Browse Movies : Biography : U

Despite being born with one leg to a single-parent family on the wrong side of the tracks, Anthony Robles overcomes every obstacle to become an undefeated collegiate wrestling star, three-time All-American, 2011 NCAA National Champion, two-time ESPY Award winner and a National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee.

The mandolin-playing Bill Monroe, along with his band "The Blue Grass Boys," is credited with creating the bluegrass style of music.

Set against a backdrop of music, surfing, and South Africa's racism, Selema "Sal" Masekela emerges out of the shadow of his successful but troubled father Hugh Masekela, the jazz musician featured on Paul Simon’s "Graceland" album and South African apartheid activist who was exiled for more than 30 years.

Robert Craig Knievel becomes a household name in the 1970s for his nationally televised motorcycle jumps. Ever the showman, daredevil Evel Knievel is recognized for his use of a Stars-and-Stripes getup and known for his 433 broken bones. At the height of his celebrity, he gains endorsements from Harley-Davidson and a toy line by the Ideal Toy Company. Knievel dies in 2007 at the age of 69.

The film will center on the life of rap star Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. The singer got her break in the music business with girl group Sista, before moving on to a producing career. Finally, she made it on her own as a solo artist more than 10 years ago.

The story of legendary British war photographer Don McCullin. Working for the Sunday Times from the late 60’s to the early 80’s, he risked his life to photograph the harsh realities of war.

Derek Boogaard, a shy over-sized man, learns to use his fists to make it to the National Hockey League and becomes a renowned hockey enforcer. The hulking 6'7" and 270 pounds Boogaard becomes known as the Boogeyman, and rarely loses a fight while playing for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers. He gets addicted to painkillers from years of damage, and is found dead at age 28 after mixing prescription drugs with booze.

A young boy is taught by his father, a racer, to ride motocross before he can even walk. The boy goes on to win racing titles by the time he is seven, and at sixteen becomes the first African American to win a major motosports title. The son's sudden success though strains his relationship with his dad.

Jutta Kleinschmidt, who was born in Germany, buys her first motorcycle at age 18. After studying physics, she works at BMW for six years before quitting in 1992 to pursue her passion of motorsports. In 1997, she become the first woman ever to win a stage of The Dakar Rally – often called the most dangerous race on the planet. In 1999, she earns recognition – finishing third overall – as half of the first all-female team to stand on the winners' podium. In 2001, after 15 years of trying, Kleinschmidt wins the race.

After a dolphin dies in captivity, Richard O'Barry begins a life long quest to free dolphins from captivity. He comes to the forefront in the documentary "The Cove," in which director Louie Psihoyos covertly films the carnage in a cove in the small former whaling village of Taijii. Fisherman annually herd thousands of dolphins into the cove, and slaughter them in a frenzy that actually makes the waters run blood red.

Rod Serling grows up outside of Syracuse, New York as the class clown, though he eventually matures enough to write for his high school newspaper. Immediately after graduation, he enlists in the U.S. Army and trains as a paratrooper. He is sent west to fight in the Philippines, where he sees death all around him each day. Though he is honored with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, Serling’s experience in the military haunts him and has a profound effect on his later work. After being discharged, Serling attends Antioch College, where he begins writing and performing in radio shows on campus. Following his radio days, Serling moves into television, writing for a local station in Cincinnati before going out on his own. He sells several scripts, but resents the compromises that network sponsors and censors force him to make, so he decides to create his own show, "The Twilight Zone."

The film will center on the life of Russ Meyer, the infamous director of sexploitation films, and his centerfold wife.

The story of boxing legend Rocky Marciano will come to the big screen in his first authorized biopic, as yet untitled. The film will track Marciano from his Brockton, Mass. childhood up to his death in a plane crash in 1969. He stands as the only champion boxer to retire without a loss.

Born in a broken home in Chicago, Anita O'Day leaves home at age 14 and tours the Midwest as a marathon dance contestant and sings for tips. She later performs with the big bands of Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton, teams with Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong, and establishes a solo career that rivals those of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and Sarah Vaughn.

Johnny Thunders is the guitarist for the influential 1970s punk bands the New York Dolls and the Heartbreakers. He later dies in New Orleans in 1991.

The story centers on the former Black Sabbath singer/reality TV star and head of the Osbourne family.

This Peggy Lee biopic will explore the professional and personal life of one of America's most iconic recording artists and performers. A singer, songwriter, composer and actress, Lee's career spanned nearly seven decades.

Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí achieves international renown for his unique twists on visual reality, and for a flamboyantly high-profile social life. He also has a tumultuous marriage to his equally vivid wife, Gala.