boswell looks like the biographies we know today. Boswell conducted interviews, performed years of research, and created a compelling narrative of his subject.

The genre evolves as the 20th century arrives, and with it the first World War. The 1920s saw a boom in autobiographies in response. Robert Graves’ Good-Bye to All That (1929) is a coming-of age story set amid the absurdity of war and its aftermath. That same year, Mahatma Gandhi wrote The Story of My Experiments with Truth , recalling how the events of his life led him to develop his theories of nonviolent rebellion. In this time, celebrity tell-alls also emerged as a popular form of entertainment. With the horrors of World War II and the explosion of the civil rights movement, American biographers of the late 20 th century had much to archive. Instantly hailed as some of the best writing about the war, John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) tells the stories of six people who lived through those world-altering days. Alex Haley wrote the as-told-to The Autobiography of Malcom X (1965). Yet with biographies, the more things change, the more they stay the same. One theme that persists is a biographer’s desire to cast its subject in an updated light, as in Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn (2016).

Types of Biographies

Contemporary Biography: Authorized or Unauthorized

The typical modern biography tells the life of someone still alive, or who has recently passed. Sometimes these are authorized — written with permission or input from the subject or their family — like Dave Itzkoff’s intimate look at the life and career of Robin Williams, Robin . Unauthorized biographies of living people run the risk of being controversial. Kitty Kelley’s infamous His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra so angered Sinatra, he tried to prevent its publication.

Historical Biography

The wild success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is proof that our interest in historical biography is as strong as ever. Miranda was inspired to write the musical after reading Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton , an epic 800+ page biography intended to cement Hamilton’s status as a great American. Paula Gunn Allen also sets the record straight on another misunderstood historical figure with Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat , revealing details about her tribe, her family, and her relationship with John Smith that are usually missing from other accounts. Historical biographies also give the spotlight to people who died without ever getting the recognition they deserved, such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks .

Biography of a Group

When a group of people share unique characteristics, they can be the topic of a collective biography. The earliest example of this is Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pirates (1724), which catalogs the lives of notorious pirates and establishes the popular culture images we still associate with them. Smaller groups are also deserving of a biography, as seen in David Hajdu’s Positively 4th Street , a mesmerizing behind-the-scenes look at the early years of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña as they establish the folk scene in New York City. Likewise, British royal family fashion is a vehicle for telling the life stories of four iconic royals – Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Kate, and Meghan – in HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by style journalist Elizabeth Holmes.

Autobiography

This type of biography is written about one’s self, spanning an entire life up to the point of its writing. One of the earliest autobiographies is Saint Augustine’s The Confessions (400), in which his own experiences from childhood through his religious conversion are told in order to create a sweeping guide to life. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first of six autobiographies that share all the pain of her childhood and the long road that led to her work in the civil rights movement, and a beloved, prize-winning writer.

Memoirs are a type of autobiography, written about a specific but vital aspect of one’s life. In Toil & Trouble , Augusten Burroughs explains how he has lived his life as a witch. Mikel Jollett’s Hollywood Park recounts his early years spent in a cult, his family’s escape, and his rise to success with his band, The Airborne Toxic Event. Barack Obama’s first presidential memoir, A Promised Land , charts his path into politics and takes a deep dive into his first four years in office.

Fictional Biography

Fictional biographies are no substitute for a painstakingly researched scholarly biography, but they’re definitely meant to be more entertaining. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler constructs Zelda and F. Scott’s wild, Jazz-Age life, told from Zelda’s point of view. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict brings readers into the secret life of Hollywood actress and wartime scientist, Hedy Lamarr. These imagined biographies, while often whimsical, still respect the form in that they depend heavily on facts when creating setting, plot, and characters.

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What Is Biography? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples

Biography definition.

A  biography  (BYE-og-ruh-fee) is a written account of one person’s life authored by another person. A biography includes all pertinent details from the subject’s life, typically arranged in a chronological order. The word  biography  stems from the Latin  biographia , which succinctly explains the word’s definition:  bios  = “life” +  graphia  = “write.”

Since the advent of the written word, historical writings have offered information about real people, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that biographies evolved into a separate literary genre.  Autobiographies  and memoirs fall under the broader biography genre, but they are distinct literary forms due to one key factor: the subjects themselves write these works. Biographies are popular source materials for documentaries, television shows, and motion pictures.

The History of Biographies

The biography form has its roots in Ancient Rome and Greece. In 44 BCE, Roman writer Cornelius Nepos published  Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae  ( Lives of the Generals ), one of the earliest recorded biographies. In 80 CE, Greek writer Plutarch released  Parallel Lives , a sweeping work consisting of 48 biographies of famous men. In 121 CE, Roman historian Suetonius wrote  De vita Caesarum  ( On the Lives of the Caesars ), a series of 12 biographies detailing the lives of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. These were among the most widely read biographies of their time, and at least portions of them have survived intact over the millennia.

During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had a notable influence on biographies. Historical, political, and cultural biographies fell out of favor. Biographies of religious figures—including saints, popes, and church founders—replaced them. One notable exception was Italian painter/architect Giorgio Vasari’s 1550 biography,  The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects , which was immensely popular. In fact, it is one of the first examples of a bestselling book.

Still, it wasn’t until the 18th century that authors began to abandon multiple subjects in a single work and instead focus their research and writing on one subject. Scholars consider James Boswell’s 1791  The Life of Samuel Johnson  to be the first modern biography. From here, biographies were established as a distinct literary genre, separate from more general historical writing.

As understanding of psychology and sociology grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries, biographies further evolved, offering up even more comprehensive pictures of their subjects. Authors who played major roles in this contemporary approach to biographing include Lytton Strachey, Gamaliel Bradford, and Robert Graves.

Types of Biographies

While all biographical works chronicle the lives of real people, writers can present the information in several different ways.

• Popular biographies are life histories written for a general readership.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  by Rebecca Skloot and  Into the Wild  by Jon Krakauer are two popular examples.
• Critical biographies discuss the relationship between the subject’s life and the work they produced or were involved in; for example,  The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune  by Conor O’Clery and  Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump  by Martha Brockenbrough.
• Historical biographies put greater understanding on how the subject’s life and contributions affected or were affected by the times in which they lived; see  John Adams  by David McCullough and  Catherine the Great  by Peter K. Massie.
• Literary biographies concentrate almost exclusively on writers and artists, blending a conventional  narrative  of the historical facts of the subject’s life with an exploration of how these facts impacted their creative output. Some examples include  Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay  by Nancy Milford and  Jackson Pollock: An American Saga  by Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh.
• Reference biographies are more scholarly writings, usually written by multiple authors and covering multiple lives around a single topic. They verify facts, provide background details, and contribute supplemental information resources, like bibliographies, glossaries, and historical documents; for example,  Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007  and the  Dictionary of Canadian Biography .
• Fictional biographies, or biographical novels, like  The Other Boleyn Girl  by Philippa Gregory, incorporate creative license into the retelling of a real person’s story by taking on the structure and freedoms of a novel. The term can also describe novels in which authors give an abundance of background information on their characters, to the extent that the novel reads more like a biography than fiction. An example of this is George R.R. Martin’s  Fire and Blood , a novel detailing the history of a royal family from his popular  A Song of Ice and Fire

Biographies and Filmed Entertainment

Movie makers and television creators frequently produce biographical stories, either as dramatized productions based on real people or as nonfiction accounts.

