Portal:Biography

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Introduction

Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson

A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.

Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography.

An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is written by the person himself or herself, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter.

Selected biographies

Timothy Lee Richmond (June 7, 1955 – August 13, 1989) was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio. He competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. Richmond was one of the first drivers to change from open wheel racing to NASCAR stock cars full-time, which has since become an industry trend. He won the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award and had 13 victories during eight NASCAR seasons.

Richmond achieved his top NASCAR season in 1986 when he finished third in points. He won seven races that season, more than any other driver on the tour. When he missed the season-opening Daytona 500 in February 1987, media reported that he had pneumonia. The infection most likely resulted from his compromised immune system, which was weakened by AIDS. Despite the state of his health, Richmond competed in eight races in 1987, winning two events and one pole position before his final race in August of that year. He attempted a comeback in 1988 before NASCAR banned him for testing positive for excessive over-the-counter drugs, ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine; NASCAR later announced they gave Richmond a new test and tested negative. Richmond filed a lawsuit against NASCAR after NASCAR insisted they wanted access to his entire medical record before they would reinstate him. After losing the lawsuit, Richmond withdrew from racing. NASCAR later stated their original test was a "bad test." Read more...
Statue of Aurelio López in Tecamachalco, Puebla

Aurelio Alejandro López Rios (September 21, 1948 – September 22, 1992) was a Mexican professional baseball player. After pitching for several years in the Mexican League, he spent eleven seasons (1974, 1978–87) with four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB). He acquired the nickname "Señor Smoke" in Detroit, while he was known as "El Buitre de Tecamachalco" (The Vulture of Tecamachalco) in Mexico. López was discovered in his hometown by Mexican League scouts and converted from a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher.

López led the Mexico City Reds to the 1974 Mexican League World Series, then made a brief MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals before returning to the Mexican League. López was named the 1977 Mexican League Most Valuable Player (MVP). He returned to the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978 and pitched for the Detroit Tigers between 1979 and 1985. López finished seventh in the Cy Young Award voting in 1979. He earned a 10–1 record and 14 saves for Detroit's 1984 World Series championship team. Read more...
Portrait of Menander I

Menander I Soter (Ancient Greek: Μένανδρος Αʹ ὁ Σωτήρ, Ménandros Aʹ ho Sōtḗr, "Menander I the Saviour"; known in Indian Pali sources as Milinda) was an Indo-Greek King of the Indo-Greek Kingdom (165/155 –130 BC) who administered a large empire in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent from his capital at Sagala. Menander is noted for having become a patron of Buddhism.

Menander was initially a king of Bactria. After conquering the Punjab he established an empire in the Indian Subcontinent stretching from the Kabul River valley in the west to the Ravi River in the east, and from the Swat River valley in the north to Arachosia (the Helmand Province). Ancient Indian writers indicate that he launched expeditions southward into Rajasthan and as far east down the Ganges River Valley as Pataliputra (Patna), and the Greek geographer Strabo wrote that he "conquered more tribes than Alexander the Great." Read more...
Seropian at Wired Nextfest, October 2008

Alexander Seropian (born 1969) is an American video game developer, one of the initial founders and later president of Bungie, the developer of the Marathon, Myth, and Halo video game series. Seropian became interested in computer programming in college and teamed up with fellow student Jason Jones to publish Jones's game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. The two became partners, and Bungie grew to become the best-known Apple Macintosh game developer before being bought by Microsoft in 2001.

