The 2013 movie Saving Mr. Banks is all about the journey it took to get the Disney film Mary Poppins produced. And at the center of it all is Tom Hanks, playing a pretty darn uncanny Walt Disney.
And he wasn’t the only one portraying a real-life person in this film either. He starred alongside Emma Thompson, who was playing the role of Mary Poppins creator, P.L. Tavers.
Elvis, a biopic about the King of Rock 'n Roll, had its premiere in 2022 starring Austin Butler as Elvis himself. Day-to-day, Butler looks nothing like Elvis did, and, unfortunately for him, he didn't really look like the King in the movie either. The gist was there, but no one thought that Elvis had risen from the grave after seeing the movie.
That being said, Butler's performance in the film was much more praised than his looks. He even got a nod of approval from Elvis' former wife, Priscilla Presley. In defense of his looks, Priscilla barely looks like Priscilla anymore after years of heavy-handed plastic surgery!
When it came to music, Johnny Cash could do it all. Country, gospel, folk, rock, blues — he seemed to be at home in whatever genre you put him in.
And Joaquin Phoenix seemed just as at home portraying the Man in Black in the 2005 film Walk the Line. In addition to praising Phoenix’s portrayal of the singer, many also said that Reese Witherspoon’s portrayal of June Carter Cash was her best work to date.
Who in the world wanted a Princess Diana biopic starring the sparkly vampire queen herself? Literally no one, but here were are! Spencer, a 2021 biopic that follows Diana's decision to divorce Prince Charles in 1991, stars none other than Kristen Stewart herself as the people's princess.
For as many jokes we have about Stewart's (lack of) skill and film history when it comes to looking like Princess Diana...she didn't do half bad! In fact, former staff members who worked closely with the real princess said that Stewart's portrayal was one of the most accurate and realistic that they had ever seen.
There aren’t many artists who reach the level of fame and success as Mexican-American artist Selena. Her fan base was dedicated and adoring, even after her untimely passing in 1995.
When it came time to cast Selena in the 1997 biopic of the same name, more than 21,000 people auditioned for the role. However, it ultimately went to a relatively unknown actress at the time by the name of Jennifer Lopez.
There are basically two kinds of British guys—suave gents and goofy-looking lads. As talented as Elton John may be, he's definitely a little goofy-looking, with or without his flamboyant costumes. That's what made Taron Egerton's portrayal of him in 2019's Rocket Man that much more impressive.
While Egerton might be a hunk in real life, he wasn't afraid to look a little silly in his portrayal of John. You can definitely tell he's not the real Elton John, but the transformation is undeniable. Maybe he has a future career ahead of him as an Elton John lookalike performer!
Michelle Williams definitely looks a little like Marilyn Monroe, but could she successfully portray the classic Hollywood icon? If 2011’s My Week with Marilyn is any indication, that would be a resounding yes.
While the film might have had a bit of a lukewarm reception overall, critics and audiences had nothing but good things to say about Williams in the role of Monroe. So, it was no surprise that Golden Globe, Oscar, and BAFTA nominations eventually made their way to Williams.
Nicole Kidman is no stranger to completely transforming for a part. She shocked and wowed audiences in 2002 when she slapped on the biggest, most ridiculous prosthetic nose ever seen to portray writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Her turn as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos wasn't as drastic of a change, but it still was a biggie.
While Kidman and Lucille Ball were far from being identical twins, she (and the movie's makeup and costume designers) did great at hitting all the high points of a classic Lucille Ball look. You wouldn't actually get them confused in real life, but you know immediately who she's portraying—which isn't an easy feat!
As one of the most memorable US presidents, Abraham Lincoln’s life has been portrayed on the big screen many times over the years. However, none of those portrayals were quite as memorable as Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of our 16th president in Lincoln.
Released in 2012, Lincoln was an immediate hit, with critics particularly praising Lewis’ acting abilities. The performance would go on to win him both an Oscar and a Golden Globe.