Documentary

This genre is a nonfictional movie or television show that uses historical records to tell the story of a subject. The subject might be a one person or a group of people, or it might be a certain topic or theme. To present a biography in a visually compelling way, documentaries utilize archival footage, recreations, and interviews with subjects, scholars, experts, and others associated with the subject.

Famous film documentaries include  Grey Gardens,  a biography of two of Jacqueline Kennedy’s once-wealthy cousins, who, at the time of filming, lived in squalor in a condemned mansion in the Hamptons; and  I Am Not Your Negro , a biography of the life and legacy of pioneering American author James Baldwin.

Television documentary series tell one story over the course of several episodes, like  The Jinx :  The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst , a biography of the real estate heir and alleged serial killer that focused on his suspected crimes. There are many nonfiction television shows that use a documentary format, but subjects typically change from one episode to the next, such as A&E’s  Biography  and PBS’s  POV .

These films are biographical motion pictures, written by screenwriters and performed by actors. They often employ a certain amount of creative liberty in their interpretation of a real life. This is largely done to maintain a feasible runtime; capturing all of the pivotal moments of a subject’s life in a 90- or 120-minute movie is all but impossible. So, filmmakers might choose to add, eliminate, or combine key events and characters, or they may focus primarily on one or only a few aspects of the subject’s life. Some popular examples:  Coal Miner’s Daughter , a biography of country music legend Loretta Lynn;  Malcom X , a biopic centered on the civil rights leader of the same name; and  The King’s Speech , a dramatization of Prince Albert’s efforts to overcome a stutter and ascend the English throne.

Semi-fictionalized account

This approach takes a real-life event and interprets or expands it in ways that stray beyond what actually happened. This is done for entertainment and to build the story so it fits the filmmaker’s vision or evolves into a longer form, such as a multi-season television show. These accounts sometimes come with the disclaimer that they are “inspired by true events.” Examples of semi-fictionalized accounts are the TV series  Orange Is the New Black ,  Masters of Sex , and  Mozart of the Jungle —each of which stem from at least one biographical element, but showrunners expounded upon to provide many seasons of entertainment.

The Functions of Biography

Biographies inform readers about the life of a notable person. They are a way to introduce readers to the work’s subject—the historical details, the subject’s motivations and psychological underpinnings, and their environment and the impact they had, both in the short and long term.

Because the author is somewhat removed from their subject, they can offer a more omniscient, third-person narrative account. This vantage point allows the author to put certain events into a larger context; compare and contrast events, people, and behaviors predominant in the subject’s life; and delve into psychological and sociological themes of which the subject may not have been aware.

Also, a writer structures a biography to make the life of the subject interesting and readable. Most biographers want to entertain as well as inform, so they typically use a traditional  plot  structure—an introduction,  conflict , rising of tension, a climax, a resolution, and an ending—to give the life story a narrative shape. While the ebb and flow of life is a normal day-to-day rhythm, it doesn’t necessarily make for entertaining reading. The job of the writer, then, becomes one of shaping the life to fit the elements of a good plot.

Writers Known for Biographies

Many modern writers have dedicated much of their careers to biographies, such as:

• Kitty Kelley, author of  Jackie Oh! An Intimate Biography; His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra ; and  The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty
• Antonia Fraser, author of  Mary Queen of Scots ;  Cromwell; Our Chief of Men ; and  The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605
• David McCullough, author of  The Path Between the Seas; Truman ; and  John Adams
• Andrew Morton, author of  Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words; Madonna ; and  Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
• Alison Weir, author of  The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God; Queen of England ; and  Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

Examples of Biographies

1. James Boswell,  The Life of Samuel Johnson

The biography that ushered in the modern era of true-life writing,  The Life of Samuel Johnson  covered the entirety of its subject’s life, from his birth to his status as England’s preeminent writer to his death. Boswell was a personal acquaintance of Johnson, so he was able to draw on voluminous amounts of personal conversations the two shared.

What also sets this biography apart is, because Boswell was a contemporary of Johnson, readers see Johnson in the context of his own time. He wasn’t some fabled figure that a biographer was writing about centuries later; he was someone to whom the author had access, and Boswell could see the real-world influence his subject had on life in the here and now.

2. Sylvia Nasar,  A Beautiful Mind

Nasar’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-nominated biography of mathematician John Nash introduced legions of readers to Nash’s remarkable life and genius. The book opens with Nash’s childhood and follows him through his education, career, personal life, and struggles with schizophrenia. It ends with his acceptance of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics. In addition to a Pulitzer nomination,  A Beautiful Mind  won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, was a  New York Times  bestseller, and provided the basis for the Academy Award-winning 2001 film of the same name.

3. Catherine Clinton,  Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

Clinton’s biography of the abolitionist icon is a large-scale epic that chronicles Tubman’s singular life. It starts at her birth in the 1820s as the slave Araminta Ross, continuing through her journey to freedom; her pivotal role in the Underground Railroad; her Moses-like persona; and her death in 1913.

Because Tubman could not read or write, she left behind no letters, diaries, or other personal papers in her own hand and voice. Clinton reconstructed Tubman’s history entirely through other source material, and historians often cite this work as the quintessential biography of Tubman’s life.

4. Megan Mayhew Bergman,  Almost Famous Women

Almost Famous Women  is not a biography in the strictest sense of the word; it is a fictional interpretation of real-life women. Each short story revolves around a woman from history with close ties to fame, such as movie star Marlene Dietrich, Standard Oil heiress Marion “Joe” Carstairs, aviatrix Beryl Markham, Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly, and Lord Byron’s daughter Allegra. Mayhew Bergman imagines these colorful women in equally colorful episodes that put them in a new light—a light that perhaps offers them the honor and homage that history denied them.

Further Resources on Biography

Newsweek  compiled their picks for the  75 Best Biographies of All Time .

The Open Education Database has a list of  75 Biographies to Read Before You Die .

Goodreads put together a list of readers’  best biography selections .

If you’re looking to write biographies,  Infoplease  has instructions for writing shorter pieces, while  The Writer   has practical advice for writing manuscript-length bios.

Ranker  collected  a comprehensive list of famous biographers .

Related Terms

• Autobiography
• Short Story

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Wonder of the Day #44

What Is a Biography?

LANGUAGE ARTS — Literature

Have You Ever Wondered...

• Who wrote the first biography? 
• How do you write a biography? 
• What is a memoir?
• biography ,
• Biography ,
• Autobiography ,
• James Boswell ,
• Samuel Johnson ,
• Slave Narrative ,

Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Chgvlokdkl. Chgvlokdkl Wonders , “ Who was the first biography on? ” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Chgvlokdkl!

If you’re reading this, chances are that you enjoy learning about people, places, and new ideas. That’s what Wonderopolis is all about! Every Wonder you read is a nonfiction article. Nonfiction means that it is based in fact —it is true. Many Wonders are about famous or important people. These are biographies! And today we’re WONDERing—what is a biography?

