The Greatest Biopic Movie Performances

by Helen Earnshaw | 23 November 2011

My Week With Marilyn

In recent years we have seen a whole host of high quality biopic movies hit the big screen - many of the performances resulting in Oscar wins and nominations.

And it’s Marilyn Monroe who is depicted on the big screen this week as Michelle Williams takes on the role of the cinema icon in My Week With Marilyn.

So to celebrate the release of the movie we take a look at some of the finest biopic performances that have graced the big screen in the last few years.

- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote

A performance that immediately stands out when you think about this genre is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance as Truman Capote in the Bennett Miller directed movie back in 2005.

The movie followed Capote during his research for his book In Cold Blood; an account of the murder of a Kansas family, the writer develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers.

Capote is one of the most intelligent and absorbing movies in this genre as Hoffman really brings this character and story to life.

It is an astounding central performance from Hoffman and he really gets under the skin of the Capote and plays him to a tee.

- Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II

Helen Mirren took on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 in what was to be an Oscar winning turn for the Brit actress.

A revealing, witty portrait of the British royal family in crisis immediately following the death of Princess Diana.

The Queen is a very real feeling movie that does not shy away at the turn in feelings towards the Royal Family during this time - director Stephen Frears is not afraid to show the anger of the British people over some of the decisions that were made.

But it's Helen Mirren's performance that really makes this movie as she is perfectly cast as Queen Elizabeth II who is taken about by the change in mood of her people.

- Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles

Many of Oscar winners in the last few years have come from biopic performances and Jamie Foxx’s win was no different as he played musician Ray Charles in Ray, which was directed by

The movie followed Ray from his troubled childhood, which saw him lose his sight, to his rise to stardom and his fall fro grace as he struggled with addiction.

It’s a charismatic performance from Foxx as he plays this extraordinary musician - the actor really does show off some very impressive musical skills.

Foxx scooped the Best Actor Oscar for that central performance, one that really marked him as a very strong leading man.

- Marion Cotillard - Edith Piaf

Marion Cotillard burst onto the global movie stage with her performance as French singer Edith Piaf back in 2007 - a performance that saw her scoop the Best actress Oscar at the first time of asking.

She took on the role of Edith Piaf in a movie that followed her rise and fall as well as her struggle with drugs.

Cotillard gives her body and soul to this role and engages the audience from the off as she tells the story of this rage to riches story that is fraught with tragedy and suffering. It's truly is a warts an all tale of this diva that fell into a world of alcohol and drug addiction.

- Joaquin Phoenix - Johnny Cash

But of all the biopic movies that we have seen in recent years Walk The Line has been my favourite with an astonishing central performance from Joaquin Phoenix - who knew he could sing!!

The movie was a chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis - from humble beginnings to one of the biggest recording artists of the day.

Phoenix just embodies Cash heart and soul as he captures the stinger’s pain and inner struggle as he deals with addiction.

Phoenix’s relationship with Reese Witherspoon, who plays June carter, is simply captivating as the actress delivers an equally fine performance.

- Sean Penn - Harvey Milk

Sean Penn already had one Best actor Oscar under his belt when he took on the role of political Harvey Milk in 2009.

The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.

Milk is an incredibly evocative movie and it is bursting with humour as well as warmth as well as having been made with a bucket load of passion.

It’s a fine turn from Penn as Milk and he went on to pick up a second Best Actor Academy Award for his fine performance.

- Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe

Michelle Williams picked up a Best actress Oscar nod earlier this year for her performance in Blue Valentine and she could make it two in a row with her performance in new movie My Week With Marilyn - a turn that is already being raved about.

In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark, just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller.

Nearly 40 years on, his diary account ‘The Prince, the Showgirl and Me’ was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as ‘My Week with Marilyn’ - this is the story of that week.

When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.

And there are also a couple of other biopic performances that we should be looking out for in the new year; Leonardo DiCaprio will play J Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s J Edgar while Meryl Streep is set to star as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

My Week With Marilyn is released 25^th November.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw