Biopic.
A noun and film genre. Pronounced "bio-pick."
A biopic is a film or television biography. According to my trusty dictionary, a biopic can also be of a fictional character. It can be an adaptation of a written biography, which happens frequently; Malcolm X for example.

A good biopic should represent a person's whole life, meaning their years of growth, learning, and experiences. A film that only shows a short example of a person's life, like a war movie, isn't a biopic.

Some examples:
Malcolm X
Amadeus
Angela's Ashes
The People Vs. Larry Flynt
Man On the Moon, about Andy Kaufman
The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser
Iris
Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows
The Joan Crawford biography, Mommie Dearest
Sid and Nancy
Shadowland
Ali

Thanks to all in the chatterbox who remembered some.

There's a large list of most of the films in the Biopic genre at http://www.arovideo.co.nz/search.asp?SubGenre=Biopic

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