Simply put, a biography is the true story of a person’s life. Of course, writing a biography might not be so simple! How does someone write a biography? Some authors write a biography of someone that they knew. One of the most famous biographies in ancient times was the descriptions of Socrates by his student, Plato. Plato wrote about what he saw and experienced with Socrates.

Most biographers have to research their subjects. Writers can learn about them by reading their diaries or other papers they wrote. They can also read what other biographers have written about them. If their subject is alive, a writer might interview them to learn more about their perspective. Sometimes, a writer may know his subject , but they also research them in order to give a fuller account of their lives. One of the first modern biographers was James Boswell. He knew his subject , Samuel Johnson, very well. He also learned more about Johnson by reading his papers and journals. Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson became one of the most famous biographies in history!

Another kind of biography is the autobiography. “Auto” means self, so an autobiography is a biography written by oneself! One kind of autobiography is a memoir. Memoirs are usually about one part of a person’s life—not their entire life, like an autobiography. Both biographies and autobiographies are often written about well known or important people. Many may already know of them and are interested in learning more about them. That isn’t always true, though.

There are a few different reasons why people would write a biography or autobiography. The first is to teach others about someone who is already well known. Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton , that inspired the musical Hamilton , is one example. Another is to inform about other places, times, or events. Biographies of famous generals, for example, help teach us about the conflicts they were a part of. Travel memoirs show us what it is like to live in other places.

Many memoirs focus on someone’s unique life. Helen Keller ’s book tells of her life as a person who was both blind and deaf. Maya Angelou wrote about her life growing up as a Black girl in Arkansas.

Autobiographies can also be used to draw attention to important issues. They can help people empathize with the author. One genre of autobiography called slave narratives were written for this purpose. Authors like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs told about their lives as enslaved people. They hoped that by telling their stories, they might inspire others to work against slavery .

Autobiographies and memoirs about the Holocaust also seek to inform and teach others. Two of the best known Holocaust memoirs are Anne Frank ’s Diary of a Young Girl and Elie Wiesel ’s Night . These books help readers feel connected to the authors and understand how they felt.

Writing a biography requires a lot of research . Writing an autobiography or memoir means you will need to know all about yourself! Who would YOU like to write about? Who would YOU like to read about?

Common Core , Next Generation Science Standards , and National Council for the Social Studies ."> Standards : CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.R.7, CCRA.R.8, CCRA.R.9, CCRA.R.10, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2, CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.4, CCRA.L.5, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.W.3, CCRA.W.4, CCRA.W.7, CCRA.W.9

Wonder What's Next?

Tomorrow’s palm-sized Wonder of the Day has a long tail and is sometimes gray. However, we’re not sure if it likes cheese.

Whether you’d like to read or write, try it out here! 

• There are so many Wonder biographies—which is your favorite? With an adult’s help, search our website and see what biographies you can find. You might try Sandra Cisneros , James Baldwin , or Henry David Thoreau —who all wrote memoirs of their own! Share what you learn with a friend or family member. If you can’t find the biography you’d like, suggest it in the Wonder Bank ! 
• Ready to try it for yourself? Write a small biography! You can either write about someone you already know, or not. With an adult’s help, use your research skills on the Internet or at the library to learn more about your subject. If your subject is a friend or family member, interview them to learn more. Then, organize and write what you have learned. Share your biography with a friend or family member! 
• Are your experiences unique enough to write about? We think so! Try your hand at writing a memoir. You can write a poem, short story, or even try a six-word memoir . Share what you create with a friend or family member!

Wonder Sources

• https://www.britannica.com/dictionary (accessed 19 July, 2023)
• https://www.britannica.com/art/biography-narrative-genre (accessed 22 May, 2023)
• https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/choosing-your-topic/6397/the-differences-between-memoir-autobiography-and-biography---article (accessed 24 May, 2023)
• https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-biography/ (accessed 24 May, 2023)

Did you get it?

Wonder contributors.

We’d like to thank:

Ivy for contributing questions about today’s Wonder topic!

Keep WONDERing with us!

Wonder Words

biography is about a person and that person wrote it

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about biographies, Taylor! They are fun to write and read! :)

That sounds very interesting, Morgan! We enjoy reading biographies, too! :)

Wonderopolis

Hi, kay! We're sorry to hear that. Reading and writing biographies are both WONDERful ways to learn about historic people. We encourage you to think of your historical hero ( Wonder #1119:Who’s Your Historical Hero? ) and research him/her at the library. You might change your mind! :)

Hi Derek! We're excited that you're the first to comment too! We are so glad you're WONDERing with us! Who's your favorite biography about? Thanks for WONDERing! :)

We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience.

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Question 1 of 3

This Wonder is mostly about . . .

• a How to write a memoir Not Quite!
• b The importance of slave narratives in the abolitionist movement Not Quite!
• c James Boswell Not Quite!
• d Different kinds of biographies Correct!

Question 2 of 3

How do we know that autobiographies can be used to draw attention to important issues?

• a One genre of autobiography, called slave narratives, were written for the purpose of inspiring others to work against slavery. Correct!
• b Writing a biography requires a lot of research. Not Quite!
• c One of the most famous biographies in ancient times was the descriptions of Socrates by his student, Plato. Not Quite!
• d Many memoirs focus on someone’s unique life. Not Quite!

Question 3 of 3

How is an autobiography different from a memoir?

• a Memoirs are shorter than autobiographies. Not Quite!
• b Memoirs are usually about one part of a person’s life—not their entire life, like an autobiography. Correct!
• c Autobiographies are about someone else, whereas a memoir is about oneself. Not Quite!
• d Memoirs are about famous or important people; autobiographies are about ordinary people. Not Quite!

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Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of biography.

A biography is a description of a real person’s life, including factual details as well as stories from the person’s life. Biographies usually include information about the subject’s personality and motivations, and other kinds of intimate details excluded in a general overview or profile of a person’s life. The vast majority of biography examples are written about people who are or were famous, such as politicians, actors, athletes, and so on. However, some biographies can be written about people who lived incredible lives, but were not necessarily well-known. A biography can be labelled “authorized” if the person being written about, or his or her family members, have given permission for a certain author to write the biography.

The word biography comes from the Greek words bios , meaning “life” and – graphia , meaning “writing.”

Difference Between Biography and Autobiography

A biography is a description of a life that is not the author’s own, while an autobiography is the description of a writer’s own life. There can be some gray area, however, in the definition of biography when a ghostwriter is employed. A ghostwriter is an author who helps in the creation of a book, either collaborating with someone else or doing all of the writing him- or herself. Some famous people ask for the help of a ghostwriter to create their own autobiographies if they are not particularly gifted at writing but want the story to sound like it’s coming from their own mouths. In the case of a ghostwritten autobiography, the writer is not actually writing about his or her own life, but has enough input from the subject to create a work that is very close to the person’s experience.

