best biography movies about scientists

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The Best Movies About Real Scientists

The fascinating world of science has inspired countless films throughout the years, including some that are based on the lives of scientists. These biographical movies not only illuminate the extraordinary contributions that these individuals have made to their fields but also offer captivating insights into their personal journeys and the challenges they faced. With elements of drama, romance, and adventure, these films not only entertain but also celebrate the scientific spirit that drives human progress. 

The scientist-movie selection covers a wide range of subjects and eras, showcasing the multifaceted nature of scientific discovery. Each film delves into the heart of a scientist's story, highlighting their struggles, triumphs, and the impact of their groundbreaking work. Viewers are given a glimpse of the determination, perseverance, and brilliance that these pioneers displayed, as well as the emotional and intellectual challenges that colored their lives. 

For instance, The Imitation Game presents the story of Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician who played a crucial role in breaking the Enigma code during World War II, while grappling with his own personal demons. Likewise, A Beautiful Mind explores the life of John Nash, a gifted mathematician who battled schizophrenia while making significant contributions to game theory. The Theory of Everything delves into the life and work of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, depicting his fight against motor neuron disease and the development of his groundbreaking theories in cosmology. These exceptional films are just a few examples of how movies about scientists capture the essence of these pioneering intellects and their achievements. 

The best movies about scientists not only provide engaging entertainment but also serve as inspiring tributes to the indomitable human spirit in the quest for knowledge and understanding. By portraying the lives and works of these remarkable individuals, these biographical movies enable audiences to appreciate the invaluable contributions that scientists have made to society and the world at large. 

The Imitation Game

• Released : 2014
• Directed by : Morten Tyldum

In this riveting historical drama, audiences delve into the life of Alan Turing, a British mathematician, and logician who played a crucial role in breaking the infamous German Enigma code during World War II. The film elegantly interweaves Turing's personal struggles with his groundbreaking work, highlighting his complex relationships and tragic persecution due to his homosexuality. This compelling story is a testament to Turing's sheer brilliance and unparalleled contribution to modern-day computer science.

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The Man Who Knew Infinity

• Released : 2015
• Directed by : Matthew Brown

An extraordinary cinematic masterpiece, this film revolves around the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius from India. It showcases his abundant talent, determination, and passion for numbers as he gets enrolled at Cambridge University during World War I. Overcoming numerous obstacles and prejudice in a foreign land, the audience is captivated by the deep bond that forms between Ramanujan and his mentor, G.H. Hardy. With breathtaking performances, this movie sheds light on the power of perseverance and the beauty of friendship.

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A Beautiful Mind

• Released : 2001
• Directed by : Ron Howard

This emotionally-charged biopic tells the inspiring story of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics whose groundbreaking theories were often overshadowed by his battle with schizophrenia. The movie explores how Nash's loving wife Alicia supports him through unimaginable hardships while striving to maintain her own sanity. With raw and heart-wrenching performances, this film is bound to leave a lasting impact on anyone who watches it.

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The Theory of Everything

• Directed by : James Marsh

Based on the incredible journey of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, this movie follows the young genius as he faces the brutal diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) while pursuing groundbreaking discoveries in the field of cosmology. Simultaneously, it narrates the unwavering love story between Hawking and Jane Wilde set against all odds. With powerful acting and awe-inspiring storytelling, this film demonstrates the true meaning of resilience and transcending one's limitations.

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Hidden Figures

• Released : 2016
• Directed by : Theodore Melfi

A heartwarming tribute to the unsung heroes of NASA, this movie highlights the remarkable contributions of three African-American female mathematicians during the early years of the American space program. Faced with racial and gender discrimination, these exceptional women navigated their way through adversity while playing pivotal roles in sending astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Through captivating storytelling and strong performances, this film showcases the power of determination and perseverance.

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The Secret of Nikola Tesla

• Released : 1980
• Directed by : Krsto Papić

This fascinating biopic delves into the life and groundbreaking work of inventor and visionary, Nikola Tesla. It portrays his never-ending quest for knowledge and innovation, as well as the rivalry between him and Thomas Edison over electrical systems. This film not only illuminates the immense impact Tesla had on modern technology but also reveals his eccentricities accompanied by his genius.

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The 13 Best Movies About Scientists and Experiments

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Scientific exploration represents the intellectual pursuit of the unknown. It's a quest for knowledge that has driven many to obsession or even madness, especially when failure looms increasingly overhead.

All kinds of films have been made about enigmatic characters who dedicate their lives to science and experiments. Such films tend to be sci-fi thrillers, but there are also compelling dramas and hilarious comedies that bring fresh energy to the premise.

Here are my picks for the best movies about scientists and their experiments, spanning the gamut of genres but all still worth watching for their own special reasons.

13. Junior (1994)

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Emma Thompson

Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi (1h 49m)

4.7 on IMDb — 39% on RT

Directed by one of the best comedic directors in history, Junior is a cautionary tale of scientific experimentation if there ever was one.

Our story finds two scientists, Dr. Alex Hesse (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Dr. Larry Arbogast (played by Danny DeVito), who have created a new pregnancy drug to cure infertility.

Unfortunately, bureaucratic red tape threatens to derail the duo's experiment: due to ethical reasons, they can't test the drug on real human subjects. So, Alex decides to take the drug himself—and despite precautionary measures, even he couldn't predict what happens next.

Yes, that's right: we're kicking off this list with a movie about Arnold Schwarzenegger impregnating himself! Don't worry, as most of the other films on this list will be more serious. But if you're looking for an easy-to-watch comedy, don't let Junior 's poor critical reception deter you.

12. The Andromeda Strain (1971)

Directed by Robert Wise

Starring James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne

Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller (2h 11m)

7.2 on IMDb — 67% on RT

Directed by Robert Wise, The Andromeda Strain is a classic film to watch if you're interested in movies about scientific experiments.

Dr. Jeremy Stone (played by Arthur Hill) is tasked with leading a team of scientists to contain the spread of an extraterrestrial organism that lands on Earth. However, it soon becomes clear throughout their experiments that they're way out of their depth...

Based on the phenomenal novel by sci-fi extraordinaire Michael Crichton, the film adaptation was lauded for its suspense and its creative use of split-screens long before it was widely used.

11. I Origins (2014)

Directed by Mike Cahill

Starring Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

Drama, Mystery, Romance (1h 46m)

7.3 on IMDb — 52% on RT

PhD student Ian Gray (played by Michael Pitt) is studying the evolution of the human eye. One day, while attending a college party, he meets a woman with the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen.

Later, several years in the future, what begins as a purely scientific study turns into something much more: an experimental investigation into the origins of the human soul.

Directed by the unconventionally meditative Mike Cahill, I Origins is an underrated sci-fi drama that's well worth your time.

10. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Directed by Ron Howard

Starring Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly

Biography, Drama (2h 15m)

8.2 on IMDb — 74% on RT

Directed by Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind follows the life of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. (played by Russell Crowe), who was a real person and commonly known as John Nash.

Demonstrating himself to be a brilliant scientist and economist, Nash not only gains the attention of the CIA, but eventually starts working there to help advance the field of cryptography.

However, paranoid delusions gradually start to blur the lines between his personal life and reality. Russell Crowe went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for A Beautiful Mind .

9. The Nutty Professor (1996)

Directed by Tom Shadyac

Starring Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Coburn

Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi (1h 35m)

5.7 on IMDb — 64% on RT

The second (and last) comedy on our list is another terrific adaptation of a classic piece of literature: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , which was written by Robert Louis Stevenson back in 1886.

Exactly 110 years after publication, Stevenson's novella was given a comedic spin with The Nutty Professor .

In a bid to win the heart of his dream woman, Sherman Klump (played by Eddie Murphy) is desperate to lose weight. So, he conducts an experiment using his vast knowledge of biochemistry.

While he does successfully lose an enormous amount of weight, it comes at a terrible cost... The Nutty Professor stars Eddie Murphy in an impressive seven roles, and it's a laugh-out-loud affair.

8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

Starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow

Action, Drama, Sci-Fi (1h 45m)

7.6 on IMDb — 82% on RT

Planet of the Apes started as a novel in 1963, which was turned into a film series in 1968, then rebooted into another film series in 2011 starting with Rupert Wyatt's acclaimed Rise of the Planet of the Apes .

Will Rodman (played by James Franco) is a chemist who's experimenting on chimpanzees with an innovative new serum that's one step closer to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, the serum has unforeseen effects on the primates...

Featuring Andy Serkis as ape leader Caesar using revolutionary performance capture technology, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the best cautionary tales of science gone awry.

Remaking this iconic franchise was a risky decision given that there was a previous reboot attempt in 2001 with Planet of the Apes , which went nowhere due to all kinds of production difficulties. Fortunately, Wyatt pulled it off and the resulting series is just fantastic.

7. Hidden Figures (2016)

Directed by Theodore Melfi

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe

Biography, Drama, History (2h 7m)

7.8 on IMDb — 93% on RT

Directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures is a biographical film that brings us an incredible story that should've been told long ago. Fortunately for us, we get to experience it now.

The narrative follows three women scientists: Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer), Katherine Goble Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), and Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monáe).

Despite their instrumental contributions to America's success during the Space Race, these women were buried and remained unrecognized for years. Why? Simply for being African-American.

Hidden Figures is the tough but inspiring journey of how these women worked to gain the respect that they deserved without ever giving up even in the face of constant discrimination and harassment.

6. The Theory of Everything (2014)

Directed by James Marsh

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Prior

Biography, Drama, Romance (2h 3m)

7.7 on IMDb — 80% on RT

Stephen Hawking is a man who needs no introduction, but in case you've been living under a rock for the past several decades, suffice it to say that he was one of the most brilliant minds of modern science.

In The Theory of Everything , we get to see his genius on display as he excels at the University of Cambridge, where he published all kinds of groundbreaking works on theoretical physics.

However, perhaps more interestingly, we're given insight into his tumultuous personal life and the challenges he faced as a victim afflicted by ALS (a neurodegenerative disease that affects muscle control).

With a heart-melting score and stunning performances from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything truly encapsulates the human desire to understand the world we're born into.

5. Contact (1997)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (2h 30m)

7.5 on IMDb — 68% on RT

Based on the 1985 novel by Carl Sagan, Robert Zemeckis adapted the grounded sci-fi drama to great success.

Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway (played by Jodie Foster) is a SETI scientist who makes a breathtaking discovery: an alien transmission.

After establishing contact with extraterrestrials using radio waves, Arroway leads an experiment to create a machine according to the instructions of said extraterrestrial communicators.

While Contact is mostly interesting for its thought experiment of a premise than its characters, the result is still one of the most intriguing movies about a scientific experiment. If you're in search of a realistic take on sci-fi concepts, you can't miss this one.

4. Annihilation (2018)

Directed by Alex Garland

Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson

Adventure, Drama, Horror (1h 55m)

6.8 on IMDb — 88% on RT

When writer-director Alex Garland is at the helm of a film, you know you're in for an experience unlike any other. He's had his ups and downs, but when he's hot, the results are unforgettable.

Annihilation follows a group of women scientists of varying fields who are tasked with investigating the origins of a supernatural entity that has arrived on Earth. The thing is, previous explorers either haven't returned or have come back changed in some way...

Starring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, they venture into the enigmatic quarantined zone called "The Shimmer" to collect data and uncover what's causing the mutation of plants and animals.

With Annihilation , Alex Garland successfully crafted another worthy entry into his filmography and the cosmic horror canon.

3. The Imitation Game (2014)

Directed by Morten Tyldum

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode

Biography, Drama, Thriller (1h 54m)

8.0 on IMDb — 90% on RT

Cryptanalyst Alan Turing is well-known today as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, but that wasn't always the case. In fact, he was ostracized while he was alive for being gay.

In this superb film directed by Morten Tyldum, we get to see the fantastic legacy he left behind, as well as his role in ending one of the most gruesome conflicts in history: World War II.

During WW2, the Nazis communicated using messages that were encrypted by their Enigma machine. Alan Turing was approached by British intelligence officers in 1939 and hired to break the Enigma codes, as he was the only one with enough expertise to do it.

Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as the man who almost single-handedly decided the fate of World War II with his brilliant brain is both insightful and gut-wrenching.

2. Awakenings (1990)

Directed by Penny Marshall

Starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner

Biography, Drama (2h 1m)

7.8 on IMDb — 84% on RT

Penny Marshall's drama Awakenings isn't just well-written, well-acted, and emotionally affecting—it's based on a true story.

