Oscars: Biopics That Won Best Picture

Oscar Biopics

Image Credit: Lionsgate/Paramount and 20th Century Fox/REX/Shutterstock and Weinstein Company

Of all the biographical movies nominated for Best Picture, only 16 went on to prevail on Oscar night. “Spotlight” (2015) told the story of a group of journalists, while “12 Years a Slave” (2013) was the last true biopic told from the perspective of one person. In the 2016 Oscar lineup, three of the nine Best Picture nominees — “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hidden Figures” and “Lion” — tell biographical stories. Will any of them join the esteemed list? Click through our photo gallery above that highlights all the biopics that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

-By Marcus James Dixon
‘Spotlight’ (2015)

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The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the Catholic Church to its core.

Total Oscar Nominations: 6

Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer)

Losses: 4
Best Director (Tom McCarthy)
Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo)
Best Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams)
Best Film Editing

2015 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Spotlight”
’12 Years a Slave’ (2013)

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In the antebellum United States, a free black man from upstate New York is abducted and sold into slavery.

Total Oscar Nominations: 9

Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o)
Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley)

Losses: 6
Best Director (Steve McQueen)
Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Production Design
Costume Design
Film Editing

2013 Best Picture Nominees:
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
‘The King’s Speech’ (2010)

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The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

Total Oscar Nominations: 12

Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Tom Hooper)
Best Actor (Colin Firth)
Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler)

Losses: 8
Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush)
Best Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound Mixing

2010 Best Picture Nominees:
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”
‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001)

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After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.

Total Oscar Nominations: 8

Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Ron Howard)
Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman)

Losses: 4
Best Actor (Russell Crowe)
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Makeup

2001 Best Picture Nominees:
“A Beautiful Mind”
“Godford Park”
“In the Bedroom”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
“Moulin Rouge!”
‘Braveheart’ (1995)

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When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.

Total Oscar Nominations: 10

Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Mel Gibson)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Editing
Best Makeup

Losses: 5
Best Original Screenplay (Randall Wallace)
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound

1995 Best Picture Nominees:
“Apollo 13”
“Babe”
“Braveheart”
“Il Postino (The Postman)”
“Sense and Sensibility”
‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

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In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.

Total Oscar Nominations: 12

Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zaillian)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Score

Losses: 5
Best Actor (Liam Neeson)
Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes)
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Makeup

1993 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Fugitive”
“In the Name of the Father”
“The Piano”
“The Remains of the Day”
“Schindler’s List”
‘The Last Emperor’ (1987)

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This story about the final Emperor of China went undefeated at the Academy Awards, going nine-for-nine.

Total Oscar Nominations: 9

Wins: 9
Best Picture
Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound

Losses: 0
This film was undefeated

1987 Best Picture Nominees:
“Broadcast News”
“Fatal Attraction”
“Hope and Glory”
“The Last Emperor”
“Moonstruck”
‘Out of Africa’ (1985)

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In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.

Total Oscar Nominations: 11

Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Sydney Pollack)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Score
Best Sound

Losses: 4
Best Actress (Meryl Streep)
Supporting Actor (Klaus Maria Brandauer)
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing

1985 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Color Purple”
“Kiss of the Spider Woman”
“Out of Africa”
“Prizzi’s Honor”
“Witness”
‘Amadeus’ (1984)

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The incredible true story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival, Antonio Salieri, now confined to an insane asylum.

Total Oscar Nominations: 11

Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Milos Forman)
Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Makeup

Losses: 3
Best Actor (Tom Hulce)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing

1984 Best Picture Nominees:
“Amadeus”
“The Killing Fields”
“A Passage to India”
“Places in the Heart”
“A Soldier’s Story”
‘Gandhi’ (1982)

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Gandhi’s character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is portrayed.