Common Examples of Biography

The genre of biography is so popular that there is even a cable network originally devoted to telling the stories of famous people’s lives (fittingly called The Biography Channel). The stories proved to be such good television that other networks caught on, such as VH1 producing biographies under the series name “Behind the Music.” Some examples of written biographies have become famous in their own right, such as the following books:

• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (made even more famous by the musical “Hamilton,” created by Lin-Manuel Miranda)
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

Significance of Biography in Literature

The genre of biography developed out of other forms of historical nonfiction, choosing to focus on one specific person’s experience rather than all important players. There are examples of biography all the way back to 44 B.C. when Roman biographer Cornelius Nepos wrote Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae (“Lives of those capable of commanding”). The Greek historian Plutarch was also famous for his biographies, creating a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans in his book Parallel Lives . After the printing press was created, one of the first “bestsellers” was the 1550 famous biography Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari. Biography then got very popular in the 18th century with James Boswell’s 1791 publication of The Life of Samuel Johnson . Biography continues to be one of the best selling genres in literature, and has led to a number of literary prizes specifically for this form.

Examples of Biography in Literature

And I can imagine Farmer saying he doesn’t care if no one else is willing to follow their example. He’s still going to make these hikes, he’d insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you’re saying that their lives matter less than some others’, and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.

( Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder)

Tracy Kidder’s wonderful example of biography, Mountains Beyond Mountains , brought the work of Dr. Paul Farmer to a wider audience. Dr. Farmer cofounded the organization Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987 to provide free treatment to patients in Haiti; the organization later created similar projects in countries such as Russia, Peru, and Rwanda. Dr. Farmer was not necessarily a famous man before Tracy Kidder’s biography was published, though he was well-regarded in his own field. The biography describes Farmer’s work as well as some of his personal life.

On July 2, McCandless finished reading Tolstoy’s “Family Happiness”, having marked several passages that moved him: “He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…” Then, on July 3, he shouldered his backpack and began the twenty-mile hike to the improved road. Two days later, halfway there, he arrived in heavy rain at the beaver ponds that blocked access to the west bank of the Teklanika River. In April they’d been frozen over and hadn’t presented an obstacle. Now he must have been alarmed to find a three-acre lake covering the trail.

( Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer)

Jon Krakauer is a writer and outdoorsman famous for many nonfiction books, including his own experience in a mountaineering disaster on Mount Everest in 1996. His book Into the Wild is a nonfiction biography of a young boy, Christopher McCandless who chose to donate all of his money and go into the wilderness in the American West. McCandless starved to death in Denali National Park in 1992. The biography delved into the facts surrounding McCandless’s death, as well as incorporating some of Krakauer’s own experience.

A commanding woman versed in politics, diplomacy, and governance; fluent in nine languages; silver-tongued and charismatic, Cleopatra nonetheless seems the joint creation of Roman propagandists and Hollywood directors.

( Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff)

Stacy Schiff wrote a new biography of Cleopatra in 2010 in order to divide fact from fiction, and go back to the amazing and intriguing personality of the woman herself. The biography was very well received for being both scrupulously referenced as well as highly literary and imaginative.

Confident that he was clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, [Louie] was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him.

( Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand)

Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography Unbroken covers the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, who lived through almost unbelievable circumstances, including running in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, being shot down as a bomber in WWII, surviving in a raft in the ocean for 47 days, and then surviving Japanese prisoner of war camps. Zamperini’s life story is one of those narratives that is “stranger than fiction” and Hillenbrand brings the drama brilliantly to the reader.

I remember sitting in his backyard in his garden, one day, and he started talking about God. He [Jobs] said, “ Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don’t. I think it’s 50/50, maybe. But ever since I’ve had cancer, I’ve been thinking about it more, and I find myself believing a bit more, maybe it’s because I want to believe in an afterlife, that when you die, it doesn’t just all disappear. The wisdom you’ve accumulated, somehow it lives on.”

( Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson)

Steve Jobs is one of the most famous cultural icons of modern-day America and, indeed, around the world, and thus his biography was eagerly awaited. The author, Walter Isaacson, was able to interview Jobs extensively during the writing process. Thus, the above excerpt is possible where the writer is a character in the story himself, asking Jobs about his views on life and philosophy of the world.

Test Your Knowledge of Biography

1. Which of the following statements is the best biography definition? A. A retelling of one small moment from another person’s life. B. A novel which details one specific character’s full life. C. A description of a real person’s entire life, written by someone else.

2. Which of the following scenarios qualifies as a biography? A. A famous person contracts a ghostwriter to create an autobiography. B. A famous author writes the true and incredible life story of a little known person. C. A writer creates a book detailing the most important moments in her own life.

3. Which of the following statements is true? A. Biographies are one of the best selling genres in contemporary literature. B. Biographies are always written about famous people. C. Biographies were first written in the 18th century.

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a written account of another person's life: the biography of Byron by Marchand.

an account in biographical form of an organization, society, theater, animal, etc.

such writings collectively.

the writing of biography as an occupation or field of endeavor.

Origin of biography

Words nearby biography.

• biographical
• biographize
• bioindustry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use biography in a sentence

Barrett didn’t say anything on Tuesday to contradict our understanding of her ideological leanings based on her past rulings, past statements and biography .

Republicans, meanwhile, focused mostly on her biography — including her role as a working mother of seven and her Catholic faith — and her credentials, while offering few specifics about her record as a law professor and judge.

She delivered an inspiring biography at one point, reflecting on the sacrifice her mother made to emigrate to the United States.

As Walter Isaacson pointed out in his biography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin proposed the postal system as a vital network to bond together the 13 disparate colonies.

Serving that end, the book is not an in-depth biography as much as a summary of Galileo’s life and science, plus a thorough recounting of the events leading up to his famous trial.

The Amazon biography for an author named Papa Faal mentions both Gambia and lists a military record that matches the FBI report.

For those unfamiliar with Michals, an annotated biography and useful essays are included.

Did you envision your Pryor biography as extending your previous investigation—aesthetically and historically?

But Stephen Kotkin's new biography reveals a learned despot who acted cunningly to take advantage of the times.

Watching novelists insult one another is one of the primary pleasures of his biography .

He also published two volumes of American biography , a work which his death abridged.

Mme. de Chaulieu gave her husband the three children designated in the duc's biography .

The biography of great men always has been, and always will be read with interest and profit.

I like biography far better than fiction myself: fiction is too free.

The Bookman: "A more entertaining narrative whether in biography or fiction has not appeared in recent years."

British Dictionary definitions for biography

/ ( baɪˈɒɡrəfɪ ) /

an account of a person's life by another

such accounts collectively

Derived forms of biography

• biographer , noun
• biographical ( ˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪk ə l ) or archaic biographic , adjective
• biographically , adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for biography

The story of someone's life. The Life of Samuel Johnson , by James Boswell , and Abraham Lincoln , by Carl Sandburg , are two noted biographies. The story of the writer's own life is an autobiography .

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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What is a Biography? Definition, Elements, and More

POSTED ON Oct 12, 2023

Written by Nicole Ahlering

Have you found yourself browsing the biography section of your favorite library or bookstore and wondered what is a biography book ? 

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! 

In this brief guide, we’ll explore the definition of a biography, along with its purpose, how you might write one yourself, and more. Let’s get started.

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In this article, we'll explore:

What is a biography of a person .

A biography is simply a written account of someone’s life. It is written by someone other than whom the book is about. For example, an author named Walter Isaacson has written biographies on Steve Jobs , Leonardo da Vinci , and Einstein . 