If you were in charge of producing Jobs, the 2013 biopic about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, would you cast Ashton Kutcher in the title role? He might seem like an unusual pick, but the physical resemblance between the two is there, and he didn’t do a completely terrible job at his portrayal.
However, a middle-of-the-road performance wasn’t enough to save this movie from becoming a flop. People didn’t have terrible things to say about it, but they didn’t really have much good to say either. And before long, most viewers had simply forgotten it existed.
Jenna Coleman's fashion choices are much less austere from what she wore in Victoria for her role as the young Queen of England. Coleman's character, Queen Victoria, wears over-the-top period costumes that channel the 1800s.
When Coleman isn't acting as Queen Victoria, the star's wardrobe is just as eye-catching it's just not as vintage as the 1800s. Coleman wears a short, wavy hairstyle that is extremely elegant.
Jim Morrison’s time as lead singer of The Doors turned him into a rock legend. His life was tragically short, but he made an impact on musicians for decades to come. When it came time to portray him in the 1991 film, The Doors, Val Kilmer thought he was up for the job.
But unfortunately, the movie didn’t go over well with audiences or those who personally knew Morrison. Some thought that Kilmer did a fine job and it was the director who was at fault, but regardless of who was responsible, this biopic has largely been relegated to the bargain bin of history.
Sherilyn Fenn might be most well known for her role of Audrey Horne on the TV series Twin Peaks, but in 1995, she had the role of a lifetime — portraying Elizabeth Taylor in a TV biopic.
While this was no award-winning performance for Fenn, reviews for the film tended to be decent. And one thing is for certain--at the very least, she definitely had the Elizabeth Taylor look down.
Blonde dropped on Netflix on September 23, and Ana de Armas is a dead-ringer for the late starlet.
The film is based on a 2000 fictionalized biography by Joyce Carol Oates.
Will Smith doesn’t look like he could last two seconds in the boxing ring, but we have to admit — he does look like a pretty convincing Muhammad Ali. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed when the biopic Ali was released in 2001.
While critics praised Smith’s portrayal, and he has been nominated for an Oscar, the movie did very poorly at the box office, bringing in only $87 million on a $107 million budget.
There have been countless movies about Elvis, but Priscilla? This is a first, and Cailee did a great job portraying her. She showed us what it was really like as a 14-year-old girl getting involved with someone like Elvis (who was 24, by the way).
She got the hot gossip from Priscilla herself, so this movie didn't cut any corners. With a director like Sofia Coppola, we couldn't expect any less.
While the 2006 movie The Queen was more about the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II (portrayed by Helen Mirren) is clearly the star of the show.
The film (and Mirren’s role in particular) was a hit with audiences, but there was one fan in particular that stood out from all the rest — the Queen herself! After the film’s release, she invited Mirren to dine in Buckingham Palace, but unfortunately, the actress was busy in Hollywood at the time.
When we think of modern-day Gary Busey, “teen heartthrob” is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But that being said, way back in 1978, Busey actually kinda pulled off the Buddy Holly look in The Buddy Holly Story.
As unbelievable as it might seem, the response to this film was overwhelmingly positive — it actually has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that’s largely thanks to Busey’s realistic and captivating portrayal.
Most people watching biopics don't expect the actors portraying real people to look like mirror images of them. But that's almost what we got with Jennifer Hudson's portrayal of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in the 2021 film Respect. It's one of the best transformations in recent memory!
Reception to the movie as a whole was a bit underwhelming, in terms of ticket sales and reviews, but there was one thing everyone who watched it agreed on—no one has ever looked more like Aretha Franklin than Jennifer Hudson...except for maybe Franklin herself!
Alfred Hitchcock gave the world some of the most intriguing and hair-raising suspense thrillers of all time. From The Birds to Psycho, Hitchcock was a man that knew how to disturb us.