Dr. Malcolm Sayer (played by Robin Williams) is a neurologist studying catatonia. When he begins implementing a new treatment of L-DOPA in coma patients, he's initially disappointed by the results. However, there's eventually a breakthrough when one patient suddenly wakes up.

For the first time in years, Leonard Lowe (played by Robert De Niro) is able to see the world through his own eyes again.

As Dr. Sayer uncovers the reason behind Leonard's sudden awakening, the two of them fear that this experiment may not last. In fact, it may very well be a race against the clock. In the end, Awakenings is an underrated gem that will absolutely have you in tears.

1. Oppenheimer (2023)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon

Biography, Drama, History (3h)

8.5 on IMDb — 93% on RT

Why is Oppenheimer at the top of this list? Maybe it's recency bias. Or maybe it's the massive cult-like following the film had pre-release. Or maybe it's the glowing reviews that came after its release.

All combined, Oppenheimer still sticks out in my mind as the best film about a scientist and his experiments.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) is a brilliant theoretical physicist who's headhunted to lead a team of scientists tasked with creating the world's first atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer is tense and suspenseful as director Christopher Nolan employs his trademark nonlinear narrative style to create total immersion in Oppenheimer's race against time and persecution.

The film is doubly effective as a cautionary tale, which is why I'm ranking it at number one. Oppenheimer is cinema's best depiction of a scientist haunted by his greatest achievement and tormented by his own legacy.

Oppenheimer's most impressive experiment came at massive cost: the fate of the entire world. Few films have managed to establish stakes so monumental and deliver a climax worthy of said stakes.

Best movies about famous scientists that aren't Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer cleaned up at the Oscars this year, so what better time to look back at the best biopics based on history's most influential scientists?

1. Hidden Figures

2. einstein and eddington, 3. october sky, 5. the imitation game, 6. temple grandin, 8. gorillas in the mist, 9. ammonite, 10. the man who knew infinity.

One of the most talked-about releases of 2023 was "Oppenheimer", a biopic about the man who invented the nuclear bomb, directed by Christopher Nolan. Not only did it rake in nearly $1bn at the box office , it scooped up seven Oscars at the 96th Academy Awards , including gongs for best picture and best actor for Cillian Murphy's portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer.  

Biopics that focus on famous scientists often must tread a fine line of explaining the science while humanizing the faces behind the discoveries. Here we reflect on 10 of the most significant, influential, and/or accurate science biopics over the past decades.

Read more about J. Robert Oppenheimer

• 8 wild stories about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the atomic bomb'
• Who was J. Robert Oppenheimer? Biographer Kai Bird delves into the physicist's fascinating life and legacy
• 'The night turned into day': How Manhattan Project scientists reacted to the world's first atomic bomb test

• Age rating: PG

Released in 2016, Hidden Figures follows three Black women working as mathematicians at NASA during the space race. The women highlighted include Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. Each with their own specialties, we see them fight and work through the systemic racism present in the industry to have real impacts on human spaceflight. 

One of the most well-known biopics in recent years, Hidden Figures (loosely based on a book by the same name) rightly served the almost meta purpose of highlighting Black women who truly had been lost to history. The setting and stories at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA are mostly recognized to be true, with some changes made to serve the story. 

This film is a fantastic watch for all ages, and even young kids can be drawn into the pacing and relatable characters. Highly recommended for all viewers.

Watch Hidden Figures on Disney+ Basic (with ads): $9.99/month Premium (no ads): $14.99/month Disney Bundle (Hulu, Disney+ & ESPN): from $24.99/month

• Age rating: 12

Originally released as a BBC Two drama, Einstein and Eddington has been widely overlooked despite its stellar cast and storytelling. Starring David Tennant as Sir Arthur Eddington and Andy Serkis as Albert Einstein, this film tells the story of the introduction of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity to the world, and Eddington’s relationship therein. Eddington was instrumental in assisting with the first indirect test of General Relativity during a solar eclipse in 1919. This was a particularly turbulent time in physics as Einstein’s theories and Eddington’s observations were contrasting long-accepted Newtonian physics laws. 

A key story in the film centers on Eddington’s romantic feelings for his best friend at Cambridge, which has never been confirmed by historical records. Regardless, this film is a fantastic retelling of a snapshot in physics history against the backdrop of the First World War. While it might be a bit slow for younger audiences, the stellar acting and fascinating story make this a must-see for fans of science and history. 

Watch Einstein and Eddington on Max With ads: $9.99/month Ad-free: $15.99/month Ultimate (4K): $19.99/month

Along the theme of rocket research, October Sky tells the story of four young men from West Virginia who are inspired to take up rocketry after the launch of Sputnik 1. Based on the memoir “Rocket Boys”, this film is a classic coming-of-age story that inspires across recommendations. It beautifully and honestly depicts life in the late 1950s coal mining regions of the Appalachians. 

The film is based on the true story of Homer H Hickam Jr, the son of a coal miner who fought against expectations to become an engineer at NASA, generally faithful to the book and life depicted therein, despite the omission of Wernher von Braun’s Nazi associations. 

Though this film was released in 1999, it remains an inspirational classic for families and folks of all ages.

Rent or buy October Sky on Prime Video Rent: $3.79 (HD) Buy: $14.69 (HD)

• Age rating: 12A

Reaching far back in the annals of history, Agora is an English-language Spanish film that tells the story of Hypatia, a woman in late 4th century Roman Egypt who challenges the heliocentric model of our solar system . Starring Rachel Weisz, the film is not without its criticism for anachronistic portrayals and misleading attributions of inventions and theories to Hypatia due to the lack of historical evidence. However, this intensely cerebral drama holds themes that are still relatable today, specifically to women in STEM fields. 

With some violence and intense themes, Agora is not recommended for everyone, but its unique subject and portrayal of science in ancient times makes this a worthy viewing.

The Imitation Game recounts the famous story of the Enigma Machine developed during World War II to decrypt Nazi communications. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film follows the life of Alan Turing, noted for his work at Bletchley Park and contributions to the machines built. In addition to mathematics and cryptography, the film pays tribute to Alan Turing himself and the challenges he faced in the first half of the 20th century. 

Notably, Alan Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality and underwent chemical castration before dying of suicide in 1954. While a significant amount of liberties are taken with respect to Turing’s personal life and personality, the film nonetheless contributed to the passing of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (the “Alan Turing law”) which serves as an amnesty law for men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts in England and Wales. 

This award-winning film is generally acceptable for all ages though the themes may be intense for younger viewers. 

Watch The Imitation Game on Netflix Standard with ads*: $6.99 / month Standard: $15.49 / month Premium: $22.99 / month

Starring Claire Daines, Temple Grandin is a 2010 film which examines the life and work of Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who revolutionized treatment of livestock. Based on her own memoirs, this film beautifully examines the stigma of autism and women in scientific fields. Critically well received and winner of multiple awards, Grandin herself praised Danes’ performance as if “going back in a weird time machine”. 

Grandin is currently a professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University and a prominent advocate for autism rights and neurodiversity movements. 

Rated PG, this film would be an excellent watch for older children interested in studying and working with animals though caution must be given as the subject matter includes cruel treatment of animals.  

Watch Temple Grandin on Max With ads: $9.99/month Ad-free: $15.99/month Ultimate (4K): $19.99/month

Chronicling the life of famous inventor Nikola Tesla, Tesla examines the ups and downs of inventions and business. Ethan Hawke brings a fantastic performance in an otherwise straightforward biographical film. Hitting the highlights of Tesla’s life and career, the film misses out on nuance and drama, but is a decent watch for those interested.  

It’s generally appropriate for all ages and may be an interesting watch for young inventors, though realizing there is a significant portion focusing on relationships. The film takes some interesting directorial choices but overall is a faithful adaptation of his life, winning the Alfred P. Sloan award at Sundance Film Festival in 2020.

Watch Tesla on Hulu: One-month free trial Hulu (with ads): $9.99/month Hulu (no ads): $14.99/month Hulu + Live TV: $76.99/month

• Age rating: 15

Reaching back a few decades, this film is ripe for a rediscovery despite its success at the time. Gorillas in the Mist tells the story of primatologist and conservationist Dian Fossey, following her career change and move to Africa to study rare mountain gorillas. Fossey’s work explored the communication and social behavior of these gorillas, capturing the attention of National Geographic. However, the attention also highlights the poaching crisis of gorillas, turning Fossey into an anti-poaching activist. 

A good amount of the racial imagery in the film is not appropriate and if made in this day and age, one imagines a different approach would be taken. Despite some critics examining the rather neutral treatment of Fossey and her personality, the film is notable for its dozens of award nominations, particularly highlighting Sigourney Weavers’ performance and how it integrated the gorillas both live and artificial. 

The film is fairly violent and distressing, but highlights an important moment in history for the study of mountain gorillas and anti-poaching movements. 

Rent or buy Gorillas in the Mist on Prime Video Rent: $3.99 (HD) Buy: $25.99 (HD)

The romantic drama Ammonite examines the personal life and struggles of Mary Anning, a fossil collector and paleontologist in the mid-1800s. Starring Kate Winslet as Mary Anning, and Saoirse Ronan as her friend and eventual lover Charlotte Murchison, the film predominantly explores their romantic relationship in the backdrop of seaside fossil collecting in Dorset. 

From a scientific point of view, the film is illuminating to how fossils were discovered, examined, sold, and donated, often ignoring the work (particularly of women) who unearthed them. While there is no historical evidence of Anning’s sexuality, it can’t be discarded as queer history has often been told through a heterosexual lens. Regardless, Mary Anning was a pivotal paleontologist who made dozens of discoveries in Jurassic marine fossil beds along the English Channel. She was frequently, and almost completely, overlooked due to her being a woman at this time. Her story is a fascinating one, and any stories highlighting her contribution to paleontology must be lauded. 

This film is a beautiful, slow drama with the brutal English coast and life in the Victorian era playing a key role. There is a significant amount of nudity and sex so it is not recommended for younger viewers.

Watch Ammonite on Hulu: One-month free trial Hulu (with ads): $7.99/month Hulu (no ads): $14.99/month Hulu + Live TV: $69.99/month

Starring Dev Patel, The Man Who Knew Infinity explores the life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and his life moving from poverty in Madras, India to Cambridge University during World War I. Under the tutelage of Professor G. H. Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons, Ramanujan became a notable theoretical mathematician. His friendship and relationship with Professor Hardy is the key drama in the film, and the struggles of maintaining a life in a new country while sustaining relationships back home. 

With real-life mathematicians collaborating with the film, it’s praised for its accurate portrayal of mathematics and professional mathematicians, often drawing comparisons to Good Will Hunting. It is generally appropriate for all audiences and is a beautiful portrayal of the lives of famous mathematicians.  

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Erin Macdonald holds a PhD in Gravitational Astrophysics from the University of Glasgow, and currently works as a writer, producer, and science consultant in Los Angeles. She recently published Star Trek: My First Book Of Space, a baby board book and also wrote and narrated the Audible Original The Science Of Sci-Fi which made the Top 10 Bestseller List in March 2020. She has written a number of videos for the YouTube channel Extra Credits on science in video games. Additionally, she has been a contributing author to publications such as StarTrek.com, SyFy Wire, and LiveScience speaking on space, science, and the intersection with science fiction. She is also the science advisor for the entire Star Trek franchise, a job which started in 2019 and continues to this day.

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Best movies about scientists

Last week, I settled into a cinema seat to watch “Oppenheimer,” the last masterpiece by Christopher Nolan. Walking out three hours later, the movie stuck with me, just like a catchy tune you can’t shake off. It wasn’t just the story of the man behind the atomic bomb that gripped me. It was the stark reminder of how science, mixed with ambition, can be at the same time awe-inspiring and frightening.

Oppenheimer made me think: Some of the world’s greatest scientists, with all their genius, can let their swollen egos overshadow the bigger picture. Yet, films like this nudge me toward wanting to be a better scientist. So, I started thinking about other movies about scientists that inspired me. And here they are, my top 6 picks .

6. Oppenheimer (2023)

Synopsis: During the Second World War, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer takes the lead in the top-secret Manhattan Project. With a team of eminent scientists by his side, he dedicates years to the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Their efforts culminate on July 16, 1945, with the bomb’s first successful detonation. Shortly after, the U.S. drops two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians. Following these devastating events, Oppenheimer grapples with profound personal and political challenges. His prior Communist ties and his reservations about nuclear weapons put him under intense scrutiny (see the trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: The film shows how science, ambition, politics, and powerful discoveries are deeply intertwined. As scientists, we hope to make big discoveries, but there’s no sure way to tell if they’ll turn out good or bad. And once we find something new, it’s not just ours anymore; it’s up to the world, mostly the politicians, to decide what happens next. After watching the movie, I felt uneasy. The huge power of the atomic bomb reminded me of today’s rapid advancements in AI.

