Last updated March 2024
Want to watch Best Biography Movies 2012 that make an impression? We assembled 30 marvelous Best Biography Movies 2012 adored by IMDB and our own exacting user community. Available for instant viewing, these rave-worthy titles qualify as downright sensational. Lend a hand to fellow viewers by voting up the Best Biography Movies 2012 you feel are keepers. We appreciate members who take the extra time to highlight elite content!
Shahid (2012)
Plot Summary:
This compelling drama tells the remarkable true story of slain human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who became a powerful voice against the intercommunal violence that has engulfed Mumbai since the early 1990s
Duration: 129 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: human rights, muslim, legal, terrorist, lawyer, courtroom, false arrest, life is a bitch, society, civil rights, injustice, social activist, hopes, religions or cults, indians, motivation, islam, justice, death of protagonist, hindu, activist, prejudice, dying, judgment, law
Argo (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 633000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: cia, secret agent, secret mission, rescue mission, politics, u.s. embassy, espionage, revolution, hostage, spy, propaganda, american abroad, danger, escape, biopic, culture clash, terrorism, conspiracy, secrets, filmmaking, daring rescue, false identity, firing squad, escapades, hidden identity
A Royal Affair (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever
Duration: 137 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 50000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany
Plot tags: queen, love affair, royal family, love triangle, adultery, political intrigue, aristocracy, coup d'etat, royalty, royal court, infidelity, king, tragic love, high society, politics, marriage, nobility, unfaithful wife, freedom, love, secret love, revolution, marital rape, cheating on husband, insanity
Game Change (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on the book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Game Change focuses on the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, when candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his running mate. As the campaign kicks into high gear, her lack of experience, in both political and media savvy, becomes a drain upon McCain and his strategists. Directed by Jay Roach, who previously directed the HBO film Recount and the Austin Powers movies, Game Change premiered on HBO on March 10th, 2012
Duration: 118 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Plot tags: politics, american politics, campaign, election, president, presidential election, betrayal, greed, secrets, propaganda, world politics, idealism, republican party, conservative, republican, ambition, state affairs, presidential candidate, media, government official, conspiracy, journalism, government, presidential campaign, american history
Lincoln (2012)
Plot Summary:
A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come
Duration: 150 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 270000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, India
Plot tags: president, politics, american civil war, civil war, american history, idealism, racism, slavery, war, head of state, courage, freedom, abraham lincoln, leadership, u.s. president, politician, biopic, battlefield, justice, cultural conflict, historical character, african american, american politics, ethics, political unrest
Lawless (2012)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by authorities who want a cut of their profits
Duration: 116 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 251000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: mafia, gangster, bootlegging, smuggling, greed, gang, vigilante, prohibition, great depression, robbery, corruption, revenge, rivalry, ambitious, uninhibited rivalry, brother, brothers, family relations, siblings relations, organized crime, violence, survival, business, vigilantism, cruelty
The Sessions (2012)
Plot Summary:
Though a childhood bout with polio left him dependent on an iron lung, Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) maintains a career as a journalist and poet. A writing assignment dealing with sex and the disabled piques Mark's curiosity, and he decides to investigate the possibility of experiencing sex himself. When his overtures toward a caregiver scare her away, he books an appointment with sex surrogate Cheryl Green (Helen Hunt) to lose his virginity
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: disability, near death experience, first sexual experience, loss of virginity, sexual activity, male virgin, sexuality, virginity, sexual awakening, erotica, oral sex, nudity, priest, therapist, misfit, life changing experience, hopes, female nudity, masturbation, orgasm, ejaculation, woman on top, relationships, nude, fear
Into the White (2012)
Plot Summary:
Into the White is an anti-war movie. High above the harsh Norwegian wilderness, English and German pilots shoot each other to the ground after a violent chance encounter. Isolated, they must fight to survive the brutal winter. Though war has made them enemies, antagonism is hard to maintain as days go by. Through mutual need, unlikely friendships bloom. Somehow, they become comrades. War, after all, is absurd
Duration: 104 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Norway, Sweden, France
Plot tags: survival, wilderness, winter, world war two, war, air disaster, aviation, foe turned friend, luftwaffe, airplane shot down, snow, isolation, danger, confined, pilot, friends, introspection, mistrust, uninhibited rivalry, nazi, world war, mountain, wilderness survival, military, cold