Unfortunately, the 2012 biopic about him wasn’t quite as memorable. While Anthony Hopkins was praised for his portrayal of Hitchcock (in addition to Helen Mirren playing his wife), the movie as a whole didn’t really make an impact. It was nominated for one Oscar, but that was only for the makeup and hairstyling it took to make Hopkins look like “the Master of Suspense.”
Actress Vanessa Kirby dyed her hair dark brown to play Queen Elizabeth's younger sister, Princess Margaret, in The Crown. Princess Margaret was known as the fun-loving and free-spirited royal.
Unfortunately, Vanessa Kirby isn't a royal in real life. But she is just as fun-loving as her on-screen character.
There’s basically nothing in the world of acting that Morgan Freeman can’t do, so of course he excelled at portraying former South African president Nelson Mandela in 2009’s Invictus. The movie follows the events during and leading up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup and also features Matt Damon in a standout performance as captain of the South African Rugby team.
Reception to Invictus was all-around positive — garnering rave reviews, as well as plenty of profit at the box office. Both Freeman and Damon were credited as the main sources of success for the movie.
Princess Diana's early years were a Cinderella story come to life. She was plucked out of her quaint London life and thrust into the public eye as Princess!
Actress Emma Corrin has an uncanny resemblance to Diana and excellently portrays Diana's royal experience in The Crown.
There was no one better in the early '90s to play Babe Ruth than John Goodman. If anyone could do justice to the Great Bambino, it was definitely him. Unfortunately, the 1992 biopic The Babe really didn’t do him justice.
The reviews from critics were mixed at best, and it was pulled from theaters only five weeks after it was released. John Goodman also went as far as to say that he was “disappointed” with his own performance.
If you’re looking for a movie that will leave you confused and a little sad, look no further than The Hours from 2002. The film follows three women from different eras whose lives are all linked by the Virginia Woolf novel Mrs. Dalloway.
While the all-star cast included major players like Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, the true star of the show is Nicole Kidman, portraying Virginia Woolf herself. The acting is great, obviously, but it’s the gigantic prosthetic nose that really pushes the performance over the top.
As it turns out, it doesn’t take much more than a bowler hat and a fake mustache for Robert Downey Jr. to magically transform into the likeness of Charlie Chaplin. That being said, Downey Jr. brought more than just a physical resemblance to the table in his 1992 performance in Chaplin.
Unfortunately, Robert Downy Jr. was about the only thing that audiences liked in this film. While he was praised for his spot-on performance, reviewers criticized the large scope of the film, as well as some historical liberties it took.
2007’s I’m Not There is an unusual film. Producers cast six actors to portray different aspects of Bob Dylan’s public persona. There were big name actors in the mix, including Richard Gere and Christian Bale. But the strangest and most memorable pick was Cate Blanchett.
Blanchett was meant to depict Dylan in the mid-'60s, including the time he was booed at the Newport Folk Festival for playing an electric guitar. And while the film didn’t draw in accolades from all corners, the one thing people consistently praised was Blanchett’s performance.
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that James Franco kinda looks like James Dean. So it was a match made in heaven when he was cast to portray Dean in the 2001 TV movie, James Dean.
The movie premiered on TNT in 2001 and got decent reviews. While the movie itself might be a distant memory at this point, the one thing people are still talking about is Franco’s performance.
Author Truman Capote was probably best known for his non-fiction book, In Cold Blood. So when it came time to create a biopic about the writer’s life, it made perfect sense to focus the events on the writing of his hit book.
The movie was a hit from its release, and people couldn’t get enough of Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role. Audiences loved him so much, in fact, that he swept the awards season in 2006 — with an Oscar win, a Golden Globe win, and numerous other wins for smaller awards.
The King’s Speech wasn’t just one of the best historical dramas of the 2010s — it was one of the best films of any genre for that decade. The movie follows Colin Firth as King George VI, who works to overcome his stutter as he finds himself crowned King of England.