Total Oscar Nominations: 11

Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Richard Attenborough)
Best Actor (Ben Kingsley)
Best Original Screenplay (John Briley)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing

Losses: 3
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Makeup

1982 Best Picture Nominees:
“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”
“Gandhi”
“Missing”
“Tootsie”
“The Verdict”
‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981)

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Two British athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Catholic, compete in the 1924 Olympics.

Total Oscar Nominations: 7

Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay (Colin Welland)
Best Costume Design
Best Score

Losses: 3
Best Director (Hugh Hudson)
Best Supporting Actor (Ian Holm)
Best Film Editing

1981 Best Picture Nominees:
“Atlantic City”
“Chariots of Fire”
“On Golden Pond”
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”
“Reds”
‘Patton’ (1970)

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The World War II phase of the career of the controversial general, George S. Patton.

Total Oscar Nominations: 10

Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Franklin J. Schaffner)
Best Actor (George C. Scott)
Best Original Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Sound

Losses: 3
Best Cinematography
Best Score
Best Visual Effects

1970 Best Picture Nominees:
“Airport”
“Five Easy Pieces”
“Love Story”
“M*A*S*H”
“Patton”
‘A Man for All Seasons’ (1966)

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The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage.

Total Oscar Nominations: 8

Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Fred Zinnemann)
Best Actor (Paul Scofield)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Costume Design, Color

Losses: 2
Best Supporting Actor (Robert Shaw)
Best Supporting Actress (Wendy Hiller)

1966 Best Picture Nominees:
“Alfie”
“A Man for All Seasons”
“The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming”
“The Sand Pebbles”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)

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The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

Total Oscar Nominations: 10

Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (David Lean)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound

Losses: 3
Best Actor (Peter O’Toole)
Best Supporting Actor (Omar Sharif)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson)

1962 Best Picture Nominees:
“Lawrence of Arabia”
“The Longest Day”
“The Music Man”
“Mutiny on the Bounty”
“To Kill a Mockingbird”
‘The Life of Emile Zola’ (1937)

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The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfuss Affair.

Total Oscar Nominations: 10

Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor (Joseph Schildkraut)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, and Norman Reilly Raine)

Losses: 7
Best Director (William Dieterle)
Best Actor (Paul Muni)
Best Writing, Original Story (Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg)
Best Art Direction
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Assistant Director

1937 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Awful Truth”
“Captains Courageous”
“Dead End”
“The Good Earth”
“In Old Chicago”
“The Life of Emile Zola”
“Lost Horizon”
“One Hundred Men and a Girl”
“Stage Door”
“A Star Is Born”
‘The Great Ziegfeld’ (1936)

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This biography follows the ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld, famed producer of extravagant stage revues.

Total Oscar Nominations: 7

Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Actress (Luise Rainer)
Best Dance Direction

Losses: 4
Best Director (Robert Z. Leonard)
Best Writing, Screenplay (William Anthony McGuire)
Best Art Direction
Best Film Editing

1936 Best Picture Nominees:
“Anthony Adverse”
“Dodsworth”
“The Great Ziegfeld”
“Libeled Lady”
“Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”
“Romeo and Juliet”
“San Francisco”
“The Story of Louis Pasteur”
“A Tale of Two Cities”
“Three Smart Girls”
More Oscar Photo Galleries

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Every Oscar winner for Best Picture

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Every Oscar winner for Best Actor

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Every Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress

Biopics that won Best Picture

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Oscar Biopics

‘Spotlight’ (2015)

’12 Years a Slave’ (2013)

‘The King’s Speech’ (2010)

‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001)

‘Braveheart’ (1995)

‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

‘The Last Emperor’ (1987)

‘Out of Africa’ (1985)

‘Amadeus’ (1984)

‘Gandhi’ (1982)

‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981)

‘Patton’ (1970)

‘A Man for All Seasons’ (1966)

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)

‘The Life of Emile Zola’ (1937)

‘The Great Ziegfeld’ (1936)

More Oscar Photo Galleries