Biographical Dramas on Netflix
Last updated April 18, 2025
The Dirty Picture
2011 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsThis Bollywood biopic is based on the life of Indian sex symbol Silk Smitha, whose 1980s celebrity slowly faded into a lonely and forgotten existence. Silk's story also includes a fairy-tale romance with Surya Kant, her longtime favorite leading man.
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Cass
2008 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsRaised by white parents in London, Jamaican-born orphan Cass (Nonso Anozie) uses violent aggression to propel himself to the top of a dangerous street gang. A prison sentence and a new love (Natalie Press) inspire Cass to try a new direction in life, but a would-be assassin's bullet shows him that the cycle of violence he set in motion isn't broken easily. Jon S. Baird directs this provocative drama based on a true story.
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Be with Me
2005 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsThis poetic film weaves together three stories of human connection with a minimalist flair. In "Meant to Be," an elderly shopkeeper experiences intense loneliness until he reads the autobiography of an extraordinary blind and deaf woman. "So in Love" explores the bittersweet relationship between two teenage girls, and "Finding Love" tells the story of a security guard who has twin passions: for food and for a woman who works in his building.
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De-Lovely
2004 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsKevin Kline stars as the celebrated 20th-century composer Cole Porter, who looks back on his life unfolding like one of his musicals, replete with drama, suspense and joy -- at the center of which is his mercurial relationship with his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd). After meeting in Paris, the couple marries with the understanding that Porter -- who penned many hits, including "Anything Goes" and "It's De-Lovely" -- is gay.
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Amelia
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsHilary Swank stars as famed aviator Amelia Earhart in this dramatic biopic that follows the daring pilot's rise from obscurity in Kansas to her troubled marriage to businessman George Putnam (Richard Gere), who recruited her for her first transatlantic flight. Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) directs; Ewan McGregor, Joe Anderson, Christopher Eccleston and Mia Wasikowska co-star.
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J. Edgar
2011 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsLeonardo DiCaprio stars in this riveting biopic as J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime FBI director as notorious for his overzealous methods of law enforcement as for the rumors regarding his cross-dressing and close relationship with protégé Clyde Tolson.
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By the Will of Genghis Khan
2009 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsDirector Andrei Borissov's epic biopic follows a young Mongol child by the name of Temüjin (Ayan Ouspun), who has a stunning destiny: to become Genghis Khan (Eduard Ondar), the most ruthless leader of the largest empire in history. An international crew and a talented cast (Stepanida Borissova, Sergei Egorov and Gernot Grimm, among others) filmed in Russia, Mongolia and the United States, bringing Nikolay Luginov's novel to life.
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Being Flynn
2012 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsA young man employed at a Boston homeless shelter comes upon his long-lost, destitute and alcoholic father while at work one evening in this subtle, emotionally charged drama based on the acclaimed memoir by poet and playwright Nick Flynn.
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Black Venus
2010 | NR | 2.9 out of 5 StarsIn 1810, Saartjie Baartman, an African slave of unique proportions, left her home to work in European freak shows. Still enslaved yet claiming free will, Baartman somehow retained her dignity while submitting to horrific public degradation.
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A Portrait of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951
2012 | NR | 2.8 out of 5 StarsDreamlike vignettes blend biographical and fictionalized elements to present pivotal moments in James Dean's short yet remarkable life, focusing on his experiences as a rising star in Los Angeles circa 1951.
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The Look of Love
2013 | NR | 2.8 out of 5 StarsThis bittersweet biopic chronicles the over-the-top life of Paul Raymond, England's Hugh Hefner, from nightclub mind reader to burlesque impresario. When not putting nude women on stage, he indulges in every excess and nearly destroys his family.
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Neal Cassady
2006 | NR | 2.7 out of 5 StarsNoah Buschel directs this film that dramatizes the real-life fallout Jack Kerouac's landmark novel On the Road had on Neal Cassady (Tate Donovan), the beat generation adventurer who inspired the book's unforgettable wanderer, Dean Moriarty. Struggling to emulate his larger-than-life literary alter ego, Cassady joins Ken Kesey's (Chris Bauer) acid-dropping Merry Pranksters but ultimately sabotages his relationships with Kerouac (Glenn Fitzgerald) and his own family.
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