In 2004, Seropian left Bungie and created Wideload Games, with the goal of streamlining game development. Wideload's small core development team worked with outside contractors to produce Stubbs the Zombie and Hail to the Chimp. Wideload was acquired by Disney in 2009. As part of the deal Seropian became vice president of game development for Disney Interactive Studios. In 2012 he left the position to start Industrial Toys, a company focusing on mobile games. Read more...
Marek Sobieski (24 May 1628 – 3 June 1652) was a Polish noble (szlachcic), starosta (tenant of the Crown lands) of Krasnystaw and Jaworów, older brother of King John III Sobieski of Poland. He graduated from Nowodworski College in Kraków and Kraków Academy, then traveled and studied in Western Europe. After returning to Poland in 1648 he fought against the Cossacks and Tatars at Zbaraż and Beresteczko. He was taken captive by Tatars in 1652 and then killed by Cossacks. Read more...
Limp Bizkit performing live at Rams Head Live! in Baltimore, Maryland on May 3, 2013

Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Their lineup consists of Fred Durst (lead vocals), Sam Rivers (bass, backing vocals), John Otto (drums, percussion), DJ Lethal (turntables), and Wes Borland (guitars, backing vocals). Their music is marked by Durst's angry vocal delivery and Borland's sonic experimentation. Borland's elaborate visual appearance, which includes face and body paint, masks and uniforms, also plays a large role in the band's live shows. The band has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, have sold 40 million records worldwide and won several other awards.

Formed in 1994, Limp Bizkit became popular playing in the Jacksonville underground music scene in the late 1990s, and signed with Flip Records, a subsidiary of Interscope, which released their debut album, Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ (1997). The band achieved mainstream success with their second and third studio albums, Significant Other (1999) and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000), although this success was marred by a series of controversies surrounding their performances at Woodstock '99 and the 2001 Big Day Out festival. Read more...
Rear Admiral Uriel Sebree

Uriel Sebree (February 20, 1848 – August 6, 1922) was a career officer in the United States Navy. He entered the Naval Academy during the Civil War and served until 1910, retiring as a rear admiral. He is best remembered for his two expeditions into the Arctic and for serving as acting governor of American Samoa. He was also commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1867, Sebree was posted to a number of vessels before being assigned to a rescue mission to find the remaining crew of the missing Polaris in the Navy's first mission to the Arctic. This attempt was only a partial success—the Polaris crew was rescued by a British ship rather than the US Navy—but this led to Sebree's selection eleven years later for a second expedition to the Arctic. That mission to rescue Adolphus Greely and the survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition was a success. Sebree was subsequently appointed as the second acting governor of American Samoa. He served in this position for only a year before returning to the United States. In 1907, he was promoted to rear admiral and given command of the Pathfinder Expedition around the South American coast before being appointed commander of the 2nd Division of the Pacific Fleet and then commander-in-chief of the entire fleet. He retired in 1910 and died in Coronado, California, in 1922. Two geographical features in Alaska—Sebree Peak and Sebree Island—are named for Admiral Sebree. Read more...
1915 photograph

William Monroe Trotter (sometimes just Monroe Trotter, April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934) was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He was an early opponent of the accommodationist race policies of Booker T. Washington, and in 1901 founded the Boston Guardian, an independent African-American newspaper he used to express that opposition. Active in protest movements for civil rights throughout the 1900s and 1910s, he also revealed some of the differences within the African-American community. He contributed to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Trotter was born into a well-to-do family and raised in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. He earned his graduate and post-graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key there. Seeing an increase in segregation in northern facilities, he began to engage in a life of activism, to which he devoted his assets. He joined with W. E. B. Du Bois in founding the Niagara Movement in 1905, a forerunner of the NAACP. Trotter's style was often divisive, and he ended up leaving that organization and founding the National Equal Rights League. His protest activities were sometimes seen to be at cross purposes to those of the NAACP. Read more...
Golden dinar minted in Aleppo in 1028/29 in the name of Salih ibn Mirdas and his chosen successor Thimal ibn Salih and recognizing the suzerainty of Fatimid caliph az-Zahir

Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās, also known by the laqab (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ("Lion of the State") (died May 1029), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty of Aleppo, ruling between 1025 until his death. At its peak, his emirate (principality) encompassed much of the western Jazira, northern Syria and a string of central Syrian towns. With occasional interruption, Salih's descendants would rule Aleppo for the next five decades.