Biographies usually focus on the significant events that occurred in a person’s life, along with their achievements, challenges they’ve overcome, background, relationships, and more. 

They’re an excellent way to get a comprehensive understanding of someone you admire. 

What is the point of a biography? 

Biographies have a few purposes. They can serve as historical records about a notable figure, inspire and educate readers, and give us more insight into how the folks we’re interested in lived their lives. 

They can also be valuable research resources for people studying a notable figure, like Einstein! 

Does a biography cover someone’s entire life? 

Biographies typically encompass most of a person’s life. Obviously, if the subject of the book is still alive, their entire life cannot be written about. 

If the person lived a long and eventful life with many achievements, the author may cover only an especially noteworthy period of the subject’s life. 

Even so, the point of a biography is to learn about your subject beyond just what they achieved, so there will likely still be contextual information about the subject’s childhood, formative experiences, and more. 

Is a biography always nonfiction? 

Surprisingly, a biography is not always nonfiction . There is a genre called biographical fiction in which the author uses real-life people and events to inspire their fictional narrative . 

This genre is fun because the author can postulate about what their subject may have been thinking, feeling, and more in a way they may not be able to with a nonfiction biography. 

Just keep in mind that biographical fiction blends facts with made-up information, so it can’t be used as a primary research source. That said, it’s a fun supplement to learning about a figure you’re interested in, and can help generate curiosity and insights about their lives. 

If you’d like to read a biographical fiction book, check out books like: 

• The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
•   The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
• The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin 

Why would someone write a biography? 

An author may want to write a biography about someone because they’re inspired by them and want to educate the public about them. Or, they want to create a historical resource for scholars to study. 

An author may even have a commercial motivation for writing a biography, like a lucrative celebrity profile or a biography that has the potential to be adapted into a film or television series. 

Is it possible to write a biography about yourself? 

If you write a book about yourself, it’s called an autobiography or a memoir—not a biography. So, when you start writing your book, make sure you don't get caught in the autobiography vs biography or biography vs memoir maze.

If you’d like a book written about you that you’re not the author of, you can hire a writer to create one for you. You may choose to do this if you feel your writing skills are not up to par or you don’t have time to write your own biography .

Hiring a writer to write your biography can also make sense if you’d like to make sure the book is as objective and professional as it can be. Of course, this means you have to surrender control of the narrative! 

Some folks may also feel that a biography has more credence than an autobiography or memoir since the book’s subject doesn’t get to decide what is said about them. So hiring a writer for your biography can be a good way to credibly get your story out there. 

Can you write a biography about anyone you’d like? 

When it comes to writing about other people’s lives, it’s wise to proceed with an abundance of caution. After all, you don’t want to be sued for defamation or find yourself in other legal hot water. 

We highly suggest you look into the legal ramifications of writing about your chosen subject before you begin writing about them, but here are a couple of general things to know: 

• Typically, you don’t need permission to write about someone who is a public figure. However, the definition of a public figure can vary depending on your jurisdiction and more, so you’ll need to do your research.
• Even if you discover that you can write about your subject without permission, it’s still advisable to contact the subject and or their family. Not only is it good manners, but it may afford you some insider information about your subject. 
• If your subject or the family of your subject tells you they don’t want a biography about them, you may still legally be able to proceed—consult a lawyer—but you might face backlash when the book is published, limited access to information about your subject, and perhaps a pressing sense of guilt. Not worth it, if you ask us! 

Examples of biographies

Ready to get started reading biographies? Here are a few of the best biographies you should add to your list: 

• Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera 
• Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross
• Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller
• You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe
• The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz
• Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird

Final thoughts 

Reading a biography is a great way to get inspired, learn from other people’s experiences, and more. And writing a biography can be an excellent educational experience in its own right! If you’d like to publish a biography but don’t know where to start, we’re here to help. Simply schedule a book consultation to get started. 

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Meaning of biography in English

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• This biography offers a few glimpses of his life before he became famous .
• Her biography revealed that she was not as rich as everyone thought .
• The biography was a bit of a rush job .
• The biography is an attempt to uncover the inner man.
• The biography is woven from the many accounts which exist of things she did.
• exercise book
• novelistically
• young adult

biography | American Dictionary

• biographical

Examples of biography

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Biography Vs Autobiography: Similarities and Differences with Examples

Do you ever get confused between biography and autobiography? If so, you're not alone. These terms are used interchangeably, but each has its own unique approach. In this blog, we'll discuss biography vs autobiography. After reading this guide, you'll be able to make the difference between an autobiography and a biography. 

What is biography?

Here is a simple definition of biography: 'A biography is a detailed account of an individual's life written by someone else. The author is not the subject of the story. It is also referred to as a bio.' A biography can be about someone who is alive or deceased. It highlights essential moments and happenings in the life of the person in question. This genre essentially incorporates a person's extensive data, including given name, origin, birth date,occupation, and connections. Creating an exceptional piece requires perusing diverse materials such as records, manuals, memoirs, pictures, and interviews. Effective biographies come in writing; however, they can also take other forms such as music, movies. If the targeted subject is dead, then the writer has to do an immense amount of research. You may need to interview the people who knew that person or read already written biographies about that person. But if the person is alive, the writer can interview the target person several times to know about their life experiences.  Biography writing seems like a tiresome job. But you can ease this task by reading our latest guide on professional biography writing . 

Purpose of Biography

The primary goal of biography writing is to tell the readers about the subject's life from childhood to adult life and the rest of the years. Additionally, the biography tells a story of how the person learned life lessons and navigated through the challenges. The person's biography should give a clear picture to the reader about the subject's personality, traits, and how they interact with the world. You must cover all the essential features of biography.

Definition of Autobiography

The story about a person's life written by that person himself or herself is called an autobiography. The literal meaning of the word auto is 'self.' It covers all the elements of the biography but is narrated by the writer himself. Anyone can write their life story as an autobiography. Moreover, the author is himself the subject of the biography.

Purpose of Autobiography

The basic purpose of an autobiography is to portray the author's accomplishments and experiences of life. The majority of autobiographies are written from the author's perspective later in the person's life. So, the first person account is used to tell the author's story.  An autobiography usually starts with the early childhood years. Then, covers information about the person's brought up place, their education years, career, challenges they faced and how they tackled them. These are the key features of autobiography. It is created from the person's diaries. Moreover, the story may have flashbacks and flash forwards, but it must follow the chronological order. Describe the person's life occasions in a sequential manner from early life to their current years. 

Important Aspects of a Strong Autobiography

The primary features of autobiography are as follows:

• The facts are always told in the first person.
• More in-depth and personal than a biography.
• Goes into great depth about the character's life.
• It also explains the motivation behind the main character's behavior.

Common Elements of Biography and Autobiography

Here are a few elements that are common in both types of written formats:

• The purpose of both is to portray a person's life.
• Both are nonfiction because they deal with real-life events that occur during the subject's life.
• Both follow the same chronological order, starting from their early life to the various life stages.
• They include personal insights about the subject's life.
• Both genres may use multiple sources like newspapers, interviews, diaries, photographs and other documents to provide context and in depth narrative.
• The key elements, such as growth, character development, and transformation, are discussed in both. 