Audiences and critics alike loved The King’s Speech. It broke box office expectations, won numerous awards here and across the pond in Britain, and would go on to be one of Colin Firth’s most recognizable and beloved performances.
Liberace might have been larger than life, but Michael Douglas was up to the task of portraying him in the 2013 HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra.
Director Steven Soderbergh and Michael Douglas had actually been in talks about a Liberace movie since working together in 2000, but it took more than a decade for it to become a reality. But Behind the Candelabra was definitely worth the wait — it was a hit with audiences and critics, who especially praised Douglas’s portrayal.
Stephen Hawking’s contributions to science and the public’s understanding of it can’t be understated. During his life, he introduced countless readers to the mysteries and wonders of the universe, all while personally struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease. So, it should come as no surprise that multiple biopics were made about him — with The Theory of Everything being one of the most memorable.
In the film, Hawking is portrayed by British actor Eddie Redmayne — a role that nabbed him the Oscar for Best Actor.
Allison Janney couldn't be more different than her character, LaVona Golden, in I,Tonya if she tried. LaVona's character is an acerbic skater mom who seems to prefer to pet bird over her daughter.
Allison Janney is nothing like LaVona's character. Janney is very compassionate, calm, and just wants the world to be a better place.
You might have forgotten about the Vincent van Gogh biopic Lust for Life, but we don’t blame you — it was released way back in 1956, after all! That being said, it’s worth revisiting to see Kirk Douglas so expertly portray the troubled artist.
He ended up nabbing a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination for his performance, although the film was beloved for much more than just Douglas. Critics also praised the other lead actors as well as the colorful set design.
It was a match made in French culture heaven for iconic French actress Marion Cotillard to portray iconic French singer Edith Piaf. And that’s exactly what we got in the 2007 biopic La Vie en Rose.
Cotillard’s performance took the world by storm, and she made Oscar history when she won the award for Best Actress. It was the first time that Oscar had been given to a French-speaking role.
The 2011 film Midnight in Paris features a wide range of real-life characters — including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Alice B. Toklas. But in terms of lookalikes, we think that actor Adrien Brody comes closest to duplicating his counterpart Salvador Dali.
While Brody doesn’t have as much on-screen time as other characters, his Dali portrayal leaves a lasting impression on viewers. And overall, the movie did the same — was a critical and commercial success.
Margaret Thatcher was the first woman Prime Minister of Britain, and she didn’t get her nickname, “The Iron Lady”, for being a pushover. Whether individual Brits loved her or hated her (and they did both), she was an undeniable political presence for a good chunk of the 20th century.
A strong person requires a strong actor to portray them, so it was no wonder Meryl Streep was cast as Thatcher in the 2011 biopic, The Iron Lady. Streep’s portrayal was an instant hit, and it won her her third Oscar for Best Actress.
In the early '90s, Denzel Washington was on the rise. He had nabbed successful roles before, but none would prove to be as influential as his role as Malcolm X in the 1992 biopic of the same name.
Everything about the movie was a hit with audiences, although it was clearly Washington’s performance that was driving most of its success. It had such an influence that it was placed on the National Film Registry in 2010.
San Francisco politician Harvey Milk made history in multiple ways — both for being the first openly gay elected official in California and also for his assassination in November 1978.
In 2008, Sean Penn starred as Milk in a biopic of the same name. Audiences and critics loved the film and praised Penn’s performance in particular. He ended up with a Golden Globe nomination and an Oscar win for his efforts.
Andy Kaufman was a strange guy. A funny guy, but a strange one too. So was anyone really surprised when Jim Carrey (another strange and funny guy) was chosen to portray Kaufman in the 1999 comedy biopic Man on the Moon?
Unlike a lot of other movies on this list, Man on the Moon didn’t do that well at the box office or with critics. But there was one thing audiences were sure of — Jim Carrey gave one of the best performances of his life. Even though the movie might have been a flop, Carrey still managed to win the Golden Globe for Best Actor.