5. The Imitation Game (2014)

Synopsis: During World War II, Alan Turing, a gifted mathematician, is recruited to join a secret mission to crack the Nazi’s seemingly unbreakable Enigma code. He teams up with a group of scholars, linguists, chess champions, and intelligence officers at Bletchley Park to create a machine to decipher the encrypted Nazi communications. Despite the hurdles and the pressure, they persist, and their hard work starts to pay off, unlocking the secrets of the enemy’s plans (see the trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: Alan Turing’s work during the Second World War proved crucial to the Allied victory. By deciphering the German Enigma code, Turing and his team at Bletchley Park provided the Allies with invaluable intelligence, enabling them to anticipate German movements and strategies. Yet their prowess remained in the shadows, and instead of recognition, Turing suffered terrible persecution for his homosexuality. The movie sheds light on Turing’s genius and perseverance amidst societal pressures.

4. Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

Synopsis: In the 1960’s, Dian Fossey, a passionate primatologist, embarks on a journey into the remote rainforests of Rwanda to study the endangered mountain gorillas. Establishing the Karisoke research center in the Virunga Mountains, Fossey creates a unique bond with the gorillas, particularly with one called Digit. She becomes their fierce protector, fighting poaching and habitat destruction. But she faces enormous challenges, from the resistance of local communities to the isolation of her field camp (see trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: In the face of current concerns for our planet and its ecosystems, Gorillas in the Mist and Dian Fossey’s story are incredibly modern and ahead of their time. The gorillas in their beautiful habitat are incredibly touching and the atrocities they have suffered revolting. Dian Fossey’s scientific work, filled with deep care and love for nature, is truly inspiring.

3. The Theory of Everything (2014)

Synopsis: The Theory of Everything follows the extraordinary life of physicist Stephen Hawking. While completing his doctorate at Cambridge University, Stephen falls deeply in love with one of his classmates, Jane Wilde. But soon he receives the devastating diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and doctors give him a mere two years to live. His physical abilities rapidly diminish, but his determination and pioneering spirit remain intact. Defying all the odds, Stephen and Jane forge an enduring marriage, weathering the trials of his physical decline and her unwavering role as partner and caregiver (see the trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: What an unbelievable story celebrating human potential and spirit! This film testifies to the unstoppable will of an individual who, despite the worst physical limitations, has continued to expand our understanding of the universe.

2. Hidden Figures (2016)

Synopsis: In the midst of the space race in the 1960s, Hidden Figures reveals the untold story of three brilliant African-American women working at NASA: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Employed as “computer-women” in a segregated division, they have to face the racial and sexual discrimination of their white male colleagues. But despite these obstacles, their work proves indispensable to achieving aeronautical breakthroughs (see trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: It’s a beautiful film with fantastic actresses (Octavia Spencer, Taraji Henson, Kirsten Dunst) and actors (Kevin Costner). It’s a fun and easy watch but also uplifting and thought-provoking. The most enjoyable way to re-motivate yourself if you feel you need a little boost.

1. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

From the name of my blog, you might have seen this one coming :

Synopsis: A Beautiful Mind tells the story of John Nash, a brilliant mathematician whose groundbreaking work on game theory has catapulted him to academic stardom. However, his promising career takes a tumultuous turn when he is plagued by paranoid schizophrenia, weaving a complex web between his groundbreaking mathematical discoveries and the haunting illusions his mind conjures up. Nash’s difficulties blend closely with his personal life, affecting his relationships and academic endeavors (see the trailer here ).

Why It’s Inspiring: I recall vividly when John Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. It showed the world that even an intellect of the highest caliber could suffer through the challenges of mental disorder. Nash’s disclosure of his condition humanized his genius and contributed to the normalization and acceptance of mental health problems. The film is a poignant portrait of his life, and so is the book from which it is adapted . If you’re looking for an inspiring read, go and get it.

Same, same but different

After rewatching these films, my life seems pretty straightforward. I don’t face serious physical or mental health problems, segregation or poacher attacks. But, like everyone else, I have my own struggles.

Seeing how the scientists in these films overcame their problems gives me the strength to face my own. Their stories show we can all push through hard times. I hope that you too will feel stronger after watching about them.

You May Also Like

Review papers and impostor syndrome: a conversation with alankrita rani, insights from a phd journey: an interview with tomaš klimann, take by take: the making of a video course.

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10 Greatest British Movies of All Time, According to the British Film Institute

15 best slow-burn horror movies so far this century, 10 distracting cameos that ruined the movie.

We are undeniably living in an era where some stories for cinema are often based on — whether directly adapted or subtly inspired by — real-life monumental events that have shaped history. Movies like Zero Dark Thirty , Hidden Figures , and The King's Speech are just a few critically and commercially acclaimed stories that brought to life significant periods of human history. Of course, there are films on the other end of the quality spectrum that, though based on real life, are devoid of authenticity, or fail in terms of accuracy. One genre that has been a staple in cinema history — and one that we are currently witnessing a boom of sorts — is the biopic, or biographical movie .

Taking real historical figures, their stories, and major accomplishments, biopics help audiences dive into the lives of people who changed the world as we know it. One major subgenre is the biopic. This year a huge biopic called Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan featured a number of real-life scientists, though it wasn't the first to explore the concept.

Updated on August 11th, 2023, by Federico Furzan : This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.

11 The Theory of Everything (2014)

Led by Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything is a balanced renaissance of romance, drama, and honesty on its own merit. The movie, based on the life of renowned English astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, delves deeper into the timeline of Hawkins’ life when he is diagnosed with ALS, which slowly begins affecting his brain and nerves’ basic functions.

Despite that, Hawking harbors an ambition to revolutionize the uncharted theories of physics with his intelligence and simultaneously hopes to cherish the finite days with his love and fellow collegian Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). Interestingly, in an interview with Variety, the real-life Hawking cited that the film was “broadly true,” and was for him largely synonymous with watching himself play the character.

10 Temple Grandin (2010)

In one of the best performances of her career, Claire Danes played real-life American scholar Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin is a great depiction of the ordeal Grandin had to go through in order to be taken seriously as a specialist in the basics of cattle management.

Autism was the condition through which people belittled her. Besides having Danes as a fantastic lead, Temple Grandin is also a great portrayal of female resilience and a heartwarming film that never disappoints.

9 The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a treasure trove of the last decade, serving as an epic biographical drama that leaves the theatergoers gut-wrenched as the film inches close to its conclusion. The film tells the tale of brilliant Indian mathematician Srinivasan Ramanujan.

It spotlights Ramanujan’s grit at making a mark through his groundbreaking mathematic discoveries after gaining admittance to Cambridge University during World War Ⅰ. The Man Who Knew Infinity , starring Dev Patel as the titular character, remodels impoverished, yet brainy Srinivasan’s life into an exceptional genius under the unerring guidance of his mentor G.H. Hardy, played exceptionally by Jeremy Irons.

8 Tesla (2020)

In 2020's biopic Tesla , we explore the life of the real-life enigma of Nikola Tesla. All through the performance of an impeccable Ethan Hawke who goes skin-deep when trying to embody such a twisted frame of mind.

The life of the genius who practically invented electrical power is depicted through the relationships Tesla suffered through, which ultimately turned him into a mysterious scientist who still doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

7 The Imitation Game (2014)

The historical drama The Imitation Game , adapted from the novel Alan Turing: The Enigma, is based on the life of British prodigal mathematician Alan Turning, an alumnus of Cambridge University. The movie serves as a nail-biting plot of a team decrypting near-impossible Nazi codes that harbor sensitive information about impending German attacks during World War Ⅱ.

Indeed, The Imitation Game sets the narrative against time and sees Benedict Cumberbatch triumphantly portraying Turing. Turing is also accompanied by the brains of Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode), and John Cairncross (Allen Leech) in this quest to decode the unbreakable Enigma, as he's also going through an emotional ordeal regarding a hidden secret.

Related: 8 Biopics That Were Criticized by the Real-Life Figures They Were About

6 Creation (2009)

British romance-drama biopic Creation stars Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist. The film dives broadly into the lives of Emma (Jennifer Connelly) and Darwin, who are leading an unstable life after the untimely demise of their eldest daughter Annie.

Creation traces the events leading up to the publication of the book titled On The Origin of Species, a scientific journal logging ground-breaking evolutionary discoveries and theories of the planetary species, written by Charles. Jon Amiel directed Creation , offering moviegoers the chance to conclusively ponder over precisely two conflicting thoughts: whether species are a creation of God or descendants of evolution. The movie, however, contrary to its title, leans towards evolution.

5 October Sky (1999)

An inspiring story of emotional power that tells a real-life story that not many people know about. October Sky is based on the memoir of real-life NASA specialist Homer Hickam, and it tells the story of Hickam's prominence in going against the will of the town and his family to become fascinated with rocket science.

Of course, in 1957 only the Soviet's first iteration of Sputnik had gone to outer space and this couldn't be considered inspiring. Hickam, with the help of his friends and the support of his science teacher, thrives and becomes the town's most interesting teenager when he starts building a rocket of his own. The masterful direction by genre icon Joe Johnston is one of his best. This was one of Jake Gyllenhaal's first noteworthy performances.

4 Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures , inspired by Margot Lee Shetterly’s novel of the same name, re-narrates the story of NASA’s Black women employees: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. As portrayed, the characters were the catalyst in the successful accomplishment of Project Mercury, which involved the orbital launch of astronaut John Glenn.

The biopic starring stellar actors Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, also brings forward the history of racial and gender discrimination faced by the team at their work. Indeed, the movie is a must-watch as it reinvigorates the message that women are cerebrally equal to men in every aspect.

3 Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

In Michael Apted's Gorillas in the Mist , the scientist whose life we discover through a truly endearing film, is Dian Fossey, the environmentalist who until she was brutally murdered, fought for the conservation of mountain gorilla habitats in the Congo.

Played by Sigourney Weaver in an award-winning performance, Fossey was a fierce lady who faced dangers from two sides: the one with the wild animals who she trusted more than anything, and the one with the humans who cowardly ended her life too soon. The scenes involving Fossey interacting with gorillas are impressive.

2 A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A Beautiful Mind is an American drama loosely based on the life of mathematician Josh Forbes Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, played by Russell Crowe. The film sees Nash accepting the decrypting assignment from a mysterious man named William Parcher, working with the United States Department of Defense.

As such, assignments handed to Nash are largely focused on identifying patterns in magazines and clippings to thwart the Soviets' schemes. It is eventually revealed that Nash is experiencing episodes of delusion and suffering from schizophrenia, hinting that every montage is his figment of imagination. While A Beautiful Mind never intended to exhibit the exact life of the mathematician, it boded fairly well at depicting the agonies one goes through at the hands of a mental disorder.

1 Oppenheimer (2023)

In Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer , we explore the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer during the peak of his life when he participated in The Manhattan Project and eventually masterminded the plan for creating an atomic bomb. The film heavily focuses on Oppenheimer's intimate life as he always fought misconceptions and ideological obstacles.

Ultimately, the film shows his success in creating the most lethal object of the 20th century, but it also shows how his image was darkened by the security hearings in which he was formally accused of being a closeted communist. This is Nolan's most dramatic film to date, so fans of his spectacle-based films will surely be confused at how Oppenheimer plays out. But in the end, it's a masterful adaptation of events that actually took place.

• Movie Lists

Olbers' Paradox and Electromagnetic Waves

Solar geoengineering: the key against climate change, openmind books, scientific anniversaries, things you didn't know about einstein, featured author, latest book, 5 biographical movies about scientists.

On May 24th 2015, Nobel prize winner and game theory expert  John Forbes Nash   passed away at age 86.  His tragic death had an outstanding media impact for 2 reasons: First, because of the dramatic circumstances of his death, and second, thanks to his mainstream notoriety acquired through the movie “ A Beautiful Mind ” that portrayed part of his life and his fight against mental-health challenges.

 1. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A film that won 4 Academy Awards; one for Best Picture. From  John Nash ‘s  perspective, ‘ A Beautiful Mind ‘ helped raise awareness about schizophrenia worldwide. ( IMDB )

2. Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

Sigourney Weaver plays the part of zoologist and ethologist  Dian Fossey   who dedicated her life to studying gorillas in the Virunga mountains (Rwanda). She also lead projects for the protection and conservation of primates. ( IMDB ).