Salih launched his career in 1008/09 when he seized al-Rahba on the Euphrates River. In 1012, he was imprisoned and tortured by the emir of Aleppo, Mansur ibn Lu'lu; two years later, he escaped, captured Mansur in battle and released him in return for numerous concessions, including half of Aleppo's revenues. This action cemented Salih as the paramount emir of his Banu Kilab tribe, many of whose chieftains had died in Mansur's dungeons. With his Bedouin warriors, Salih captured a string of fortresses along the Euphrates, including Manbij and Raqqa, by 1022. He later formed an alliance with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy and militarily supported their struggle against the Fatimids. During this tribal rebellion, Salih annexed the central Syrian towns of Hims, Ba'albak and Sidon before conquering Fatimid-held Aleppo in 1025, bringing "to success the plan which guided his [Banu Kilab] forebears for a century", according to historian Thierry Bianquis. Read more...
Squadron Leader Malley, c. 1930

Garnet Francis Malley, MC, AFC (2 November 1892 – 20 May 1961) was an Australian fighter ace of World War I, credited with six aerial victories. He was an aviation adviser to Chiang Kai-shek's government in China during the 1930s, and an intelligence officer in World War II.

Born in Sydney, Malley first saw service in World War I as an artilleryman with the Australian Imperial Force. He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1917, and the following year flew Sopwith Camels with No. 4 Squadron on the Western Front. Malley was awarded the Military Cross for his achievements in combat, and his subsequent work as a flying instructor in England earned him the Air Force Cross. Read more...
Portrait of Alcibiades

Alcibiades, son of Cleinias (c. 450–404 BC), from the deme of Scambonidae, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War. He played a major role in the second half of that conflict as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician.

During the course of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades changed his political allegiance several times. In his native Athens in the early 410s BC, he advocated an aggressive foreign policy and was a prominent proponent of the Sicilian Expedition, but he fled to Sparta after his political enemies brought charges of sacrilege against him. In Sparta, he served as a strategic adviser, proposing or supervising several major campaigns against Athens. In Sparta too, however, Alcibiades soon made powerful enemies and felt forced to defect to Persia. There he served as an adviser to the satrap Tissaphernes until his Athenian political allies brought about his recall. He then served as an Athenian general (Strategos) for several years, but his enemies eventually succeeded in exiling him a second time. Read more...
Emmanuel Noveen Malhotra (born May 18, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who is currently an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He last played with the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League (AHL) on a try-out basis. During his 18-year career, he played as a centre for the Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers. Malhotra was known as a two-way forward and for his faceoff proficiency, in which he won over 56% of faceoffs he took in the NHL. Read more...
Garland A. Rivers (born November 3, 1964) is a former professional American football defensive back who was drafted in the 1987 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played briefly for the Chicago Bears in the 1987 NFL season after having starred as an All-American for the Michigan Wolverines football team for whom he set the single-game tackles record as a sophomore. This record still stands. After returning to the University of Michigan to complete his bachelor's degree, he returned to professional football for several seasons in the Arena Football League. However, before returning to professional football he became embroiled in a scandal involving sports agents engaging amateur athletes. Read more...
Alexander Gillespie Raymond (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many other media, from a series of movie serials (1936–1940) to a 1970s television series and the 1980 feature film.

Raymond's father encouraged his love of drawing from an early age, leading him to become an assistant illustrator in the early 1930s on strips such as Tillie the Toiler and Tim Tyler's Luck. Towards the end of 1933, Raymond created the epic Flash Gordon science-fiction comic strip to compete with the popular Buck Rogers comic strip and, before long, Flash was the more popular strip of the two. Raymond also worked on the jungle adventure saga Jungle Jim and spy adventure Secret Agent X-9 concurrently with Flash, though his increasing workload caused him to leave Secret Agent X-9 to another artist by 1935. He left the strips in 1944 to join the Marines, saw combat in the Pacific Ocean theater in 1945 and was demobilized in 1946. Upon his return from serving during World War II, Raymond created and illustrated the much-heralded Rip Kirby, a private detective comic strip. In 1956, Raymond was killed in a car crash at the age of 46. Read more...
Joyce Kilmer's Columbia University yearbook photograph, c. 1908

"Trees" is a lyric poem by American poet Joyce Kilmer. Written in February 1913, it was first published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse that August and included in Kilmer's 1914 collection Trees and Other Poems. The poem, in twelve lines of rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter verse, describes what Kilmer perceives as the inability of art created by humankind to replicate the beauty achieved by nature.