Recommended Reading : How to write a biography essay with tips, sample & outline

What is the difference between biography and autobiography?

Along with the similarities, there are also some notable differences between them. The basic difference between autobiography and biography is that autobiography tends to be more subjective in nature. That's why they are written by the subject themselves. Let’s explain the difference between autobiography and biography in detail.

Autobiography Vs Biography Examples

Biography example.

• Name: Alexander Hamilton Author name: Ron Chernow Alexander Hamilton is one of the most fascinating founding fathers of America, and Ron Chernow tells his story in great detail. Chernow traces Hamilton's transformation from an orphan into a political genius by fusing in-depth research with a narrative style. The book clarifies Hamilton's political beliefs and his pivotal role in the development of the US financial system (Chernow, 2004).
• Name: The Life of Samuel Jhonson Author name: Boswell Boswell delves deeply into the life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, his mentor and friend. The biography portrays Dr. Johnson's life, character, unique traits, and intellectual prowess in a fascinating way (Boswell, 1791). Boswell's vivid portrayal brings Johnson to life for the readers, making this one of the best biographies in English literature.
• Name: The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets Author name: Dr. Samuel Jhonson Some of the 17th and 18th century's greatest poets, such as Alexander Pope and John Milton, are discussed in Dr. Johnson's work. In addition to critiquing the works, he delves into the authors' private lives and the geopolitical context of their eras (Johnson, 1781). Johnson's research is very significant because it takes a combined historical and biographical approach.

Autobiography Examples

• Name: The Diary of a Young Girl Author: Anne Frank It is a unique story of a little Jewish girl. Her name is Anne Frank. This book told the story of her and her family's escape from Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. She spent two years in hiding, and her diary writings provide important insights into the dread, hope, and resiliency she faced (Frank, 1947). Frank's autobiography posthumously acts as both a symbol of perseverance in the face of adversity and a reminder of the injustices of the past.
• Name: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Author: Maya Angelou This moving autobiography traces the early years of Maya Angelou, from being the first black streetcar operator in San Francisco to facing racial discrimination in the South. With incredible grace and courage, Angelou depicts her path of self-discovery and overcoming catastrophic events, including personal pain and racial prejudice. Her narrative of tenacity conveys a powerful message about discovering one's voice (Angelou, 1969).
• Name: Night Author: Elie Wiesel The autobiographical story " Night " by Elie Wiesel describes his and his father's experiences in Nazi concentration camps during WWII. This devastating story explores the loss of innocence and the fight to hold onto faith in humanity in addition to detailing physical suffering and cruel acts. It is proof of the human spirit's ability to persevere in the face of unimaginable evil (Wiesel, 1960).

Bottom Line

It's often challenging to distinguish between an autobiography and a biography. Although there are some significant distinctions between the two genres, you should be aware of them if your aim is to write in any of them. While both biographies and autobiographies are valuable sources of information and amusement about historical personalities (or current figures! ), they serve different purposes. We can enhance our media knowledge and gain a better understanding of the author's aim and appropriate approach to the material by being aware of the distinct objectives of each.  We really hope you find this information useful. You can get in touch with experienced writers who are highly qualified and have years of experience in providing biography writing services .  Take your time and make sure you are creating an engaging narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are right there with you when writing your own life story.

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1.6: History and Biography

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• Vera Kennedy
• West Hills College Lemoore

Every person analyzes and evaluates the world from a subjective perspective or viewpoint. Subjective concerns rely on judgments rather than external facts. Personal feelings and opinions from a person’s history and biography drive subjective concerns. The time period we live ( history ) and our personal life experiences ( biography ) influence our perspectives and understanding about others and the social world. Our history and biography guide our perceptions of reality reinforcing our personal bias and subjectivity.

Attribution: Copyright Vera Kennedy, West Hills College Lemoore , under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

What is a Biopic — Definition & Best Examples Explained

D o you ever wonder what is a biopic, or what counts as a biopic? In contemporary cinema, biopic movies seem to be everywhere. Old historical figures, musicians, politicians, as well as “regular” people dealing with extraordinary events. There have been more biopic films in recent decades, but they’re nothing new. Biopics have been a staple in the cinema landscape dating back to its earliest days. So, what is a biopic, what do they usually entail and how has the genre evolved to be where it is today?

Watch: How to Make a Biopic

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Defining Biopic    

What does biopic mean.

The spectrum of what qualifies as a biographical film is rather wide, leaving room for creative expressions of true life. For example, consider how Tarantino adapted Sharon Tate's story in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood . Before getting into the real complexities of biopic films, let’s first provide a biopic definition that all these films share. 

BIOPIC DEFINITION

What is a biopic.

A biopic is a movie that dramatizes the life of a real, non-fictional individual. Short for “biographical motion picture,” a biopic can cover a person’s entire life or one specific moment in their history. Topics for biopics are nearly endless, with famous figures from history, along with popular celebrities of late, being covered.

When pronouncing “biopic,” you should be saying it “BYE-oh-pic” and not “bi-YAW-pic.” This incorrect pronunciation of biopic can sometimes get confused with “bioptic.”

Biopic characteristics include:

• Covering the life of a real individual
• Taking "creative license" with parts of the individual’s life or character for dramatic purposes
• Covering multiple years in their life or focusing on very specific moments
• Featuring a “Where are they now?” section that covers what happened to the individual(s) after the events portrayed in the film

While all biopics are essentially movies about a real-life person, they can differ in many other ways. This video provides a great breakdown of biopics; they not only define biopics but provide excellent examples from the subgenre , just one of the many movie genres .

A quick but thorough biopic definition

The most obvious way a biopic differentiates itself is in how accurate it is to the subject’s history. Depending on the story you want to tell, a biopic can be almost wholly fictional, using only surface facts to create a mostly made-up narrative .

If the biopic is about someone who has a great myth around them, a filmmaker might be more interested in making a movie about the legend of the person instead of the facts.

Unfortunately, a 100% accurate biopic is impossible. If you are basing the movie on someone who existed centuries ago, filmmakers will only have so much to work with. In some of those cases, even if the facts are available, the myth surrounding a person might be a bigger draw or a more interesting story.

Take Todd Haynes  I'm Not There , which casts multiple actors to portray Bob Dylan. More than simply a marketing stunt, this varied cast accentuates Dylan's own constantly shifting personas. 

I'm Not There  •  Watch Todd Haynes define biopic

20th century biopics about 20th century individuals are often caught embellishing the facts for the sake of making the subject look better or worse than they really were. So if you make a biopic about someone who is still alive, you will absolutely get told about how right or wrong your biographical film is.

More often than not, though, biopics fudge the truth for the sake of making a better movie. This is nothing new, as artworks and plays have stretched the truth in some way for the sake of the art itself. After all, movies are not real life, and if someone really wanted to know the facts of an individual’s life, they could look up a written biography.

Biopic Early Days

The emergence of biopics.

It may surprise some to learn that biographical movies have always been popular. Some of the first films ever made were biopics, often focusing on historical figures such as Peter the Great, Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, and even Jesus of Nazareth.