3. Creation (2009)

Creation tells the inner struggle experienced by naturalist Charles Darwin  when he was about to publish “On The Origin of Species “, a piece that denied the creation of the universe by God; a conflict between his scientific vocation and his love for his very religious wife. ( IMDB ) .

4. The Theory of Everything (2014)

Eddie Redmayne (Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in this movie) plays the world-renown theoretical physicist and A Brief Story of Time author  Stephen Hawking . The Theory of Everything deals with Hawking’s diagnosis of motor neuron disease, and his success in the field of physics ( IMDB ).

5. The Imitation Game (2014)

Benedict Cumberbatch ( The Hobbit , Sherlock …) portrays mathematician, cryptanalyst and computing pioneer  Alan Turing .  Thanks to his exceptional mind, Turing helped the allies win WWII. ( IMDB ).

Do you know any other biopics about scientists that you could recommend?

Related publications

• Alan Turing and the Dream of Artificial Intelligence
• Good Science Also Has a Place in the Cinema
• Tesla vs. Edison: A Mythical Rivalry

More about Science

Environment, leading figures, mathematics, scientific insights, more publications about openmind, comments on this publication.

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30 Best Movies About Scientists

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15 of the Top Movie and TV Scientists of All Time

Some of the greatest sci-fi films, tv series and literature would be nothing without their ingenious, and at times, mad scientist protagonists. these 15 are some of the crème de la crème..

Christopher McFadden

Mad Movie Scientists

1,   2

We all have our favorite fictional movie and TV scientists but some are likely to feature in most people’s ‘dream team’.

Whether it be Spock from Star Trek (not featured here) or Dr. Emmett Brown (he’s here), no list can ever please everyone.

And so we took it upon ourselves to attempt to hand-pick some of the ‘best’ from the enormous back catalog of science fiction media and literature that stretches back over the last 100 years or so. 

This list of 15 contains some of the ‘usual suspects’ but we’ve also thrown in some lesser known ‘curve balls’, just to mix things up a bit. 

The following list is in no particular order and is far from being exhaustive. Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments below. 

1. Dr. Emmet Brown – Back to The Future Trilogy

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field: Theoretical Physics/Inventor

Specialty and/or their research:  Time-Travel and inventor

Notable achievements: The Flux Capacitor/The DeLorean Time Machine and modified Steam Train

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Christopher Lloyd

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  According to canon , Emmet was born in 1920 and was the son of a nativized German father. He changed his name from Von Braun to Brown during the first world war.

Emmett would go on to lead a mainly solitary life as a prolific inventor and “student of all sciences”. 

2. Dr. Henry Jekyll – Jekyll and Hyde

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Chemistry/Pharmaceuticals

Specialty and/or their research: Chemistry

Notable achievements:  Best known for his development of a serum that accidentally manifests his ‘evil’ alter-ego

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Various from John Barrymore in 1920 to Russell Crowe

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  After battling with the good and evil within his psyche, Dr. Jekyll develops a serum to help him repress these feelings. Sadly in doing so, the serum allows his alter ego to take control of his body.

3. Dr. Strangelove – Dr. Strangelove

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Nuclear Physicist

Specialty and/or their research:  Nuclear weapons

Notable achievements:  Helping the U.S. Develop Nuclear Weapons

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Peter Sellers

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Dr. Strangelove’s character  is ostensibly based on the real-life Nazi scientists relocated to the United States after WW2 during “Operation Paperclip”. 

Suffering from “alien hand syndrome” he can be seen, on occasion, lapsing into giving Nazi salutes in the film. Apparently, this affection of the character was improvised by Peter Sellers during filming.

4. Lex Luthor – Superman Series

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field: Engineering/Business Magnate 

Specialty and/or their research: 

Notable achievements:  Developing global corporation LexCorp and inventing various devices to combat Superman .

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Various including Gene Hackman (1970’s to 1980’s) and Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Lex Luther ‘s story varies depending on his depiction in media. He ranges from a power-hungry, wealthy business magnate to ingenious engineer and megalomaniacal genius.

5. C. A. Rotwang – Metropolis

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Robotics/Engineering 

Specialty and/or their research:  Development of humanoid AI robot

Notable achievements:  His fembot built in the image of his dead wife

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Rotwang is a diabolical mad-scientist who locks himself away in his underground lab building a fembot in the image of his long-lost wife. The android goes on to lead the oppressed working class, incites riots and plunges the city of Metropolis into anarchy.

6. Dr. Seth Brundle – The Fly

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Theoretical Physics

Specialty and/or their research:  Teleportation

Notable achievements: Telepod (instantaneous teleportation devices)

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Jeff Goldblum

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Dr. Seth Brundle was a brilliant and eccentric scientist who dedicated his life to developing practical teleportation in his warehouse/lab home.

Initially only having success with inanimate objects he eventually masters the Telepods ability to transport living tissue and eventually organisms. Sadly during a test on himself, his DNA is mixed with that of a stray fly merging the two and leading to disastrous genetic mutation of his body.

7. Walter White – Breaking Bad

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Research Chemist/Chemistry Teacher/Company Founder/Narcotics Producer

Specialty and/or their research:  Early career: Radiography, Later: Narcotics Production

Notable achievements: Early Career: Proton radiography (Nobel Prize), Gray Matter Technologies Founder

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  Bryan Cranston

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  After graduating from the California University of Technology with a degree in Chemistry, Walter goes on to conduct groundbreaking research in proton radiography. He later founds a company with his former classmate and friend before selling his stake in it and leaving.

He later works as a high school chemistry teacher and supplements the low wages with a secondary job at a local car wash. After being diagnosed with lung cancer he decides to begin manufacturing methamphetamine to cover his medical costs and bills.

8. Lieutenant Colonel  Robert Neville – I Am Legend

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Virology/Biology

Specialty and/or their research:  Virology

Notable achievements:  He finds a cure for the zombie-plague ravaging the planet

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  Will Smith

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  After losing his family and everyone he ever knew in the zombie apocalypse, Robert is left alone with his trusty canine partner, and family pet, Samantha. He spends the next three years slowly going mad in his isolation, whilst experimenting on a potential cure for the plague.

After his lab and house are invaded by hordes of zombies he manages to smuggle his cure away with some other survivors before being blowing them to pieces, along with himself.

9. Dr. Henry Wu – Jurassic Park Series

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Biotechnologist/Geneticist

Specialty and/or their research:  Advanced Genetic Engineering

Notable achievements:  Headed the team that was able to resurrect dinosaurs and other extinct species from ancient DNA and splicing with extant organism DNA

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  B D Wong

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Dr. Henry Wu was a child prodigy who drew Mr. Hammond’s attention for his undergraduate thesis at MIT. Whilst working for InGen he was instrumental in developing the procedures behind the company’s de-extinction program.

The character appears in the original film and the fourth and fifth installments of the series. 

10. Hubert J. Farnsworth – Futurama

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Undefined – Supposedly he has mastered all fields of science

Specialty and/or their research:  All

Notable achievements:  He can demonstrate a vast knowledge and expertise in any field of science and is the most brilliant inventor on Earth.

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  Billy West

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  The Professor is the very embodiment of the ‘mad’ scientist and is the proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service. This is the company the other main characters in Futurama work for.

He can often be found switching between supreme intelligence and amoral senility because of his advanced age. Despite his genius, he often falls asleep.

11. Indiana Jones – Indiana Jones Series

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Archaeology

Specialty and/or their research: Archaeology – specializing in historical artifacts

Notable achievements:  Discovering the Arc of the Covenant and the Holy Grail

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Harrison Ford (main films), various others in spin-offs

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Indy serves as a college professor of archaeology who specializes in ancient civilizations. But he is always keen to get into the field to track down and recover ancient artifacts and treasure.

This often gets him into trouble and puts any companions of his in real mortal danger. He also has a penchant for outsmarting his enemies and generally being a thorn in the side of Nazi ambitions around the world.

12. Doctor  Mason Wren – Alien Resurrection

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Xenobiology/Geneticist

Specialty and/or their research:  Cloning and Xenobiology

Notable achievements:  He, and his team, was able to successfully clone an Alien queen and Ellen Ripley from blood samples alone

Actor(s) or Actress(s): J. E. Freeman

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Dr. Wren was in overall charge of a team of scientists within a project to synthesize the Xenomorph species and manipulate it for human use. After 10 years of trial and error, the team finally ‘succeeded’.

Both the Alien queen and clone Ripley shared some DNA and physiological traits and, therefore, were hybrids of both species albeit to varying degrees. 

Wren was eventually killed by a ‘chestbuster’ whilst trying to flee after an Alien containment breach.

13. Dr. Victor Frankenstein – Frankenstein

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field:  Anatomist/Biomechanics

Specialty and/or their research: Resurrection of the deceased/Creating life

Notable achievements:  Creating and resurrecting a composite cadaver

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Various throughout history

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein who is typically portrayed as the archetypical mad scientist in film and TV adaptations but was actually a tragic, selfish figure in Mary Shelley’s original novel.

After succeeding in his plan to create life his invention becomes his undoing. His ‘monster’ obsessively pursues his family, kills his brother and wife and eventually leads to Victor’s own demise at the North Pole. 

Although the monster is often portrayed as a mindless automaton, this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

14. Agent Dana Scully – The X Files

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field: Forensic Sciences/Medical Sciences/Physics

Specialty and/or their research:  Forensic Sciences and Specialist Top Secret Research for the FBI

Notable achievements:  She is most noted for her part played in the FBI’s highly secret X Files Project into supernatural and alien activities, with her partner Fox Mulder

Actor(s) or Actress(s): Gillian Anderson

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Dana Scully studied at the University of Maryland for an undergraduate degree in Physics. Her senior thesis titled   Einstein’s Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation , was published in  1986 when she was aged 23.

She later went to medical school but decided to not practice medicine. Scully was recruited by the FBI and would go on to lead a distinguished career before being assigned to the X-Files in 1992 . 

She and her partner, Fox Mulder, would have a frosty start to their partnership but mutual respect and compassion between the two would quickly form.

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

15.  Wayne Szalinski – Honey I Shrunk The Kids

Movie/Fictional Scientist’s Field: Amateur Physics/Inventor

Specialty and/or their research:  Prolific inventor

Notable achievements: His successful development matter  shrinking and enlarging machine

Actor(s) or Actress(s):  Rick Moranis  (films), Peter Scolari  (TV series)

Brief Biography/Additional Information:  Wayne is an inventor who struggled to build a device to shrink and expand matter. After a lot of trial and error and a lot of exploded apples, he resigns himself that the machine will not work as intended.

Unbeknownst to Wayne, however, the machine actually works and his children accidentally shrink themselves. 

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0 / 30 Fotos

Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller tells the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

1 / 30 Fotos

This biographical drama is about three female African-American mathematicians—Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who worked at NASA during the Space Race. They also had to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work.

2 / 30 Fotos

Set at the University of Cambridge, this movie looks at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife, Jane Wilde.

3 / 30 Fotos

Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, this sci-fi film recounts an astronaut’s lone fight to survive on Mars after being abandoned, as well as NASA’s efforts to rescue him and return him to Earth.

4 / 30 Fotos

Starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, this movie tells the real-life story of mathematician John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, who suffered with schizophrenia.

5 / 30 Fotos

'The Imitation Game' recounts the famous story of the Enigma Machine developed during World War II to decrypt Nazi communications. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film follows the life of Alan Turing, noted for his contributions to the machines built.

6 / 30 Fotos

In this Christopher Nolan film, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot is tasked with piloting a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans for when Earth becomes uninhabitable.

7 / 30 Fotos

The romantic drama 'Ammonite' examines the personal life and struggles of Mary Anning, a fossil collector and paleontologist in the mid-1800s.

8 / 30 Fotos

Starring Sigourney Weaver, 'Gorillas in the Mist' tells the story of primatologist and conservationist Dian Fossey, following her career change and move to Africa to study rare mountain gorillas.

9 / 30 Fotos

Starring Liam Neeson, this biopic details Alfred Kinsey’s life as a pioneer in the field of sexology. One of the earliest known attempts to scientifically analyze and investigate human sexual behavior was his 1948 article, 'Sexual Behavior.'

10 / 30 Fotos

In this drama, the accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeat concussions during a normal game.

11 / 30 Fotos

'October Sky' depicts the true story of Homer H. Hickam Jr., a coal miner’s son who decided to pursue rocketry after the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. He later worked for NASA.

12 / 30 Fotos

Starring Claire Danes, this movie examines the life and work of Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who revolutionized the treatment of livestock. Based on her own memoirs, this film showcases the stigma of autism and women in scientific fields.

13 / 30 Fotos

This sci-fi horror follows the story of an eccentric scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum, who slowly transforms into a fly-hybrid creature after one of his experiments goes awry.

14 / 30 Fotos

Brought to life by Ethan Hawke, the movie chronicles the life of famed inventor Nikola Tesla, and the ups and downs of inventions and business.

15 / 30 Fotos

In 'Contact,' alien intelligence transmits an image of three pages of encrypted symbols. Scientists are stumped in their attempts to connect the pages.

16 / 30 Fotos

Starring Dev Patel, this movie explores the life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and his life moving from poverty in Madras, India ,to Cambridge University during World War I.

17 / 30 Fotos

This biopic stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, a late 4th century mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer in Roman Egypt who challenges the heliocentric model of our solar system. In the midst of religious strife and social turbulence, Hypatia fights to preserve ancient knowledge.

18 / 30 Fotos

This British biographical drama covers Charles Darwin’s relationship with his wife Emma and his memories of their eldest daughter, Annie, while writing 'On the Origin of Species.'

19 / 30 Fotos

'The Road to Wellville' tells the true story of one unusual health facility, run by the eccentric Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Yes, the guy from the cereal!

20 / 30 Fotos

After the death of her husband, Marie Curie's commitment to science remains strong as she tries to explain previously unknown radioactive elements. But it soon becomes evident that her work could lead to tragedy.

21 / 30 Fotos

Another Oppenheimer biopic! 'Fat Man and Little Boy' stars Paul Newman and Dwight Schultz as the men behind the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bombs.

22 / 30 Fotos

This film was inspired by the real-life story of John T. Scopes, a schoolteacher who was criminally accused of presenting Darwin’s theory of evolution to his students in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925.

23 / 30 Fotos

'Awakenings' tells the true story of a doctor who, in 1969, discovers the beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa. He applies it on catatonic patients who survived the 1917–1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. The patients then awaken after decades of being in catatonic state, having to deal with a new time.

24 / 30 Fotos

Starring David Bowie, this film is based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel of the same name and follows an alien who lands on Earth in search of a way to transport water to his planet. However, he finds himself at the mercy of human vices and corruption.

© Getty Images

25 / 30 Fotos

Directed by and starring Matthew Broderick, 'Infinity' follows the early life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.

26 / 30 Fotos

This biopic focuses on the pioneering French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.

27 / 30 Fotos

The film follows Polish-French physicist Marie Curie as she begins to share a laboratory with her future husband, Pierre Curie, in 1890s Paris.

28 / 30 Fotos

Based on Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel of the same name, this movie follows a group of scientists investigating a dangerous extraterrestrial organism.

Sources: (Live Science) (IMDb)

See also: The world's most phenomenal female scientists

29 / 30 Fotos

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The best movies about scientists

These movies will educate, entertain, and inspire you.

01/08/24 | StarsInsider

MOVIES Science

M ovies can capture our imagination, take us to different worlds, and reveal great people, and their visionary minds. In this gallery, we'll explore the best movies about scientists ever made, which offer views into the intriguing areas of science , as well as some of the most extraordinary real-life people who have impacted our knowledge of the world.

From fiction to biopics, grab your popcorn and prepare for stories about intellectual curiosity, scientific advancements, and the quest for information. Click on!

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Top 5 Movies About Real-Life Scientists to Watch After the Oppenheimer Film

Standing in a long tradition, oppenheimer is the latest box office hit to chronicle the achievements of a renowned scientist. here's a roundup of five other movies about scientists..

The release of  Oppenheimer , Christopher Nolan’s sprawling study of the man known as “the father of the atomic bomb,” has propelled the world-shifting work of a scientist to cinema’s front stage.

Tracking the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer through his time as director of the Manhattan Project and beyond, the film explores the complexities of its protagonist’s character and conscience alongside the thorny union of science and morality.

5 Movies About Scientists

If that tangled, three-hour drama left you with an urge to curl up on the couch for a few more science-centric movie nights, here’s a list of the best biopics on other intellectual giants.

1 . The Theory of Everything  (2014)

Based on the life of acclaimed British physicist Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne),  The Theory of Everything  follows his efforts to revolutionize our understanding of nature despite debilitating illness.

As a young student at the University of Cambridge, just beginning to formulate a theory of how the cosmos may have formed from a black hole, he is diagnosed with ALS, a degenerative motor neuron disease, and given two years to live. The film primarily centers on his relationship with Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), a poetry student who vows to support him through his inevitable decline.

Though he beats the odds (Hawking would live another 55 years, until his death in 2018), as his condition deteriorates, their marriage is strained. And, even as he starts using a wheelchair and loses the ability to speak, he continues to search — as he would all his life — for the namesake theory of everything: a single, still elusive equation capable of unifying all physical forces.

Read More: These 7 Famous Physicists Are Still Alive Today

2. The Imitation Game (2014)

More likely than not, you’re reading these words on a device made possible by British mathematician Alan Turing, the subject of this 2014 release. Commonly credited as the “father of computer science,” Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) was integral to the Allied push to crack the Nazi “Enigma code” during World War II.

The film depicts Turing’s work at Bletchley Park, the English country house where he and his team of cryptographers devised an innovative machine (a precursor to modern computers) for deciphering enemy communications. Some experts believe their effort shortened the war by up to two years and saved millions of lives.

However, at the film’s emotional core is Turing’s struggle with his homosexuality — then a crime in the U.K. (“gross indecency,” according to the Criminal Law Amendment Act) for which he was convicted in 1952. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II posthumously pardoned Turing, who died by suicide in 1954.

3 . Hidden Figures (2016)

Movies in this genre often revolve around a single (and typically male) ego.  Hidden Figures,  in contrast,   stars a trio of women: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe ), three Black mathematicians employed by NASA as “computers” in the early 1960s, as American scientists and politicians rushed to launch the country’s first astronauts.

It was at once the Space Age and the tail end of segregation — an era of rapid technological progress and sluggish social change. The heroines confront acts of discrimination, great and small, but their brilliance eventually shines through.

In particular, their contributions to Project Mercury (which placed astronaut John Glenn in orbit) raised them to positions of prominence and influence in an organization that once deemed them inferior.

Read More : 8 Amazing Black Scientists and How They Changed History

4. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Another tale of genius tinged with malady,  A Beautiful Mind  is loosely based on Nobel laureate John Nash’s struggle with mental illness.

His promising career as a young mathematics professor at MIT is jeopardized by prolonged schizophrenic episodes, during which Nash (played by Russell Crowe) suffers from frightening delusions and spends his days cracking imagined Soviet codes in newspapers.

With the help of his wife, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), Nash learns to manage the hallucinations and resumes his studies, establishing himself as a successful and respected mathematician at Princeton University. His groundbreaking work on game theory earned him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994.

5. Tesla (2020)

The Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was by all accounts an eccentric man, and  Tesla  is an aptly eccentric account of his life.

Much of this fanciful film harks back to the “war of the currents,” a notorious rivalry between Tesla (played by Ethan Hawke), who advocated alternating current (AC), and Thomas Edison ( Kyle MacLachlan ), his one-time employer, who championed direct current (DC). In one scene — just to give some idea of the degree of artistic license at play here — the two resolve an argument by smearing ice cream cones on each other’s faces.

As Tesla fights for his revolutionary system of energy transmission, the movie also explores his (often troubled) relationships with other notable contemporaries, including entrepreneur George Westinghouse, investment banker J.P. Morgan and Morgan's daughter Anne, who narrates.

Read More: The 10 Greatest Scientists of All Time

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The 17 Best Sci-Fi Movies Based on Actual Science, Ranked by Accuracy

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In most cases, science fiction films err on the side of fiction rather than reality. Sometimes a film, such as Star Wars , is a fantasy film disguised as a sci-fi spectacle, or a film will deviate so far from genuine science that it is pure imagination. Occasionally, science movies will accurately incorporate genre tropes with elements of real-life physics, biology, quantum mechanics, etc. Science-related movies are often more enjoyable when they're based on real science – not every sci-fi flick can pull it off.

Some artistic license is always necessary because strict scientific rigor and peer-reviewed research would undoubtedly make for a very boring movie. As a result, while these films may not be 100% scientifically accurate, they get part or most of their science correct. In many cases of the most scientifically accurate movies, experts have weighed in or outright advised those on the set of some of the best and most creative science-fiction films ever made .

17 'Woman in the Moon' (1929)

Directed by fritz lang.

An almost 100-year-old film , Woman in the Moon was one of the oldest serious science fiction pictures from almost a century ago, when the industry was still in its infancy. Greedy capitalists believe there are vast riches hidden beneath the moon’s surface and dispatch a team of astronauts to find them. The team discovers a breathable environment on the lunar surface, but after various clashes, they realize they must leave one person behind on their return voyage to Earth.

Of course, there will be a lot of factual inaccuracies in a movie set decades before NASA was even established. However, director Fritz Lang meticulously incorporated much of the contemporary understanding of engineering and astronomy . The biggest moment it gets right is the use of a giant rocket to blast off from Earth and reach the moon.

Watch on Kanopy

16 'Ant-Man' (2015)

Directed by peyton reed.

Ant-Man is one of the MCU's most underrated films and stars funnyman Paul Rudd as Scott Lang who burglarizes scientist Hank Pym’s ( Michael Douglas ) home and steals an incredible shrinking suit. Pym had secretly planned the entire operation to fool Lang into becoming Ant-Man, a superhero with the ability to grow or shrink in size. Hank then gets Scott to recover another prototype suit known as Yellowjacket from the devious Darren Cross ( Corey Stoll ).

Spyridon Michalakis , a quantum scientist at the California Institute of Technology, was a science advisor for Ant-Man . His most significant contributions were to the Quantum Realm, where the superhero shrinks so small that almost all known laws of physics are void . This is because of Quantum Entanglement, which occurs when a set of generated particles are so close together that they cannot be described separately. It's a shaky concept on film, but the level of accuracy can be conveniently ignored or forgotten once the action starts.

Not available

15 'Alien' (1979)

Directed by ridley scott.

“In space, no one can hear you scream,” is the famous tagline to Ridley Scott’ s Alien , one of the best sci-fi horror films of all time . The sentiment holds true as Ripley ( Sigourney Weaver ) and the rest of the crew of the Nostromo come into contact with a hostile alien species. It becomes a race against time, as Ripley must try to avoid or fight the alien while attempting to flee the doomed ship in an escape pod.

Unlike most depictions of sleek, stylish, and roomy spaceships, the Nostromo from Alien is a bulky, ugly, cramped blue-collar rig . In a future where space travel is commonplace, spaceships will probably take on a more practical look, especially on a commercial towing vehicle. Putting the crew in suspended animation is also a practical and more scientifically workable practice for long-distance travel than faster-than-light.

Alien (1979)

Watch on Hulu

14 'Deep Impact' (1998)

Directed by mimi leder.

With an ambitious storyline following humanity's efforts to prevent a comet designed as Wolf-Beiderman from colliding with Earth and unleashing chaos all around the globe, Deep Impact sees various characters and depicts their struggles to deal with the disaster.

The disaster movie is perfect for anyone keen on the exciting blend of these two genres definitely took some dramatic liberties to make the plot more gripping. However, Deep Impact is still a compelling movie that was praised for its special effects when it was released, with the depiction of the comet being a standout. It also features some scientific plausibility, especially in how it accurately portrays potential devastation and its atmospheric effects. To this day, the Morgan Freeman movie is still lauded by scientists : according to planetary scientiest Dr. Chapman , it has "the best combination of reasonably correct science, good special effects, a dramatic story, and a look at what a comet strike would mean." – Daniela Gama

Deep Impact

13 'blade runner 2049' (2017), directed by denis villeneuve.

Taking off 30 years after the events of the original film, this Denis Villeneuve contemporary classic sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling has won over many, whether for its stunning world-building and visuals or the utterly engaging narrative. It follows a replicant blade runner who uncovers a secret that could plunge society into chaos.

When it comes to Blade Runner 2049 's scientific accuracy, the portrayal of highly advanced AI stands out, as well as the film's illustration of environmental degradation concerning the (almost) irreversible effects of climate change. This is not to say that the precise future will be as pictured in the film — which clearly takes some liberties for dramatic purposes — but rather that it does provide audiences with a believable depiction of what it could potentially look like. – Daniela Gama

Blade Runner 2049

12 'primer' (2004), directed by shane carruth.