Chasing Mavericks (2012)
Plot Summary:
Surfer Jay Moriarity sets out to ride the Northern California break known as Mavericks
Duration: 116 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Plot tags: surfing, mentor protege relationship, coach, progress, lifestyle, drowning, ambition, surfer, friends, surf, dedication, friendship, youth, escapades, championship, obsessive quest, obsession, sea disaster, survival, inspiration, motivation, father son relationship, mentor, sea, nature
Kon-Tiki (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story about legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his epic crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times
Duration: 118 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Sweden
Plot tags: ocean, survival, sea voyage, shark, boat, expedition, raft, obsessive quest, adventurer, sailing, travel, lost at sea, fish, diary, biopic, sea captain, danger, sea adventure, starvation, sea, wilderness, destiny, runaway, self discovery, wilderness survival
Hannah Arendt (2012)
Plot Summary:
Hannah Arendt is a portrait of the genius that shook the world with her discovery of “the banality of evil.” After she attends the Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, Arendt dares to write about the Holocaust in terms no one has ever heard before. Her work instantly provokes a furious scandal, and Arendt stands strong as she is attacked by friends and foes alike. But as the German-Jewish émigré also struggles to suppress her own painful associations with the past, the film exposes her beguiling blend of arrogance and vulnerability — revealing a soul defined and derailed by exile
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Germany, Luxembourg, France, Israel
Plot tags: holocaust, philosopher, nazi, strong female character, feminist, philosophy, strong female lead, biopic, world war two, war crime, legal action, journalism, legal, society, post war, writers, nazi war criminal, women, court, lawyer, politics, genocide, nazism, law, world war
The Sapphires (2012)
Plot Summary:
It's 1968, and four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship and war when they entertain the US troops in Vietnam as singing group The Sapphires
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Australia
Plot tags: girl group, vietnam war, friendship, biopic, music band, family relations, lifestyle, musician's life, desire for fame, ambition, showbiz, goodhearted, musical tour, women, music, indigenous people, sister sister relationship, soldier, spirituality, self discovery, girl power, dancing, musician, racism, female protagonist
The Iceman (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man
Duration: 106 min
IMDB Rating: 6.8/10
IMDB Votes: 78000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: hitman, psychopath, assassin, crime family, mafia, lone hero, killer, organized crime, biopic, greed, family relations, notoriety, arrest, violence, hidden identity, merciless, serial murder, criminal heroes, partners in crime, mobster, true crime, gangsta, betrayal, gangster, father son relationship
Hitchcock (2012)
Plot Summary:
Hitchcock follows the relationship between director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the making of his most famous film "Psycho" - and the trials and tribulations the director faced from Hollywood censors
Duration: 98 min
IMDB Rating: 6.8/10
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: biopic, showbiz, obsession, secrets, filmmaking, hollywood, investigation, manipulation, love and romance, talented, couple relations, dream, artists and showbiz, marriage, twists and turns, violence, murder, adultery, infidelity, magical, old man, cinema, post war, professional, darkness
Big Miracle (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on an inspiring true story, a small-town news reporter (Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Barrymore) enlist the help of rival superpowers to save three majestic gray whales trapped under the ice of the Arctic Circle. ‘Big Miracle’ is adapted from the nonfiction book ‘Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event’ by Tom Rose
Duration: 107 min
IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Plot tags: animal rescue, journalism, rescue, volunteer, media, animal, ocean, whale, environmentalism, danger, ecology, winter, diving, sailing, snowstorm, idealism, survival, sea, nature, ice, scuba diving, ship, water, journalist, politics
Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)
Plot Summary:
Writer Ernest Hemingway begins a romance with fellow scribe Martha Gellhorn
Duration: 155 min
IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: writers, love affair, war correspondent, divorce, biopic, media, journalism, spanish civil war, journalist, fame, world war two, couples, writer's life, life is a bitch, infidelity, war, literary, world war, celebrity, marriage, artist, world war one, women, art, poet
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
Plot Summary:
The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York
Duration: 94 min
IMDB Rating: 5.9/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History
Country: UK
Plot tags: president, cousin cousin relationship, king of england, queen, u.s. president, royalty, disability, biopic, storytelling, king, state affairs, family relations, love affair, polio, politics, royal family, american history, indians, usa president, world war two, nazi, holocaust, queen of england, intrigue, british royal family