Kilmer is most remembered for "Trees", which has been the subject of frequent parodies and references in popular culture. Kilmer's work is often disparaged by critics and dismissed by scholars as being too simple and overly sentimental, and that his style was far too traditional and even archaic. Despite this, the popular appeal of "Trees" has contributed to its endurance. Literary critic Guy Davenport considers it "the one poem known by practically everybody". "Trees" is frequently included in poetry anthologies and has been set to music several times—including a popular rendition by Oscar Rasbach, performed by singers Nelson Eddy, Robert Merrill, and Paul Robeson. Read more...
Kuhn around 1922

Oliver Wall Kuhn (August 14, 1898 – October 8, 1968), nicknamed "Doc Kuhn", was an American football, baseball and basketball player for the Vanderbilt University Commodores and later a prominent businessman of Tampa, Florida. As a college football quarterback, Kuhn led Vanderbilt to three consecutive Southern titles in 1921, 1922, and 1923 – the most-recent conference titles for Vanderbilt football. In 1922, Vanderbilt tied Michigan at the dedication of Dudley Field, and Kuhn was picked for Walter Camp's list of names worthy of mention and Billy Evans' All-America "National Honor Roll."

During his senior year, Kuhn was the captain of Vanderbilt's football and basketball teams and received the Porter Cup, awarded to Vanderbilt's best all-around athlete. Kuhn played guard on the basketball team and was a shortstop on the baseball team which won a 1921 conference championship. He was selected All-Southern in baseball in 1921 and 1922. Read more...
James Macnamara (1768 – 15 January 1826) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Born into a naval family, Macnamara served in the East Indies during the last years of the American War of Independence, seeing action with Hughes at the Battle of Cuddalore. He received the acting rank of lieutenant during this time, but reverted to midshipman afterwards. He returned to naval service during the Spanish and Russian armaments, and was serving with Lord Hood aboard HMS Victory on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. He saw action in the Mediterranean and was eventually promoted to his own commands. He achieved success as a daring frigate captain, serving with Nelson and making several hard-fought captures. He finished his service in the Mediterranean with action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, and later served in the West Indies before the Peace of Amiens. Read more...
Dosanjh in 2011

Ujjal Dev Singh Dosanjh, (Punjabi: ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (/ˈuːdʒəl doʊˈsɑːndʒ/) PC QC, (born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as 33rd Premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011, including a period as Minister of Health from 2004 until 2006, when the party lost government. As a member of the Official Opposition from January 2006 until 2011, Dosanjh was variously the critic of National Defence, Public Safety, and Foreign Affairs, and sat on the Standing Committee on National Defence, the Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan and the Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Dosanjh was one of four Visible Minorities to serve in Paul Martin's Ministry.

Prior to being involved in federal politics, he spent ten years in provincial politics. He was elected in the Vancouver-Kensington riding in 1991 as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) and re-elected there in 1996. He served as the Attorney General of British Columbia from August 1995 to February 2000. When the leader of his party resigned in 1999, Dosanjh put himself forward as a candidate and won the leadership vote. With the win he became Canada's first Indo-Canadian provincial leader. He served as the 33rd Premier of British Columbia until June 2001 when he lost the province's general election. He was the last NDP premier of the province until John Horgan was elevated to the position in 2017. Read more...
Agata Oleksiak (born 5 April 1978), known as Olek, is a Polish artist who is based in New York City. Her works include sculptures, installations such as crocheted bicycles, inflatables, performance pieces, and fiber art. She has covered buildings, sculptures, people, and an apartment with crochet and has exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica. Read more...
Nye in May 2017

William Sanford Nye (born November 27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science communicator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the PBS and syndicated children's science show Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993–1998), the Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World (2017–present), and for his many subsequent appearances in popular media as a science educator.

