biopic
nounUK /ˈbaɪ.əʊ.pɪk/ · US /ˈbaɪ.oʊ.pɪk/
Etymology Clipping of biographical picture; synchronically bio + pic.
1
Broadcasting, Film, Media, Television A motion picture based on the life (or lives) of a real, rather than fictional, person (or people).
- This truism helps explain why the music biopic is stuck in such a compromising loop. […] Between 2000 to 2019, 55% of leading actor and actress Oscars went to performances in a biopic. Over the past four years, the genre has been responsible for 63 Oscar nominations. Yet at the same time, hagiography has resurfaced as a pre-requisite for success. […] While one might have supposed the advent of the internet could render biopics redundant – if facts and archive footage are readily accessible, why bother making stuff up?2026 April 26, Catherine Shoard, “Bad movies, good business: how sanitised biopics became a Hollywood staple”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2026:
- Related terms
- biodoc, biographer, biographical, biography