24 Best Biopics About Pop Stars (Since 2000)

Todd Haynes doesn't make a standard biopic but a kaleidoscopic tribute to Bob Dylan. Six actors, including Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger, play facets of Dylan's persona, without anyone actually being called 'Dylan'. A brilliant experiment that captures the spirit of its subject: mysterious, changeable and elusive.

Baz Luhrmann pulls out all the stops in this visually stunning Elvis film. Austin Butler fully inhabits The King, and Tom Hanks plays the manipulative Colonel Parker with gusto. The pace, the style, the music: this is spectacle with heart.

A dual narrative about Brian Wilson, with Paul Dano as the young Beach Boy in the studio and John Cusack as the older, broken version. Director Bill Pohlad doesn't make a chronological greatest-hits film but a moving story about genius, trauma and recovery.

Director Floria Sigismondi gives the story of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie (played by Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning) a raw, energetic flair. The style is as brash and fierce as the band's music.

A radically slow, experimental film about the last days of a fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain. Michael Pitt plays a ghost of a man wandering through an empty house. Not a conventional biopic, but as a portrait of a mood it's oppressive and honest, and all the more powerful for it.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon shine as Johnny Cash and June Carter in this loving biopic. James Mangold balances the musical and the personal beautifully, and the performances crackle. A classic of the genre.

F. Gary Gray's film about N.W.A. is brutal, energetic and confrontational, especially in the first half. After that it gets a bit too tidy, with producers Ice Cube and Dr. Dre seemingly protecting their image. But as a snapshot of an era and a look inside the hip-hop kitchen, it's hugely valuable.

John Lennon's early years are subtly filmed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. No Beatlemania, but a story about identity, a mother's love and the early call of rock 'n' roll. Aaron Taylor-Johnson captures Lennon in his fragile, searching phase.

Where Bohemian Rhapsody played it safe, Rocketman goes off the rails, in a good way. A true musical with hallucinatory scenes, imaginative choreography and an intense Taron Egerton as Elton John. It really says something about artistry and the pain behind it.

Clint Eastwood directed this adaptation of the Broadway musical about The Four Seasons. The result is stylish, restrained and surprisingly sober. It may lack the music's sparkling energy, but convinces as solid drama with strong vocal moments.

Anton Corbijn's black-and-white portrait of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis is a rare biopic that refuses to fall into clichés. Sam Riley is superb in the lead, and the film breathes atmosphere, melancholy and oppression, just like Curtis' music.

A huge financial success, a creative mess. Rami Malek's Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury sticks with you, as does the Live Aid recreation. But the content is heavily sanitized, including Queen's internal conflicts and timeline.

Jennifer Hudson sings like a dream but doesn't quite bring Aretha Franklin to life as a character. Strong at the start, with a great recording session scene, but it lacks depth and growth over time.

Chadwick Boseman leaps off the screen as James Brown in this energetic but messy film. The structure is all over the place, but Boseman's performance more than makes up for it.

Jamie Foxx rightly won an Oscar, but the film itself is standard biopic fare: neat, predictable, sometimes dull. Ray Charles' complex life deserved something more adventurous than this well-behaved Hollywood product.

A neat, rather safe biopic about The Notorious B.I.G., made with his family's blessing. Jamal Woolard brings him to life, but the story avoids the hardest questions, and the creativity comes mostly from the soundtrack.

Kevin Spacey's passion project about Bobby Darin is ambitious but rather self-indulgent. As director, co-writer and star, Spacey was simply too old for the role, and the result feels more like ego than tribute.

A Hendrix film without Hendrix songs is always going to be tricky. André Benjamin does his best in this fragmented film about a year in Jimi's early career, but without the music it lacks an anchor.

Visually polished and charmingly played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, but thin in content. It focuses on a short period in Marley's life without really getting to the man behind the music. Inspiring? Meh.

A parody biopic about a parody artist. Daniel Radcliffe gives it his all, but for some the film feels like a stretched-out sketch without enough jokes. Watch UHF if you want the real Weird Al experience.

Demetrius Shipp Jr. physically resembles Tupac, but the script and direction can't capture his charisma. Familiar moments are rehashed without urgency.

Marisa Abela sings well as Amy Winehouse but lacks the raw emotion that made her so unique. Sam Taylor-Johnson delivers a superficial, rushed story without much feel for the music itself.

A David Bowie film without Bowie's music. Johnny Flynn plays a pre-Ziggy Bowie in a low-budget road movie that mostly shows why some biographies shouldn't be made without the right rights, or ideas.

This Whitney Houston biopic wanted to tell everything but mostly ends up saying that she won a lot of awards. A messy approach that fails to capture the tragedy of her life and emphasizes the wrong things at odd moments.