Shane Carruth 's incredible low-budget time-traveling movie has captured the attention of many ever since its release. Primer focuses on four friends who wrestle over their new invention, which is being built in one of their garages. The invention? By accident, they construct a time machine that can loop time and allow objects to travel backward.

Although there is technically no way to tell what an accurate depiction of time traveling is, Primer manages to do so in a believable way . The way it uses principles of physics and engineering to construct the time machine — and elaborately explains it — makes it a realistic science fiction film, even if with its own limitations. This complex Carruth movie is an engaging watch throughout, perfect for anyone who is keen on the subject of time travel. – Daniela Gama

Primer (2004)

Watch on Apple TV+

11 'Moon' (2009)

Directed by duncan jones.

Sam Rockwell delivers an astounding performance as Sam Bell in this Duncan Jones picture. Moon focuses on the nearing 3-year solitary journey of an astronaut who is sent to space to mine helium-3 on the far side of the moon for Lunar Industries with his only companion being an AI named GERTRY.

Incredibly written and thought-provoking, essentially for the way it sheds light on the psychological effects of isolation in space and its impressive technical execution, Moon is definitely an underrated gem worth checking in the genre. It is based on plausible science, with its premise inspired by real scientific proposals . Furthermore, Moon also portrays a plausible evolution of current AI tech, with GETRY being a great example. – Daniela Gama

10 'Minority Report' (2002)

Directed by steven spielberg.

Based on the 1956 short story of the same name by acclaimed sci-fi writer Phillip K. DIck , Minority Report has been prescient about the direction modern society is moving towards. The plot centers on “precogs,” or humans who have the psychic ability to anticipate murders before they occur, and the Precrime unit, which uses this information to arrest people. John Anderton ( Tom Cruise ) is the chief of the Precrime unit until the precogs foresee that he would murder someone and he must go on the run to prove his innocence.

While clairvoyant children may not exist, much of the future predictions Minority Report has made have come to pass as time marches forward. Tom Cruise must hop across rows of driverless cars in one intense action scene, a technology that is continuously growing these days. Another example of predictive science was the existence of fully automated homes controlled by the sound of one’s voice which many people now have. Of course, and more disturbingly, the biggest thing Minority Report gets right is the extreme surveillance society now predominantly possible thanks to the internet, smartphones, cameras, and more .

Minority Report

9 'her' (2013), directed by spike jonze.

Director Spike Jonze 's Her follows the (now eerily accurate) experiences of Theodore ( Joaquin Phoenix ), a lonely yet introspective man who makes a living by composing heartfelt letters on behalf of others. When he gets a new operating system, he meets "Samantha" (voiced by Scarlett Johansson ), whose human-like personality soon leads to genuine love on Theodore’s part.

Aside from its dubious ending, Her hits all the right scientific notes with its narrative. Praised by computer scientists like Ray Kurzweil for the way it "compellingly presents the core idea that a software program (an AI) can – will – be believably human and lovable," Her is turning into a reality right before audiences' eyes . With recent developments in artificial intelligence and the way users are interacting with tools like ChatGPT as if they were actual partners , it won’t be long before something (or someone) like Samantha could exist.

8 'Arrival' (2016)

Arrival proves that love is a powerful force that drives people to do outlandish things like converse with an alien species that doesn’t speak any known language. The plot revolves around linguist Louise Banks ( Amy Adams ), who gets recruited by the United States government to assist them in communicating with visitors from outer space. Banks sees visions of her future daughter as she continues to make breakthroughs with the alien’s unconventional language.

The chances of sharing a vocabulary comparable to that of an extraterrestrial species are slim to none. That said, the film is renowned for its incredible use of real concepts from linguistics, as the Arrival 's creators even consulted real professionals from that field to make it as accurate as possible. In that regard, Arrival manages to be scientifically accurate in its portrayal of the deconstruction of language and the basics of how communication and understanding can take place.

7 'Interstellar' (2014)

Directed by christopher nolan.

Many critics consider Christopher Nolan ’s Interstellar to be one of the best science fiction movies ever made, although opinions were split at the time of its premiere. The plot revolves around former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper ( Matthew McConaughey ), who leads a team of astronauts on a journey to discover a suitable planet for. The crew must travel to three potential applicants, each with their own set of hurdles, as Earth is rapidly becoming uninhabitable. In the end, Interstellar is a great example of an incredibly emotional sci-fi film that will make people want to cry and appreciate the science and visuals at work.

Some of Interstellar 's seemingly outlandish elements, such as wormholes and time dilation, appear to be implausible, yet have a basis in theoretical physics to back them up. The black hole is also an extremely accurate visual portrayal of how light would bend inside of it. It’s called gravitational lensing, and depending on your angle of approach, a dazzling halo could form around it. The movie nails scientific accuracy likely thanks to its renowned scientific consultant and executive producer, Kip Thorne , who is a theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate.

Interstellar

6 'contact' (1997), directed by robert zemeckis.

Contact is an adaption of astronomer Carl Sagan ’s novel about what it would be like to make first contact with aliens. Dr. Ellie Arroway ( Jodie Foster ) attempts to analyze a communication from the Vega star system in order to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. She must do it while dealing with an antagonistic National Security Advisor ( James Woods ) and religious fanatics determined to stop her at any cost.

Carl Sagan’s involvement undoubtedly gives weight to the science of the beloved alien movie Contact . Jargon such as “Hydrogen times PI” may appear to be nonsense, yet it has a rational foundation to explain the plausibility of the protagonist’s activities. Contact , according to many astronomers, is also strikingly loyal to the ethos and methodology of the SETI Institute’s quest to prove the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Contact (1997)

5 '2001: a space odyssey' (1968), directed by stanley kubrick.

2001: A Space Odyssey , which debuted in the late 1960s to ambivalent reviews, is today deservedly acknowledged as one of the best sci-fi films of all time . Scientists find a bizarre monolith buried on the moon’s surface that sends an enigmatic signal into space. Years later, a crew of astronauts and the supercomputer HAL9000 get dispatched on a trip to Jupiter, but the mission becomes jeopardized when HAL acts erratically.

With director Stanley Kubrick ’s famous attention to detail and author Arthur C. Clarke ’s background in physics and mathematics, it’s no wonder 2001: A Space Odyssey has many scientifically accurate moments. Moments like no sound in space, depictions of zero gravity, and even the design of the ship Discovery One are based on real scientific study and experience . That the film came out when the first man hadn’t even walked on the moon yet makes the accuracy far more impressive.

2001: A Space Odyssey

4 'gravity' (2013), directed by alfonso cuarón.

Directed by the talented Alfonso Cuarón , Gravity is a sci-fi thriller that sees Dr. Ryan Stone ( Sandra Bullock ) and a veteran ( George Clooney ) on a space mission. Things go downhill when debris from a destroyed satellite damages their space shuttle and the two are left adrift in space.

Combining the survival and sci-fi genres, this captivating movie is one of the most beloved in the category, delivering an edge-of-your-seat premise complemented by astounding performances. Even though it also features some less accurate elements, the Academy Award-winning movie is generally said to accurately portray the effects of zero gravity, spacewalk, and debris collision quite well . "The movie does an outstanding job of capturing what it is like to do a spacewalk — much better than any previous sci-fi film. Having done three spacewalks myself, I can tell you — this is legit," a former NASA astronaut reveals . – Daniela Gama

3 'Gattaca' (1997)

Directed by andrew niccol.

Gattaca embodies many people’s anxieties that technology may eventually lead to scientists playing God, as people can genetically screen every child for things like defects and future potential. Vincent Freeman ( Ethan Hawke ) aspires to reach the stars but gets confined to Earth because he is a genetically inferior “in-valid.” He’s able to covertly swap his DNA profile with Jerome Morrow ( Jude Law ), a “valid” and join the space program. Unfortunately, a murder investigation into one of his peers threatens to unravel his plans.

In the world of Gattaca , there are many unsettling implications, such as eugenics. However, it is already possible to artificially fertilize embryos and screen out genetic defects using a process known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Hopefully, scientific ethics will contribute to preventing the employment of these tools in the grim future that the scientific movie Gattaca portrays.

Gattaca (1997)

2 'the martian' (2015).

Is it possible to withstand not only a harsh climate but also loneliness? That is the arduous task presented to astronaut Mark Watney ( Matt Damon ), who gets hit by debris during an evacuation mission and becomes stranded on the surface of Mars all alone in one of the best real science movies. While grounded, he must learn to survive in a wholly unprecedented situation, using only his wits and infrequent communications with a NASA crew.

Watney’s use of human feces as fertilizer for the Martian soil is the most scientifically correct plot point in The Martian . He grows potatoes with it, which NASA researchers were able to reproduce successfully under extreme conditions similar to Mars. Other accurate moments include the shelter on Mars, the way Mark synthesizes water, and the life-saving rocket. A TIME article even notes that the "movie’s errors are minor and even cosmetic," which is impressive considering how the film still manages to be remarkably gripping and exhilarating the entire time.

The Martian

1 'apollo 13' (1995), directed by ron howard.

Apollo 13 , a gripping Hollywood drama, is based on the real-life events that took place the titular lunar mission. Astronauts Jim Lovell ( Tom Hanks ), Fred Haise ( Bill Paxton ), and Jack Swigert ( Kevin Bacon ) embark on their journey and initially experience a smooth trajectory. However, catastrophe strikes when a devastating oxygen tank explosion abruptly terminates their planned lunar landing. The emergence of even more technical challenges puts the astronauts' lives at stake.

Directed by Ron Howard , the 1995 classic is known as "the most realistic of all the space movies," which is an actual statement from an interview with the retired astronaut Chris Hadfield . The film's depiction of scientific aspects like the explosion and accumulation of carbon dioxide were accurate to what actually happened. Most artistic liberties taken were around dramatizations of the human interactions, like the iconic "Houston, we have a problem" line, which was altered from what Commander Lovell actually said – "Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem here."

NEXT: The Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time, Ranked

What are these four untitled Marvel movies in 2026 and 2027?

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We know Avengers: Secret Wars will end the Multiverse Saga in May 2027, but we still are not entirely sure what Marvel Studios has planned for the months before and after the grand finale. On Friday, Disney shared an updated release schedule for its upcoming movies, and the slate included four untitled Marvel movies. What could they be?

• Captain America: Brave New World | Feb. 14, 2025
• Thunderbolts* | May 2, 2025
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps  | July 25, 2025
• Blade   | Nov. 7, 2025
• Untitled Marvel | Feb. 13, 2026
• Avengers: Doomsday  | May 1, 2026
• Untitled Marvel | Nov. 6, 2026
• Avengers: Secret Wars | May 27, 2027
• Untitled Marvel | July 23, 2027
• Untitled Marvel | Nov. 5, 2027

This is going to require some guesswork, but we’re pretty sure we know what the 2026 movies are. On multiple occasions, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu has told fans that a sequel is in the works. In July 2023, he said on Threads that Marvel initially planned to release Shang-Chi 2 after Avengers (presumably Doomsday ) but that the production “keeps pushing back due to circumstances beyond my control.”

If that’s still the plan, it’s possible that the untitled movie set for Nov. 6, 2026 is Shang-Chi 2 .

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The only other movie that Marvel has confirmed to date is Armor Wars , which was once going to be a Disney+ series. Don Cheadle will reprise his role as James Rhodes, aka War Machine, and the movie will reportedly tie into Secret Invasion and Ironheart . Provided Marvel hasn’t scrapped this project, it could be the first 2026 MCU title.

In a tweet on Friday , prolific Marvel leaker Daniel Richtman guessed that the two 2027 movies might be X-Men and Young Avengers . We’ve already seen mutants in the MCU, and there is a good chance that Avengers: Secret Wars will serve as a launchpad for a new X-Men franchise. Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige even said at a recent press conference that “everything post- Deadpool & Wolverine  will be the mutant era coming into the MCU.”

That leaves us with the fourth untitled movie. Young Avengers is certainly a reasonable guess and would spotlight a new generation of heroes and the actors portraying them. There’s also a chance we’ll see a third  Doctor Strange  movie at some point in the next three years— after all, Multiverse of Madness left off with a pretty major cliffhanger.

Thankfully, we might not have to wait too much longer for Marvel to solve at least a few of these mysteries. Following an earth-shattering Hall H panel at Comic-Con , Marvel Studios will also be part of Disney’s huge showcase at D23 2024 , which kicks off next Friday, August 9.

This article talks about:

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.

