The 7 Best Biopics About Successful Businesspeople Like Martha Stewart (2024)

The name on everyone’s lips right now is Martha — as in Martha Stewart, the subject of Netflix’s Oscar-contending documentary, Martha. Even though the Martha in question has lambasted the R.J. Cutler-directed doc, wagging her finger at its questionable music choices (why oldies over rap hits by her BFF and frequent collaborator, Snoop Dogg?), and its portrayal of her incarceration (which she considered a “vacation,” a blip in her 83 years of life), the doc is becoming just as much of a household staple as its subject’s brand has been for decades.

Stewart is as fascinating as she is frustrating, complex as she is charismatic, and that’s what makes her story as a successful businesswoman, to a prisoner, to (an even more) successful businesswoman, all the more of an engrossing watch.

After watchingMartha, you may be craving more true-life stories about visionaries and change-makers — who made loads of dough as a result of their ingenuity and maybe got into some trouble along the way, too. Here are 12 of the best English-language biopics about successful businesspeople like Martha Stewart.

1. The Aviator (2004)

Director Martin Scorsese takes us through the soaring heights of Howard Hughes’ prodigious career as an aviation magnate and filmmaker with Leonardo DiCaprio at the steering wheel — before it all comes crashing down.

In The Aviator, based on the biographical book Howard Hughes: The Secret Life by Charles Highman, DiCaprio gives a nuanced portrait of a man who was equal parts pioneering and eccentric. The movie goes through the motions of the risky production of Hell’s Angels, which propels Hughes’ net worth, fame, and scoring a relationship with Katherine Hepburn, but also flares his obsessive-compulsive disorder, germaphobia, and paranoia. The Aviator is in some ways uplifting, but it also realistically presents the pressures that wealthy people face once they’re in the public eye.

Tomatometer Score: 86%

Where to Watch: MGM+

2. Joy (2015)

Jennifer Lawrence became the youngest person in history to nab a whopping four Academy Award Nominations for her interpretation of Miracle Mop girlboss Joy Mangano. Unlike most of the other entries in this list, this biopic focuses on a successful businesswoman (like Martha Stewart) and a true rags-to-riches story (no mop puns intended).

Although the biopic is titled after Joy Mangano herself, it’s also a bit tongue-in-cheek — the real-life Joy had to go through a lot of pain to snag her patent, including filing for bankruptcy and duking it out in a royalties war with Hong Kong. The comedy-drama of the self-made millionaire who starts out as an airline booking agent with household supply invention ambitions is bolstered by performances by Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, and Bradley Cooper.

Tomatometer Score: 61%

Where to Watch: Max

The vibrant, pinging brick-by-brick game of Tetris may be more frustrating to play than riveting, but thankfully, the film based on the game’s creation is nothing short of edge-of-your-seat thrilling. Tetris focuses less on the engineering of the simplistic (but addictive) game and instead throws the audience into Henk Rogers’ (Taron Egerton) wild dash across the globe to secure the worldwide licensing rights to Tetris. There’s only one snag in his plan: The Soviet Union.

Tetris has car chases, KGB agents, escapes, and even a Mikhael Gorbachev intervention. (Not to mention a soundtrack full of earworms composed by Lorne Balfe that make the viewer feel like they’re in a high-stakes video game.) Who knew that a movie about a digital brain teaser would involve so much drama and danger?

Tomatometer Score: 81%

Where to Watch: Apple TV+

Nowadays, Facebook is more about Minion memes and freakish AI-generated image slop, but once upon a time, it was theplace for college students (and alums to connect), for people to give a friendly “poke” to their pals, to post albums chockfull of candid, posed, and overly-filtered pics for every single night out, and of course, to play FarmVille.

With all that said, the impact Facebook has had on the way we connect with each other has been undeniable, and it all starts with one brilliant — albeit awkward and sometimes abrasive — man: Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg).

Or… did it? The Oscar-winning film, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, goes through the motions of Facebook, from its inception to its gotta-have-it status, and posits that there were several people along the way that helped propel Zuckerberg as Facebook’s figurehead. (Surprise, surprise: Drama ensues in Silicon Valley, as Facebook’s many creators all try to claim the digital goldmine as their domain.)

Tomatometer Score: 93%

Where to Watch: Pluto TV

Cheetos were once only neon orange and cheesy. Then, they became “dangerously cheesy,” with fire-hydrant red dust sprinkled all over, the slight zing of lime, and a heat that numbed your tastebuds but, somehow, had you digging in the bag for another handful. Once Flamin’ Hot Cheetos hit the shelves in 1992, the lives of professional snackers — and, particularly, Latino snackers — were never the same.

So it only makes sense that the origins of such a delicacy come from a Mexican-American man from Southern California, Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), who goes from being a gang member to a janitor at Frito-Lay. With sharp observational skills akin to Will Hunting, Montañez began to learn the nuances of the factory and to think like an executive. Eventually, it clicks: Frito-Lay doesn’t have a product that taps into the Latino market, but unbeknownst to the higher-ups, Montañez has an idea for a crunch that “burns good.”

Tomatometer Score: 67%

Where to Watch: Hulu

Considered one of Will Smiths’ best cinematic performances (and that’s saying something),The Pursuit of Happynessis a bittersweet biographical drama about Chris Gardner, a San Fransisco salesman who suddenly finds himself homeless and a single father to a five-year-old son. There’s only the tiniest sliver of a silver lining for Gardner to grasp onto: a competitive (but unpaid) six-month internship as a stockbroker.

The Pursuit of Happyness,based on Gardner’s memoir of the same name, takes viewers through the emotionally turbulent ride of a man desperate to impress his employers while also living out of various restrooms in the Bay Area’s transit stations and selling his blood to get the most basic of basic needs for himself and his son. Gardner’s resilience in the face of adversity, as well as his determination to give his son the stable life he deserves, is a tearjerking motivator no matter where you are on your own career path.

Tomatometer Score: 67%

Where to Watch: Tubi

Listen, not every successful businessperson makes it to the top ethically. Some played dirty, and who says a biopic has to serve as an inspiring life lesson? It can be fun to watch the bad guy soar to Empire State-level heights of extravagance while stomping over the 99% and then have it all spiral out of control for the villain.

There’s probably no better film to partake in that voyeurism of the über-wealthy and schadenfreude of their downfall than The Wolf of Wall Street.

Director Martin Scorsese pairs with Leonardo DiCaprio again for this multi-Academy Award-nominated flick, which details Jordan Belfort’s twisted “pump and dump” stockbroker scheme that defrauded thousands into being conned into purchasing artificially inflated stocks. Money flows in, and so does the booze, hard drugs, and other extreme antics. Belforts’ personal life eventually crumbles (he even fumbles his wife, played by Margot Robbie), and that’s not even the worst of it.

Tomatometer Score: 79%

Where to Watch: YouTube TV