Best celebrity biography movies for kids
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Biopic Movies
Last updated: January 21, 2025 by Common Sense Media
Sometimes real life is even more entertaining -- and inspiring -- than fiction. This list of our favorite biopics includes movies about all-star athletes, memorable musicians, powerful politicians, and more. Some are famous, some are infamous, but all of them lived incredible, interesting lives. The films on this list let us imagine what these heroes and celebrities were feeling and really going through as they influenced kultur in unbelievable ways. For even more true stories that will captivate kids, try our Best Documentaries list or read up on our favorite Biographies.
MOVIE
Secretariat
age 8+
Inspiring true story about an amazing woman and her horse.
On DVD/Streaming (Release Year: 2010)
See full review
MOVIE
Selena
age 10+
Touching and ultimately tragic tale of young Tejano star.
On DVD/Streaming (Release Year: 1997)
See full review
MOVIE
Soul Surfer
age 10+
Ea
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The 15 Best Biopics of All Time
Malcolm X
Director Spike Lee takes the approach of sharing a large percentage of the life of one of America’s most well-known and impactful civil rights leaders: Malcolm X. It’s an approach that has failed more often than not, but over three hours, Lee and star Denzel Washington are able to give Malcolm’s life the richness and attention to detail it deserves in this 1992 spelfilm. The result is a fully three-dimensional portrait that follows the man from childhood to his 1965 assassination and many places in between.
Watch on Prime Video
Tick, Tick…Boom!
The layers in the feature film debut of director Lin-Manuel Miranda are truly one of a kind. The 2021 movie introduces us to Jonathan Larson (played by Andrew Garfield), who became best known for writing the broadway musical Rent. But in Tick, Tick…Boom!, he’s both struggling to break into the musical industry and, in a parallel but future-looking story, acting in the musical h
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The celebrity memoir boom is here to stay: From Britney Spears to Prince Harry, Ina Garten to Cher, it seems like just about everyone is spilling their secrets via book deal.
At their best, celebrity memoirs provide unusually candid portraits of the “real person” behind the public persona—and they don’t skimp on the dirty details. (At worst, they can be ghostwritten fluff.) A recent crop has erred on the side of revelatory: In the last year, Al Pacino let us in on his life from childhood in the South Bronx to his big break in ’70s Hollywood, while the long-gestating memoirs of Lisa Marie Presley came through as a posthumous release, written with daughter Riley Keough. Whether offering vibrant vignettes of iconic periods in time or shining a light on grief, explosive relationships, and the sinister underbelly of showbusiness, these books (and others) have given fans plenty to talk about—to say nothing of making rather good gifts.
Ahead, Vogue rounds up the best of the genre for y