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The 8 Sci-Fi Movies Of 1982 That Changed Everything

In 1982, eight science fiction films were released within eight weeks of each other: E.T. , Tron , Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan , Conan the Barbarian , Blade Runner , Poltergeist , The Thing , and Mad Max: The Road Warrior . Entertainment writer Chris Nashawaty talks to Tonya Mosley about how those movies shaped the genre and the movie industry. His book is The Future Was Now. Also, Ken Tucker reflects on the New York Dolls' album Too Much Too Soon for its 50th anniversary.

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The best new tv shows streaming in august 2024 on netflix, hulu and more.

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New TV shows in August 2024: "Only Murders In The Building" and "Emily In Paris."

New and returning TV series will be dropping across your favorite streaming platforms in August. Whether you’re in the mood to watch a gripping drama or a binge-worthy comedy, some of the best TV shows are streaming this month on Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Max, and more.

There are many returning shows in August, including Hulu’s fan-favorite comedy-drama Only Murders In The Building, which is back with its fourth season featuring a new murder mystery to solve. There’s also the third season of Industry , HBO’s fast-paced drama set in the world of London high finance.

Netflix subscribers can look forward to the anticipated fourth season of Emily in Paris . Lily Collins returns as marketing executive Emily Cooper. Now, the stylish American must grapple with her strong feelings for Alfie and Gabriel, with the latter expecting a baby with his ex, Camille.

You won’t want to miss new shows like Apple TV+’s new detective drama Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn and Michelle Monaghan. There’s also Netflix’s new murder mystery series, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder , which arrived on August 1 and is already the streaming giant’s No. 1 TV series in the U.S.

The 8 Best TV Shows Streaming In August 2024

Check out the best new and returning TV shows on streaming platforms in August. Discover some of our top eight, along with their premiere dates and how to watch them.

‘Vicious Spiral’ Alert Issued After Donald Trump Proposed A ‘Massive,’ Radical Plan To Pay Off $35 Trillion In U.S. National Debt

Wwe summerslam 2024 results: roman reigns returns in bloodline rules, wwe summerslam 2024 results: winners and grades on august 3, 2024, only murders in the building (season 4).

Only Murders In The Building — “I Know Who Did It” - Episode 210 — One question remains: Who did ... [+] it??? Oh, who are we kidding — there's a few more questions raised, too. Oliver (Martin Short), Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez), shown.

Premiere date: August 27, 2024

Where to stream Only Murders In The Building : Hulu

In the fourth season of Only Murders In The Building, the detective trio (Martin Short, Steve Martin, Selena Gomez) will return after the events at the end of Season 3, which revolve around Charles’ stunt double and friend Sazz Pataki.

The Season 4 synopsis reads, “Questioning whether Sazz or Charles was the intended victim, our trio’s investigation leads them all the way to Los Angeles where a Hollywood studio is readying a film about the Only Murders podcast. As our amateur sleuths race back to New York, they embark on an even more epic journey — traversing their building’s courtyard to delve into the twisted lives of the Arconia’s West Tower residents.”

Industry (Season 3)

Myha’la as Harper in "Industry" season 3.

Premiere date: August 11, 2024

Where to stream Industry : Max

In Industry season three, Yasmin, Robert, and Eric find themselves “front and centre in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company led by Sir Henry Muck,” a new character played by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington.

“Since leaving Pierpoint, Harper is eager to get back into the addictive thrill of finance and finds an unlikely partner in FutureDawn portfolio manager Petra Koenig,” the synopsis continues.

Emily in Paris (Season 4)

Emily in Paris. (L to R) Lucien Laviscount as Alfie, Lily Collins as Emily in Emily in Paris.

Premiere dates: Part 1 on August 15, 2024; Part 2 on September 12, 2024

Where to stream Emily in Paris : Netflix

The first part of Emily in Paris Season 4 returns on August 15, followed by the second part on September 12. The next season picks up after Alfie ends his relationship with Emily. In the finale, Camille also dropped the major bombshell that she was pregnant with Gabriel’s baby.

At work, “Sylvie is forced to confront a thorny dilemma from her past for the sake of her marriage, and the Agence Grateau team navigates personnel shakeups. Mindy and the band prepare for Eurovision, but when funds run dry, they’re forced to get thrifty. Emily and Gabriel’s chemistry is undeniable as they work together towards a Michelin star, but two big secrets threaten to undo everything they’ve dreamed of,” the synopsis reads.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power ( Season 2)

Charlie Vickers as Annatar in "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power."

Premiere date: August 29, 2024

Where to stream Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power : Prime Video

In the second season of The Rings of Power on Prime Video, the rising Dark Lord Sauron is back. He must now rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will grant him the ability to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his “sinister will.”

Season two promises to plunge "even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity,” according to the official synopsis. “Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”

Bad Monkey (Season 1)

Episode 1. Vince Vaughn in "Bad Monkey," premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.

Premiere date: August 14

Where to stream Bad Monkey : Apple TV+

Bad Monkey is Apple TV+’s new original drama series premiering on August 14. The show stars Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Meredith Hagner, and more.

The series tells the story of Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), a former police detective “who been bounced from the Miami Police Department and is now a health inspector in the Keys,” according to the synopsis. “But after stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, he realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey.”

The Umbrella Academy (Season 4)

The Umbrella Academy. (L to R) Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves, Elliot Page as Viktor ... [+] Hargreeves, Tom Hopper as Luther Hargreeves in episode 403 of The Umbrella Academy.

Premiere date: August 8, 2024

Where to stream The Umbrella Academy : Netflix

The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy will debut on Netflix on August 8. Based on the comic series of the same name, the series follows estranged siblings with superpowers who come together after their father’s death.

Season 4 will continue after last season’s huge twist. “There’s a new timeline dictated by the family patriarch, Reginald (Colm Feore), and the siblings no longer have their powers. That’s not the only oddity in this timeline, where the stakes are higher than ever before — there are new enemies who want to see them wiped from existence, but how do they face their enemies without their powers? And will the siblings ever get them back?” Netflix’s Tudum writes.

Pachinko (Season 2)

Episode 1. Eunchae Jung in "Pachinko," premiering August 23, 2024 on Apple TV+.

Premiere date: August 23, 2024

Where to stream Pachinko : Apple TV+

Another returning series from AppleTV+ is the second season of Pachinko, a Korean drama based on Min Jin Lee’s bestselling 2017 novel. The show follows four generations of a Korean family who moved to Japan before the start of World War II.

According to the official synopsis for Season 2, “the parallel stories pick up in Osaka in 1945, where Sunja is forced to make dangerous decisions for her family’s survival during World War II, and in Tokyo in 1989, which finds Solomon exploring new, humble beginnings.”

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder (Season 1)

BBC's "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" is streaming on Netflix.

Premiere date: August 1, 2024

Where to stream A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder : Netflix

Starring Wednesday actress Emma Myers, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the BBC and Netflix’s new murder mystery series based on Holly Jackson’s bestselling mystery trilogy .

The series takes place five years after the alleged murder of high school student Andie Bell. The police closed the case after her boyfriend, Sal Singh, committed suicide after her suspected death. But 17-year-old amateur sleuth Pip doesn’t believe someone like Sal could kill anyone. She teams up with Sal’s brother, Ravi, to prove his innocence for a school project, which turns into an obsession she can’t shake off.

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Robert Downey Jr.

Actor Robert Downey Jr. is known for roles in a wide variety of movies, including Iron Man , The Avengers , and Sherlock Holmes. He won an Academy Award for the 2023 biopic Oppenheimer .

1965-present

Robert Downey Jr. Now: Iron Man Actor Returning to Avengers Movies

Robert Downey Jr. is known for playing one of Marvel’s most beloved heroes. Now, he’ll return as one of its most diabolical foes.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed Downey’s surprising role in Avengers: Doomsday on July 27 at San Diego Comic-Con. The actor removed a silver mask before gesturing toward the crowd and receiving thunderous applause. “New mask, same task,” Downey quipped in a video by the Associated Press . “What did I tell you? I like playing complicated characters.”

The Stan Lee –created Doctor Doom, real name Victor von Doom, is known as the primary antagonist for the Fantastic Four, who are set to make their MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July 2025. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release in May 2026.

Quick Facts

Early movies and snl, movies of critical acclaim, substance abuse problems, move to television with ally mcbeal, box office hits, awards for oppenheimer, wife and children, path to sobriety, who is robert downey jr..

Actor Robert Downey Jr. is best known for his portrayal of Tony Stark, a.k.a superhero Iron Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film franchise and roles in movies like Chaplin and Tropic Thunder . Downey made his first movie appearances and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, but his growing success was marred by years of struggles with drug abuse. Eventually turning his life around, he earned a resurgence of critical and widespread acclaim and is now considered one of Hollywood’s A-list actors. Downey gave an Oscar-winning performance as Lewis Strauss in the 2023 biopic Oppenheimer and will return to the MCU in 2026 as villain Doctor Doom.

FULL NAME: Robert John Downey Jr. BORN: April 4, 1965 BIRTHPLACE: New York City SPOUSES: Deborah Falconer (1992-2004) and Susan Levin (2005-present) CHILDREN: Indio, Exton, and Avri ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aries

Famed actor Robert Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965, in New York City, the son of the avant-garde filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., best known for the 1969 film Putney Swope . Downey began acting as a young child. His mother, Elsie, was an actress who instilled in her son a love of performing. Raised in Greenwich Village with his older sister, Alison, Downey made his film debut playing a puppy in his father’s film Pound (1970), in which actors played dogs. He would go on to have small parts in several more of his father’s films.

Downey’s parents divorced when he was 13, and the young actor ended up living in Los Angeles with his father. At 16, however, he dropped out of high school and was on the move again, relocating to New York to live with his mother.

Downey made his earliest feature film appearances in such films as Baby, It’s You (1983), Firstborn (1984), Weird Science (1985) and Back to School (1986). From 1985 to ’86, he was a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live , NBC’s popular sketch-comedy program.

The Pick-up Artist and Less Than Zero

Downey’s first leading role on the big screen was as a charming womanizer in The Pick-up Artist (1987), a romantic comedy co-starring Molly Ringwald written and directed by James Toback. His breakthrough performance came in 1987 with Less Than Zero (1987), where he co-starred with Andrew McCarthy. Downey played the party-loving, cocaine-addicted Julian Wells in the film.

By the early 1990s, Downey had established a reputation as a critically acclaimed A-List actor. He earned praise for his comic turn as a shifty soap opera producer in Soapdish (1991), co-starring Sally Field , Kevin Kline, and Whoopi Goldberg . More adoration followed when Downey landed a featured role in Short Cuts (1993), the critically lauded ensemble film by Robert Altman.

A particular high point in Downey’s career came in 1993 when he was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Actor) for his performance in Chaplin (1992), directed by Richard Attenborough. In the highly acclaimed film, which didn’t go over nearly as well with audiences as with critics, Downey nimbly portrayed the legendary Charlie Chaplin from ages 19 to 83. The role displayed his dramatic range and his considerable talent for physical comedy. By this time, the 27-year-old Downey had come to be seen as one of the most gifted actors of his generation, but he had also earned a reputation as a troubled and controversial figure in Hollywood.

Natural Born Killers and Richard III

In the wake of his critical success with Chaplin , Downey anchored a documentary about the 1992 presidential election, The Last Party . In 1994, he appeared in the romantic comedy Only You , and in Oliver Stone ’s acclaimed but controversial Natural Born Killers . The following year, the actor starred in the period film Restoration alongside Meg Ryan and Sam Neill; an updated film version of Richard III , co-starring Ian McKellen and Annette Bening ; and the Jodie Foster -directed Home for the Holidays , also starring Holly Hunter.

While Downey’s acting prospects appeared on track, his personal life would be in turmoil for the next few years. Downey was introduced to drugs at the age of 8 by his father and developed a full-fledged addiction as he headed into his 20s.

“Until ( Less Than Zero ), I took my drugs after work and on the weekends,” he later explained. “Maybe I’d turn up hungover on the set, but no more so than the stuntman. That changed on Less Than Zero ... The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed, and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character. That lasted far longer than it needed to last.”

A stint in drug rehabilitation followed shortly afterward, but Downey’s struggles with drugs and alcohol would persist for years. In June 1996, the actor was stopped by police after driving naked in his Porsche on Sunset Boulevard and found not only to be without clothes but in possession of cocaine, heroin, and a .357 Magnum. Less than a month later, and just a few hours before he was slated to be charged, Downey ran afoul of the law again after he was found passed out in a neighbor's house.