Nye began his career as a mechanical engineer for Boeing Corporation in Seattle, where he invented a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube used on 747 airplanes. In 1986, Nye left Boeing to pursue comedy, writing and performing jokes and bits for the local sketch television show Almost Live!, where he would regularly conduct wacky science experiments. Nye aspired to become the next Mr. Wizard and with the help of several producers successfully pitched the children's television program Bill Nye the Science Guy to KCTS-TV, channel 9, Seattle's public television station. The show—which proudly proclaimed in its theme song that "science rules!"—ran from 1993 to 1998 in national TV syndication. Known for its "high-energy presentation and MTV-paced segments," the program became a hit for both kids and adults. The show was critically acclaimed and was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning nineteen. Read more...

Did you know...

... that Gujarati theatre actor Bapulal Nayak started his stage career at the age of eleven for a salary of three rupees per month?
... that Cuitláhuac García Jiménez lost the 2016 Veracruz gubernatorial election to Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, but defeated Linares' son in 2018?
... that Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first openly black athlete to play in Major League Baseball?
... that the Gerard Behar Center, today a major arts centre in Jerusalem, was the site of the 1961 trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann?
... that Antonio Gali's candidacy for Governor of Puebla was supported by the PAN, PT, PANAL, and two state parties?
... that actor Tim Franklin had his first on-screen kiss while portraying Home and Away character Colby Thorne?
... that Armando Ríos Piter declined his own party's nomination for Governor of Guerrero because it wanted him to sign a pact with the former governor?
... that one of the scientific names in use for the Kimberley death adder was given in honour of actor Burt Lancaster?
... that despite being a prolific artist of 19th-century London, Robert Blemmell Schnebbelie died of starvation in Camden Town?
... that Andrea L. Thompson served in the United States Army for 28 years before becoming National Security Advisor to the Vice President?
... that the Hollyoaks actor James Sutton has described James Nightingale as a strong and powerful character?
... that while living in England, American artist Robert Hess learned to paint in the style of John Constable and was influenced by the sculptures of Henry Moore?

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Selected images

James Boswell wrote what many consider to be the first modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson, in 1791.
John Foxe's The Book of Martyrs, was one of the earliest English-language biographies.
Eminent Victorians set the standard for 20th century biographical writing, when it was published in 1918.
Einhard as scribe
Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson

In the news

5 February 2019 – 2019 North Korea–United States Vietnam Summit, North Korea–United States relations: During the State of the Union speech, President Trump announced he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam on February 27 and 28. (USA Today)
2 February 2019 –: Governor of the U.S. state of Virginia Ralph Northam says he will not resign from office because he does not believe that he appears in a controversial photograph from his 1984 medical school yearbook showing one person wearing blackface and another person wearing Ku Klux Klan attire. However, Northam later admits to wearing blackface during the same time period for a dance contest, in order to imitate musician Michael Jackson. (Post and Courier) (The Washington Examiner)
26 January 2019 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Crisis in Venezuela, Russia–Venezuela relations: In an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting called by the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells the representatives of each government in attendance to make it known whether their country will support the disputed presidency of Maduro or his contested political rival Juan Guaidó as the leader of Venezuela. (The Washington Post)
23 January 2019 – 2019 Venezuelan protests, 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, United States–Venezuela relations: Opposition leader Juan Guaidó swears himself in as President of Venezuela, with de facto President Nicolás Maduro not recognizing this. (CNN); The United States, Canada and several Latin American nations recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela. (Chicago Tribune)
13 January 2019 – Macedonia naming dispute: Alexis Tsipras, leader of SYRIZA in Greece, announces a vote of confidence in his government after Panos Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks (ANEL), announces that it will withdraw from the ruling coalition due to opposition to the Prespa agreement. (FT)