George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln are two historical figures, alive around the same time, who managed to get several biopics in cinema’s early years. For Custer, these include Custer’s Last Fight (1912), The Plainsman (1936 and 1966), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Many of these films were criticized for fabricating and romanticizing the history and facts of Custer’s life.

Abraham Lincoln also got his fair share of many, many biopics before 1950. Of these many biopics, Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) is probably the most well known and revered, having been directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Lincoln. Unlike most movies about US Presidents, Young Mr. Lincoln exclusively focuses on Lincoln’s days as a young lawyer in Illinois, working on a murder case.

An interview with Henry Fonda on playing Lincoln

Aside from historical figures, early biopics would also feature celebrities of the day. Possibly the most significant and well known of these is Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943), starring James Cagney, focusing on George M. Cohan, otherwise known as “The Man Who Owned Broadway.” Regardless of how accurate it is, it proved to be a huge success, getting awards attention and critical acclaim.

Yankee Doodle Dandy also sheds light on a very important aspect of biopics, which is their popularity. On top of people wanting to see a dramatization of a real life person, biopics require actors to more or less “be” the real life individual, which can prove to be a challenge. As a result, it can be very impressive to see how an actor pulls off being so much like the real life subject.

This success can also bring with it awards, which many biopics receive. Regardless of the plot’s quality, the main draw for a biopic movies is often the acting, which ends up either being the most notable part.

Biopics Changes

The changing world of biopics.

As cinema began to change, so did the biopic meaning. While still retaining similar act structures and an air of romanticism, biopic films started to cover a greater swath of subjects. Additionally, the rate of biopics being released began to increase, particularly after the 1940s.

Auditioning actors is hard enough — trying to find a perfect match for the subject of a biopic is an entirely different challenge. The debate of choosing someone who looks like the person over whether they can act like the person is a never-ending debate, with various arguments for either side. While some believe what matters most is the performance, others think that looking like the subject is what’s important.

Additionally, if the film does not represent the subject in a way that others deem fair, it can cause problems for the actor doing the portrayal.

Some biopic movies have eliminated this issue by having the subjects star in the movie their lives were based on. Notable examples of this include Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) and Howard Stern in Private Parts (1997).

Biopics can really run the gamut of all movie genres . While biopics such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Cleopatra (1963) used their subjects to tell grand narratives, other types of biopics were beginning to crop up. 

Spartacus (1960), while being a traditional epic biopic about the Third Servile War (73-71 BC), also worked as a commentary on the recent Communist witch hunt that led to The Hollywood Blacklist .

Andrei Rublev (1966), though set in the 15th century, uses its setting to criticize the then Soviet Union’s suppression of artistic and spiritual freedoms. Since the film was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky in the Soviet Union, the country had it banned and then censored.

Andrei Rublev  •  Watch Tarkovsky define biopic 

One of the most controversial films of the 1960s was also a (simplified) biopic: Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the classic crime couple, the film featured shameless sex and violence that broke new barriers in American cinema. It is now recognized as one of the first films to come from the burgeoning and vital New Hollywood era.

Later in the 1980s, Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) took a highly artistic approach to the biopic. Balancing its focus between the last day of Yukio Mishima’s life and recreations of some of his stories, Schrader created a biopic that dared to be way more artistic than factual. This film truly complicates the answer to "What is a biopic?"

Biopic Meaning Today

The modernization of biopic movies.

As the 20th century raged on into the 21st, the subjects of biographical films expanded to include lesser known figures alongside famous ones. Film critic David Edelstein digs into some recent and classic biopic examples in this video, along with the genre’s continued popularity.

What is a Biopic  •  Biopic definition from critic David Edelstein  

In the last few decades, politicians and musicians have strongly dominated the biopic scene. Whether it’s a recent US president or someone else working in Washington D.C., plenty of notable biopics have been about American political figures.

Using Richard Nixon as one example, he managed to get two different movies made about him in the 1990s. The first was Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins, which was a sprawling, three-hour-plus drama that touched upon his personal life and politics.

The other was Dick (1999), which starred Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as two teenagers who somehow get involved with the Watergate scandal. While Dick is more obviously a comedy, it’s still about a real historical event and has an actor playing a real politician (Dan Hedaya as Nixon).

While politicians are fun to watch, no other industry seems to get as much biopic attention as music. Elvis Presley got a made-for-television biopic in 1979 (simply titled Elvis ), starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter (their first collaboration).

Elvis  •  Watch John Carpenter define biopic

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart got a stage play that was adapted into the film Amadeus (1984), directed by renowned Czech filmmaker Milos Forman . And Selena Quintanilla-Perez got one with Selena (1997), starring Jennifer Lopez, which also brought with it some casting controversy.

Many more music biopics between the 1970s and now have been released, proving their popularity and saturation. Some very recent and famous examples include Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), the latter of which became the highest grossing biopic of all-time as of this writing.

Also of note is how formulaic biopic movies can be, especially when music is the subject. Watch the video below to see a deep analysis of music biopics, courtesy of Patrick (H) Willems.

Patrick (H) Willems analyzing the common music biopic meaning 

There is no shortage of biopic movies out there, and there likely never will be. Movies now have even more technology to reproduce worlds and people, thus enhancing the authenticity of any given film.

Make-up artists continue to make sure their actors look like the subject while the actors themselves still need to convince the world with their performance. And with the amount of subjects that can be chosen from, there will never be a shortage for a movie based on a real life person.

Creating Biopics

How to write a biopic.

Writing a screenplay is hard. Writing a screenplay for a biopic can be even harder. A script for a biopic will have to walk a fine line, both telling the story truthfully and also taking creative liberties.

The first, and arguably most crucial, part of writing a biopic is research. A biopic writer will have to research, research, and then research again. They should not only understand the subject of the biopic as well as the people they regularly interacted with, but they should also understand the time and world in which they existed. 

Say you’re writing a biopic about Leon Trotsky. You’d have to read as much of his writing as you could, as well as the cornucopia of biographies that have been written about him. But you should also research his contemporaries—Lenin, Stalin, Martov, etc.— and also the larger context of the October Revolution and Russia in the beginning of the 1900s. That’s a lot of reading.

The star of our hypothetical feature

You will also have to decide how much of a person’s life you want to cover. Plenty of successful biopics keep the timeframe tight, but others want to cover most of a person’s existence. The biopic Jackie largely focuses on the days surrounding the assassination of JFK, creating a claustrophobic feeling that lasts the entire runtime.

Walk the Line , meanwhile, tackles a large portion of Johnny Cash’s life, allowing events of his childhood to clearly affect his actions later in the film.

It took his whole life to get to this moment

Remember: writing a biopic isn’t the same thing as writing a biography. First and foremost, you’re writing a compelling film. Ideally, it will capture the essence of its subject.

Creative ways to adapt a true story

Now that you have a solid understanding of "what is a biopic," their history, and what they can entail, let's turn our attention to how a few notable films adapt those real life stories. Using the scripts themselves, along with various clips, we dig into how filmmakers like Tarantino, Charlie Kaufman and the Safdie Brothers adapted their source material to make engaging cinema.