For the next several years, Downey’s life was a haze of headline-generating, dependency-induced mistakes and their consequences. There was a 12-month stay in prison and another visit to drug rehab. In November 2000, Downey was again arrested, this time in a Palm Springs hotel room, where he was discovered with cocaine and in a Wonder Woman costume. He was charged with felony drug possession.

Downey’s trial, initially set for late January, was delayed for several months while his lawyers negotiated with prosecutors. In March 2001, the two sides failed to reach a plea bargain, and the case was set for a preliminary hearing at the end of April. On April 24, 2001, Downey was arrested for allegedly being under the influence of an undisclosed “stimulant.”

Despite his turmoil in the early 2000s, Downey continued working. He gave a memorable performance in Wonder Boys (2000) and had roles in several other films, including Auto Motives and Lethargy . Additionally, Downey moved to the small screen in 2000, becoming a regular cast member of the popular show Ally McBeal , starring Calista Flockhart. Downey once again reminded fans and critics of his talent, likability, and versatility with this new role. He went on to pick up a 2001 Golden Globe Award and won a Screen Actors Guild Award soon after.

But Downey’s increasingly complicated personal life pressed his employer's patience. After that second arrest in April 2001, Downey's tenure on Ally McBeal ended; producers had decided to wrap production of the final episodes of the season without the actor. Around this same time, lawyers reached an agreement with prosecutors that required Downey to plead no contest to cocaine-related charges. He was sentenced to three years’ probation—a ruling that allowed him to continue live-in drug treatment instead of returning to prison.

Downey didn’t return to scripted dramatic television until 2024, when he portrayed five different characters in the Max miniseries The Sympathizer . His performances earned him a supporting actor nomination at the 2024 Emmy Awards .

Working his way back to prominence, Downey in 2003 starred opposite Halle Berry in Gothika , which fared better at the box office than it did with the critics. He continued to dedicate himself to his craft, playing a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and the lead in the independent drama A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), which he also co-produced. In Zodiac (2007), Downey plays a journalist who gets wrapped up in the hunt for the infamous Zodiac Killer.

Tropic Thunder

Taking a huge risk, Downey starred in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008) with Ben Stiller and Jack Black ; he played a white actor pretending to be a Black actor in this war movie spoof. His efforts received primarily positive reviews, with Variety magazine’s Todd McCarthy stating that “the audacity of Downey’s performance” was one of “the best reasons to see the film.” Downey garnered numerous accolades for his performance in Tropic Thunder , including Oscar (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role), Golden Globe (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture), and Screen Actors Guild (Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role) nominations.

Iron Man and The Avengers Franchise

That same year, Downey established himself as a box office star by playing wealthy industrialist-turned-crime fighter Tony Stark in the smash hit Iron Man , based on the Marvel Comics superhero. The film grossed more than $318 million domestically, leading to the release of sequels in 2010 and 2013.

Stark would also become one of the central characters in the series of Marvel Cinematic Universe films that followed, headlined by The Avengers in 2012 and its three sequels later in the decade. The movies featured a bevy of Hollywood talent as iconic Marvel heroes, including Chris Evans (Captain America), Don Cheadle (Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), among others.

Downey would reprise his Stark/Iron Man dual role for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015); Captain America: Civil War (2016); Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017); Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

In July 2024, Marvel Studios announced Downey will return to play villain Doctor Doom in a new installment titled Avengers: Doomsday in 2026.

The Soloist and Sherlock Holmes

Downey went on to share top billing with Jamie Foxx in The Soloist (2009), which tells the story of the friendship between a Los Angeles journalist (Downey) and a homeless Juilliard-trained musician (Foxx). The film registered a respectable showing at the box office and earned praise from critics, who lauded Downey and Foxx for their performances.

Demonstrating he isn’t afraid of blockbusters (or English accents), Downey co-starred in the Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes in 2009 alongside Jude Law as Dr. John Watson. The duo teamed up again for the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows .

Downey also offered a turn as sharp city lawyer Hank Palmer, opposite Robert Duvall, in the drama The Judge (2014).

After a half-decade of appearing solely in Marvel-branded features, Downey reemerged as host of the YouTube series The Age of AI beginning in late 2019. In January 2020, he starred as a veterinarian who talks to animals in Dolittle , based on the classic children’s book series by British author Hugh Lofting.

Downey took a short hiatus from the big screen following Dolittle and focused on his work as a producer. In 2022, he appeared in and served as an executive producer for Sr. , a documentary film about the life and career of his father.

However, Downey Jr. would draw critical acclaim for his next big performance in 2023, portraying Lewis Strauss in the blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan . Although Nolan had not worked closely with the actor in the past, he contacted Downey directly regarding the role and invited him to read the screenplay for the movie—about American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. “I felt like (Downey) just was in a place where he would be ready to come and try something completely different. And as a director, if you can convince one of the great actors of his generation to come and challenge himself in a completely different way, you just know you’re going to get something special,” Nolan told Vanity Fair .

Oppenheimer , also starring Cillian Murphy , Emily Blunt , Florence Pugh , and Matt Damon , became the third-highest-grossing movie of the year globally and was universally praised. In 2024, Downey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor along with comparable awards at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In contrast to his prior history with the law, Downey has a much more stable home life these days. He met producer Susan Levin on the set of Gothika in 2003, and the two were engaged in November of that year. They married in August 2005 and have two children: son Exton, born in February 2012, and daughter Avri, born in November 2014.

In June 2010, Downey and Levin began their Team Downey production company, producing films and TV shows such as The Judge (2014), Dolittle (2020), and the Netflix fantasy series Sweet Tooth . “We don’t like going too long without having an extremely difficult project together, whether it’s a movie or a kid,” Downey said jokingly in 2020.

Downey also has his eldest son, Indio (born September 1993), from his prior relationship with singer and actor Deborah Falconer, whom he married in 1992. The couple separated in 1996 and finalized their divorce in 2004.

Downey’s friend and fellow actor Anthony Michael Hall is Indio’s godfather.

Downey began to seek serious treatment for his drug addiction around 2003 and has maintained his sobriety amid his career resurgence.

One of the people to play a key role in the actor’s turnaround was Mel Gibson , with whom Downey co-starred in Air America (1990). Gibson stuck by his friend’s side, even as Downey’s life was completely unraveling. When Downey was unable to get something as routine as an insurance bond due to his past troubles with the law, Gibson found him work, casting him in the 2003 film The Singing Detective. The two actors remain close friends today.

In December 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown pardoned Downey for the 1996 drug conviction that sent him to prison for a year.

According to his IMDb profile , Downey is 5 feet, 8 inches inches tall.

According to Celebrity Net Worth , Downey’s total value is around $300 million. Much of his fortune stems from his MCU appearances as Stark. The actor made $75 million from Avengers: Endgame alone thanks to the film’s box office performance.

• I think part of my destiny has to be realizing that I’m not the poster boy for drug abuse. I’m just this guy who has a really strong sense of wanting home and wanting foundation and having not had it, I now choose to create it.
• I don’t drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.
• Until [“Less Than Zero”], I took my drugs after work and on the weekends. Maybe I'd turn up hungover on the set, but no more so than the stuntman... The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed, and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character. That lasted far longer than it needed to last.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now

In this month’s picks, crises occur both in outer space and in empty rooms.

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By Elisabeth Vincentelli

‘Sign Here’

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video .

The rom-com/sci-fi subgenre is on a roll. For a nice date night double bill, you could do worse than pairing the very funny “Molli and Max in the Future” with this bittersweet take on dating and relationships. The Mexican director Enrique Vázquez’s debut feature is set in a near-future when common wisdom holds that relationships last four years before souring. Whether or not couples still get along by that point, they split and people look for another partner. Getting ready to embark on a new contract, as relationships are now called, Fran (Regina Blandón) makes up answers to her matchmaking questionnaire, which messes up the algorithm. She ends up being paired with the sweetly dorky Roque (Leonardo Ortizgris), even though they don’t seem to share much. But maybe love is not based on perfect sync, after all, and maybe it can last longer than four years. Or can it?

“Sign Here” creates a realistic world in which getting to know someone is simultaneously very simple and very complicated. But the movie’s best trick is to make us just as invested in what’s going to happen to Fran and Roque as they are.

‘The Animal Kingdom’

Stream it on Hulu .

In a rare feat for a genre production, especially in France, Thomas Cailley’s fable-like tale earned 12 nominations at the 2024 César Awards, including for best film (it lost to “Anatomy of a Fall”). This is a testament to the overall excellence of a movie that feels as if François Truffaut and Jean Cocteau had decided to collaborate on a hybrid of science fiction, fantasy and horror.

And “hybrid” is the perfect word here: We are immediately plunged into a world in which some people have started turning into animals. François (Romain Duris) and his 16-year-old son, Émile (Paul Kircher), move to a new town in the south of France to be near their wife and mother, who has been put in a specialized center after she mutated and attacked Émile. Soon, however, the teenager realizes that his own body is beginning to change. Cailley doesn’t explain how this all began and doesn’t get lost in practical details, either. Instead, he focuses on the human element, turning “The Animal Kingdom” into an allegory about difference, and how we handle those who are other. It’s no spoiler to say that acceptance and ostracism duke it out, though that makes this haunting movie sound more didactic and heavy-handed than it actually is.

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My wife isn't 'just' a stepmom to my son. He sees her as his other mom.

• My wife has been in my son's life since he was 6 years old.
• She has taken on a parental role, stepping in whenever I need extra help.
• Even though she's his stepmom, my son considers her his other mom.

After Vice President Kamala Harris announced she was running for president, one criticism lobbed against her was that she is not a parent because she has never given birth to children. But she is the stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff's two children.

Like Harris, my wife is a stepmother to my son.

I am no longer in a relationship with his father and have been in a new relationship for four years. My wife came into my son's life when he was 6 years old and quickly stepped into a parental role. It was a role she enthusiastically took on.

Although she didn't give birth to my son, my wife is absolutely his second mother.

My son and wife's relationship started friendly

My wife didn't immediately take an authoritative role or force him to treat her like a parent. At first, she was more like a grown-up friend — someone he knew he needed to respect, but someone who would take him on drives to get ice cream or let him pretend to drive her car while I was inside the grocery store.

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I was worried about parenting with another person all the time. As the primary parent, I wasn't used to dividing parenting duties . My wife was aware of that and always deferred to me as the primary parent.

But the bond between my son and my wife was instant. He had never met someone I was dating before, but he liked her immediately.

My wife has taken on more responsibility as a stepmom

Over the last four years, she's taken on more parental responsibility but never tried to act like she was more of a parent than myself or my son's father. She is a bonus mom, someone there to kiss him goodnight , help him with his homework, and love him unconditionally.

During the pandemic, my wife volunteered to take the lead in helping my son with virtual school so I could focus on work. She created a schedule for him, made him lunch, and ensured he kept up with assignments. When the playgrounds opened, she would take him to play, armed with a backpack full of whatever was needed.

I have gone on several overnight trips , leaving the two of them alone together. My son doesn't even call or text me when I'm gone because he's having so much fun hanging out with my wife. I never have to worry about him; I know my wife will make sure he takes a bath and goes to bed on time.

There are days when I will ask her to tag in and do the bedtime routine because I'm working or want a break, and she does it without question. My son knows that if he needs something, he doesn't have to come to me all the time.

Seeing my wife willingly step into a parental role with my son has strengthened our relationship. I knew I loved her almost immediately after we met, but seeing how my son responded to her made me more secure in my decision.

Sometimes, she still refers to him as mine, and I always remind her that she's his mom, too. We do everything as a team: school meetings, performances, birthday parties . Everyone knows us as his two moms, and there's no one else I could imagine doing this with.

My son now sees my wife as the missing piece to our family puzzle. He proudly claims her as his other mom.

"You're my mom too," my son will say when my wife calls herself his stepmom. He made that decision. My wife never wanted to force a close relationship on him, but he pushed for it.

Media has warped the perception of stepmoms

Popular media depictions of stepmoms are largely negative. The common trope is that they're evil.

For example, you have characters like Meredith Blake in the Lindsay Lohan version of "The Parent Trap," the Baroness von Schraeder in " The Sound of Music ," and, of course, the prototype: Cinderella's Evil Stepmother.

These women are always seen as temptresses who come in and seduce the father into marrying them before revealing they intend to get rid of his daughter so that she will be the only woman in his life.

Maybe there are stepmoms out there who fit this description, but by and large, stepmoms are there to be whoever their step kids want them to be.

I know that's exactly the role my wife plays, and my son and I are all the more lucky for it.

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