Biography

Biographies are never a dull read, especially if they’re about the life and experiences of a famous individual such as a renowned scientist, a superstar athlete, or a reputable actor or actress. Other than being a written text about someone, biographies are also works of art thanks to their fancy graphic layouts.

Biography Definition & Meaning

A biography is a literary piece written in the third person discussing the life of an individual in detail—typically a famous individual.

A biography is a written account of a person’s life, particularly his/her experiences and significant achievements.

What Is a Biography?

Biographies are one-page or multi-page accounts regarding the personal life of an individual; some biographies are books written by renowned authors. They discuss not only a person’s educational background and professional achievements but also their life experiences and family matters, sometimes including intimate ones.

10 Types of Biography

Professional Biography

A professional biography is as its name implies, a full bird’s eye view of a person’s professional background. It’s like a written summary of a professional’s resume and mainly highlights the companies he/she worked for and his/her career milestones. Professional biographies have a modern and clean design evoking professionalism.

Actor Biography

An actor biography often sells very well as a book mainly because people love taking a deep dive into a famous actor’s life story. Popular actors and actresses are just as interesting as the characters they portray in the movies. Actor biographies share details about a celebrity’s upbringing, career milestones, filmography, acting achievements, love life, and more.

One-Page Biography

A one-page biography is short like an outline of an essay, but it effectively provides a clear overview of an individual’s achievements and background. It’s often complemented by well-made graphic design and a picture-perfect photo of the individual. One-page biographies are mostly written in English and they look as good as posters.

Real Estate Agent Biography

A real estate agent biography mainly talks about the achievements of a real estate agent and his/her path to becoming one. Aspiring realtors or real estate business owners will find such a biography a good read since they can learn a lot from it. Real estate agent biographies often have photos of real estate properties as the background, giving them an elegant, high-class aesthetic.

Teacher Biography

A teacher biography talks about the teaching career of an educator in an elementary school, high school, or university. It details a teacher’s educational background and his/her experiences teaching in various educational institutions or campuses. Teacher biographies are often written by students who admire their teachers or other colleague educators.

Photography Biography

A photography biography is most likely filled with elegant photographs taken by the photographer being talked about. It discusses the amazing journey of a photographer around the world, in different events, or in various industries taking pictures of incredible moments. And as a bonus, some photography biographies talk about what inspired a photographer to pursue his/her amazing profession.

Artist Biography

The life of an artist is most likely very colorful, so to speak; knowing an artist’s life story paints a clearer picture of why he/she creates the kind of art he/she produces. For that reason, an artist biography is always a good read, especially for people who love to study art. The engaging content of such a biography is complemented by a photo of one of the artist’s best works as the background.

Doctor Biography

A doctor biography is a kind of professional biography that exclusively shares the story and exalted medical background of a tenured doctor. High school students or medical college students aspiring to become doctors should read doctor biographies as they could be a source of inspiration. But still, it’s a good read for anyone interested to know about the life and career of a renowned doctor.

Musician Biography

The life stories of musicians are inspiring because they’re often stories about pursuing your passion and achieving your dreams, and that’s why any musician biography is engaging to read. Biographies about famous singers are as interesting as actor biographies since they’re also popular celebrities living interesting, colorful lives. Musician biographies look great when printed thanks to their background showing images of the artist performing.

Director Biography

A director biography mainly details the filmography of a famous movie director. But aside from movie directors, director biographies can also talk about the career of music video directors, theater directors, and directors of other forms of performing arts. Many director biographies have a design that makes them look like classic movie posters.

Biography Uses, Purpose, Importance

Biographies have many reasons for being written by their authors. They’re not just a mere passion project of an author who is in awe of a person’s life, achievements, and milestones.

Share the Life Story of a Person

Among the core purposes of biographies is to share the life story of a person, especially an interesting person such as a celebrity, a politician, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a local hero, a national hero, a superstar professional athlete, and a billionaire entrepreneur. Biographies of such people sell well in bookstores and that’s why there are plenty of best-selling biography books.

Preserve an Accomplished Individual’s Legacy

Accomplished individuals deserve to have their legacies preserved and remembered by the generations to come, and that’s one of the goals of biography authors. By summarizing their life’s works, experiences, and triumphs in a biography, their memory will live on even after their deaths for decades or centuries. Their legacy will inspire others in the present times and in the future.

Pick Up Life Lessons

Some people read biographies to pick up life lessons from the story of accomplished people. These lessons can be about hard work, perseverance, trust, family, friendship, and more. The type of biographies that mainly offers such lessons are those that talk about the stories of heroes and martyrs like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, and other inspirational figures.

Learn History

By reading biographies, especially those that talk about historical figures, one can learn the history of his country, culture, or profession. Biographies discuss the past of an individual, and often that past is tied to a significant historical event. Good examples of biographies that teach history are politician biographies and national hero biographies.

Learn a Person’s Background

Biographies are among the best sources for learning a person’s background. While don’t exactly tell an individual’s life story, they give us a clear glimpse into the reasons behind their upbringing, motivations, and inspirations in achieving what they have achieved. In a manner of speaking, biographies are simplified yet also glorified versions of a person’s resume or curriculum vitae.

What’s in a Biography? Parts?

Name of the Individual

The name of the individual has to be front and center in a biography. It can even serve as the official title of the biography itself. If the biography is a book, the individual’s name should be on the cover.

Photo of the Individual

A biography isn’t complete without a photo of the individual. It should be attached to the biography like some sort of profile photo or it can serve as the background. It’s important for the photo to be present so that readers can get more acquainted with the individual.

The Body of the Biography

This is the main part of the biography, as a matter of fact, this part is the biography itself. The body details an individual’s personal life, educational attainments, professional background, professional achievements, and other important life milestones and events. It’s the part where the readers learn who the individual is and what lessons they can take from his/her experiences.

How to Design a Biography

1. Select a standard Biography Size.

2. Identify the type of biography you’ll be making.

3. Choose from the right set of Biography Templates.

4. Customize the template and write the biography.

5. Add more visual elements such as clipart and the person’s photo.

6. Save the finished custom biography.

Biography vs. Autobiography

A biography is a detailed account of an individual’s personal life, education, profession, endeavors, and other interesting life experiences written by another individual.

An autobiography is similar to a biography as it also talks about the life, career, and experiences of an individual; the difference is that it’s written by the individual himself/herself like a memoir.

What’s the Difference Between a Biography, a Memoir, and a Professional Bio?

A biography is a written account of a person’s background, significant achievements, and biggest life events written from the perspective of another person.

A memoir is a non-fiction literary piece where the author commemorates his/her past experiences and shares them with the readers.

A professional bio is a type of biography that summarizes the work experiences or the entire career of an individual.

Biography Sizes

Biographies have standard sizes that are important to take note of. Observing the most suitable biography size helps make a biography more presentable to the readers.

• US Letter Size (8.5 x 11 inches)
• A4 Size (8.3 x 11.7 inches)
• Legal Size (8.5 x 14 inches)

Biography Ideas and Examples

Writing a biography is a challenge, but what’s even more challenging is deciding on what kind of biography to write. Fortunately, biography ideas are abundant and they help even amateur biography writers to start writing.

• Educational Biography Ideas and Examples
• Executive Biography Ideas and Examples
• DJ Biography Ideas and Examples
• Company Biography Ideas and Examples
• Dentist Biography Ideas and Examples
• Instructor Biography Ideas and Examples
• School Biography Ideas and Examples
• Realtor Biography Ideas and Examples
• Photographer Biography Ideas and Examples
• Simple Biography Ideas and Examples

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