Up Next: Adapting a true story →

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D3 Bio Receives $40M Investment from Medicxi

D3 Bio , a JiangSu and Shanghai, China-based biotechnology company, received $40M in Investment from Medicxi.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the development of its pipeline of oncology compounds.

Lee by CEO George Chen, D3 Bio is a clinical stage biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery, development, and registration of new medicines in oncology and immunology. It has built a pipeline of multiple oncology assets, all with potential and foundational properties targeting immune-pathways or tumor driving mutations. Three compounds have already entered clinical trials, including:

• D3S-001 is a new generation small molecule KRAS G12C inhibitor with differentiated properties and could potentially address the still large unmet need of patients with cancers harboring KRAS G12C mutations.  D3S-001 is currently in phase II development in non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer. 
• D3S-002 is a distinctively designed, novel small molecule ERK1/2 kinase inhibitor with promising activity, selectivity, and favorable safety profile in preclinical assessments. The combination of D3S-002 and D3S-001 has demonstrated promising and synergistic antitumor activity in preclinical models. D3S-002 is being tested in an ongoing phase I trial.
• D3L-001, currently in Phase I development is a novel HER2×CD47 bi-specific antibody which has demonstrated potent and synergistic anti-tumor effect via HER2 guided CD47 co-blocking in both in vitro and in vivo models.

Commenting on the news, George Chen said: “Medicxi’s longstanding success has been built on its uniquely strong ties to pharmaceutical companies and its extensive team of world class subject matter experts, drug hunters and developers who act as partners for the innovators in which they are investing. Their expertise and knowledge will be instrumental in accelerating our mission to advance breakthroughs in cancer treatment to transform the lives of patients across the globe. With Medicxi’s leadinvestment and participations from existing investors, D3 Bio successfully closed its Series A+ financing round.”

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Real life "Young Sheldon" set to graduate from high school even though he already has a bachelor degree

By Rina Nakano

Updated on: April 8, 2024 / 5:17 PM PDT / KCAL News

You've seen "Young Sheldon," the CBS sitcom about a kid genius whose intelligence puts him well ahead of his peers. In San Juan Capistrano, there's a real life Young Sheldon, who at the age of 15 had already graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. 

While extremely impressive, his educational journey is just a little out of order. 

Bryson Bisuna, now 17, says that he doesn't necessarily agree with the genius moniker he's been dubbed with. 

"I don't know, I don't really feel like a genius," Bisuna said. "I just feel like learn stuff fast."

But Bryson's father Bernard says that he and his wife Rose noticed early on that their son's mental abilities were out of the ordinary. 

"He was able to actually count before he even walked," Bernard Bisuna said. 

He was learning so quickly that Rose had to quit her job as a preschool teacher to make sure that he wasn't getting bored in his everyday life. 

By the time he was 11 he was already enrolled in courses at Irvine Valley College, and before that he picked up piano, volleyball and earned a black belt in karate. 

Three years later and he was accepted into UC San Diego, despite the fact that he would need a chaperone to go to class. 

"They allowed me to use one of their graduate dorms because I needed to live with one of my parents at all times," Bryson said. 

Over the course of that next year, Bryson's parents took turns rooming with him while the other stayed home in Orange County to be with his sister Breanna. 

Bryson says that the classes were fun and challenging, but his parents, who call themselves "ordinary Filipino immigrants," the curriculum was just a bit out of their range. 

"I can't help him in anything related to very advanced math," Bernard joked. 

He graduated with his degree in Math-Computer Science at 15, at which point his parents assumed he'd continue on to grad school. 

Bryson had other plans, hopeful that his parents would let him go to high school instead. 

They weren't supportive of the idea at first, concerned that after a lifetime of sprinting past others in his academic pursuits taking a step backwards would take him in the wrong direction. 

But Bryson says that he felt as if he wasn't ready to continue forward. He chose JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, much to the school counselor's confusion. 

Olivia Huie, a counselor at JSerra, says that she didn't know how to handle Bisuna's enrollment. 

"This has never happened before," Huie said. 

Bryson had a plan though. He purposely chose the school because of their Law-Magnet Program, which was outside of his STEM comfort zone. He also valued their spiritually-based curriculum. 

On top of that, he finally gets to feel normal and experience school with people his own age. 

In the end, Bryson's parents are happy with the detour that he took. 

"The idea is, you're only a kid once," Bernard said. "You can only experience high school the same way if you're a certain age. In terms of the universities he can apply to, it will be more broad, because he doesn't have to consult mom and dad to chaperone him."

When Bryson becomes Dr. Bisuna one day, he's hopeful that he can reflect on his academic, social and spiritual education journeys, using that background to propel him into success in his dream career. 

"I want to work with artificial intelligence because I can, it can, change the world. And I want to be a part of that."

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Here's How the Cast of Scoop Compares to Their Real-Life Counterparts

The new Netflix film recreates Prince Andrew's infamous BBC interview in 2019—and the casting is spot-on.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

"I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew—to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and varying recollections," director Philip Martin told Netflix . "It’s a film about power, privilege, and differing perspectives and how—whether in glittering palaces or high-tech newsrooms—we judge what's true."

To tell that "breathtaking sequence of events" which led to jaw-dropping interview, Martin assembled a starry cast—including Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell. They all play real people, so here's how the cast of Scoop compares to their real-life counterparts:

Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew

Sewell, who recently starred in The Diplomat , takes on the role of Prince Andrew. "I loved people objecting to my casting. That just really made me glow," Sewell tells T&C . "The one thing that gave me solace was people saying that I was badly suited for the role. I thought, well, I can't disappoint now. Just freedom."

Billie Piper as Sam McAlister

Piper, who has starred in Secret Diary of a Call Girl , Doctor Who , and I Hate Suzie , takes on the role of Sam McAlister, the Newsnight producer who secures the Prince Andrew interview. The film is based on her book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews . (Read an excerpt from Scoops here.) "She's a real force of nature, she's formidable and high energy, and I wanted to take a lot of that into my performance," Piper says of McAlister. "She is so persistent, but there is something gracious and warm and curious, and kind of child-like about her and her love of what she does."

Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis

Anderson, perhaps best known for her role in The X-Files , plays interviewer Emily Maitlis. "It was the first time that I’ve played a real-life character who is still alive, and I have to say, it’s more daunting playing an Emily Maitlis than a Margaret Thatcher even," Anderson said.

Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk

Hawes takes on the complicated role of Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew's private secretary. The actress had less to go off of for her portrayal of Amanda than her costars, as Amanda is a very private person. "On the one hand that was a bit frustrating but, on the other it gave me a freer rein to conjure something, and that’s what I did. I worked with the team, hair and makeup, and our wonderful costume designer, and Philip, and just put something together," Hawes said.

Charity Wakefield as Princess Beatrice

Though Princess Beatrice doesn't play a large orle in Scoop , she does appear in one critical scene: when the Newsnight team convinces Prince Andrew to do the interview . She's played by Charity Wakefield, whom you may recognize from The Great .

Romola Garai as Esme Wren

Garai plays Newnsight editor Esme Wren. Director Philip Martin says of her performance, "She brought a gravitas to it — you know that she needs this interview really badly, you know that it’ll turn things around for Newsnight , but she’s able to bring that all off amazingly."

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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