Top 10 Biopics of All Time

#10 - Men of Honor - Starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as Carl Brashear the first African American US Navy Diver. An inspirational story about a man who had to overcome relentless bigotry in order to make history. Also starring Robert De Niro as Chief Billy Sunday a disgruntled dive instructor determined to see him fail.

#9 - Ray - Jamie Foxx delivers an Oscar winning performance as the legendary Ray Charles. Ray Charles lived an extraordinary life as a musician despite the fact that he went blind when he was only 7 years old. Ray is a great film about a blind man who despite some struggles with drug addiction, revolutionized American pop music.

#8 - Braveheart - Mel Gibson directed and starred in this amazing story of William Wallace, a 14th century Scottish man who leads his fellow countrymen into battle against King Edward Longshanks of England. An interesting story about a man who wanted nothing more than his countries freedom, mixed with some intense battle scenes makes Braveheart one of the best Biopics of all time.

#7 - Bobby - A film that takes place the day before the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I'm not sure if this film really can be classified as a biopic but I put it on my list anyway because it is a great but mostly fictional story of a number of different characters who are all in the Ambassador Hotel on the night that Robert Kennedy was killed. Robert Kennedy is only shown with real stock footage of him during his political campaign. It is a very moving film with an all-star cast including Sharon Stone, Ashton Kutcher, Anthony Hopkins, Martin Sheen, Demi Moore, William H. Macy, Shia LaBeouf, and more.

#6 - Catch Me If You Can - A Steven Spielberg film, starring one of the greatest actors of our time in Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can is the amazing story of the infamous Frank Abagnale Jr.. Frank successfully impersonates a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor and cashes millions of dollars in fraudulent checks all before his 19th birthday. An FBI agent played by Tom Hanks tries to track down Frank as he travels around the world. A great story with one of the best directors and a phenomenal cast creates on of the greatest biopics of all time in Catch Me If You Can.

#5 - The Insider - Nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Mann), and Best Actor (Russell Crowe); The Insider is a work of genius. An ex research biologist for Brown & Williamson, a major tobacco company, decides to team up with 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman, played by Al Pacino, to spill some inside information about Brown & Williamson. However, the tobacco company will stop at nothing to prevent him from doing the interview for 60 minutes. The Insider is a wonderful intellectual thriller, an all around great film.

#4 - Milk - Milk is based on the story of Harvey Milk; a business man, Gay Rights Activist, and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. Highlighted by an exceptional performance by Sean Penn, Milk is an instant classic, an inspirational story about a man who played an important role in American history. Gus Van Sant's Milk is a Masterpiece.

#3 - Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese's depiction of the life of Jake LaMotta earned him his first Oscar nomination in 1981. Robert De Niro won a best actor Academy Award as he played Jake LaMotta the 1940's middleweight prizefighter known as "The Bronx Bull" or "Raging Bull". Joe Pesci also delivers a captivating performance as Joey LaMotta; Jake's brother and manager. This is one of the greatest films of all time about one of the greatest middleweight boxers of all time.

#2 - Schindler's List - Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won 7 including Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), and Best Adapted Screenplay. IMDB's 7th greatest film of all time is based on the story of Oskar Schindler. Oskar was a businessman and war profiteer during World War II who used Jews from the Ghettos to work in his factory. As he witnesses the truly horrifying acts endured by the Jews, he became an unlikely humanitarian as he began to spend his fortune to save over 1000 polish Jews. Schindler's List is a moving film; an inspirational story of a great man.

#1 - The Aviator - A Martin Scorsese film about the life and Career of Howard Hughes, from the 1920's - 1940's. Howard inherited millions from his parents and used his money to live an extraordinary life. He began as a film maker creating many controversial films but his true love would always lie in aviation. He was an innovator of aviation and hired by the government to build spy planes during the war. He had an incessant case of obsessive compulsive disorder that continued to get worse over the years. Leonardo DiCaprio was amazing as Howard Hughes and I think he should have won the Best Actor Academy Award over Jamie Foxx (Ray) in 2005.The Aviator is one of my favorite films of all time by my favorite director of all time.

Biopics can be some of the best films because they portray real people who have lived fascinating lives. Goodfellas and Cidade de Deus (City of God) are both films that are based on the lives of real men and could be considered biopics. However I think I would consider them both crime dramas. However, the point I'm trying to make is if I had considered these films biopics (which some people do) they would most definitely be in the top 5. Some biopics that I really like but just missed the list include A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man , Hotel Rwanda, and The Hurricane.