Portal:Biography
Introduction
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography.
An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is written by the person himself or herself, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter.
Featured biography
Angelina Jolie is an American film actress, a former fashion model, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. After appearing as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low budget production Cyborg 2, subsequently playing her first leading role in a major film in Hackers. She appeared in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace and Gia, and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted. She achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and since then has established herself as one of the best known and highest paid actresses in Hollywood. She had her biggest commercial success with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children as well as three biological children. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through UNHCR. (Read more...)
Selected portrait
Robert Spencer (born February 27, 1962) is an American author and blogger and a key figure of the counter-jihad movement in the United States. He appears frequently on Fox News and has given seminars to various law enforcement units in the United States.
Things you can do
Subcategories
Biography • People
By association • By behavior • By ethnicity • By gender • By language • By nationality
By occupation:
- Academics • Scientists
- Actors • Artists • Choreographers • Comedians • Dancers • Directors • Musicians • Photographers •Dramatists and playwrights • Writers
- Astronauts • Aviators • Explorers • Mountain climbers
- Businesspeople • Computer designers • Innovators
- Heads of state • Humanitarians • Journalists • Lawyers • Politicians • Warriors
- Sportspeople • Association football players • [http://raithal.com Baseball players] • Basketball players • Olympians • Tennis players
By place • By political orientation • By religion
By status:
On this day – November 19
Births
- 1831 - James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States (d. 1881) (pictured)
- 1862 - Billy Sunday, American evangelist (d. 1935)
- 1917 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
- 1938 - Ted Turner, American businessman
- 1961 - Meg Ryan, American actress
- 1962 - Jodie Foster, American actress
Deaths
- 1665 - Nicolas Poussin, French painter (b. 1594)
- 1804 - Pietro Guglielmi, Italian composer (b. 1728)
- 1828 - Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (b. 1797)
- 1887 - Emma Lazarus, American poet (b. 1859)
Did you know
- ... that American frontier doctor Charles Boarman (pictured), a founding member of the Society of California Pioneers, died fighting a smallpox epidemic in Amador County, California?
- ... that Tomás Menéndez Márquez was abducted from his ranch by pirates and rescued by Native Americans?
- ... that in 2007, Frederic Hauge appeared on Time magazine's list of "Heroes of the Environment"?
- ... that Isa ibn Shaykh al-Shaybani ruled a short-lived bedouin state in Palestine, governed Armenia for the Abbasids, and finally became ruler of Diyar Bakr, where he was succeeded by his son Ahmad?
- ... that almost all kings of Hungary after 1046 descended from Michael, the second son of Grand Prince Taksony?
- ... that Japanese surrealist gothic horror author Yumeno Kyūsaku dropped dead due to a cerebral hemorrhage while at an autograph signing party hosted by his publisher?
- ... that William Cantelo invented an early machine gun, then mysteriously disappeared?
Quote of the week
"Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage."
In The Spiritual Life, 1947
WikiProjects
List of WikiProjects and work groups that involve biography articles:
See also: Biographies of living persons • Manual of Style (biographies)
