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The Best Biographical Documentaries Ever Made — IndieWire Critics Survey

David ehrlich.

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Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post).

This past weekend saw the release of “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda,” the latest in a recent string of impressively strong and commercially successful biographical documentaries (other recent standouts include “RBG” and “Won’t You Be my Neighbor?”). 

This week’s question: What is the best biographical documentary ever made?

Siddhant Adlakha (@SidizenKane), Freelance for The Village Voice, /Film

The best and arguably most important documentaries ever made are complimentary pieces by Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Act of Killing” (2013) and “The Look of Silence (2015). They’re set against the backdrop of Indonesia’s 1965-66 genocide, believed to be sponsored by the C.I.A., but they’re each rooted in the lives of singular subjects and their diametrically opposed journeys.

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The cleansing, of an estimated three million ethnic Chinese, changed the face of the nation in terrifying ways, created a longstanding socio-political status quo that deifies its perpetrators while continuing to villainize its victims to this day. The first film, “The Act of Killing,” follows mass murderer Anwar Congo over the course of seven years, exploring the personal cognitive dissonance that permeates the culture around him. Congo, an avowed American film fan, re-enacts each of his many killings in stylized manner akin to the genre films he grew up on. Though as he reflects on his actions through a lens of cinema, his bizarre cinematic journey results in the peeling back of the layers of his humanity until he’s forced, as if by something within, to face up to what he’s done.

Its sequel, “The Look of Silence,” tells the story of traveling optometrist Adi Rukun, Oppenheimer’s guide during the production of the first film. Adi sits across from the various people responsible for the murder of his brother in ’65-’66, from local prison guards to people at the highest levels of government in an attempt to find closure. All it would take is those responsible for the massacre owning up to their deeds fifty years after the fact, but the collective dissonance and cultural justifications for the genocide prevent Adi, his blind father (who keeps re-living the horrors of the past) and his culture at large from healing.

Both films feel like impossible feats of filmmaking; watching them feels like being dangerously privy to the darkest parts of the human soul. They are, however, explorations of character, time and place that feel necessary for any person or culture trying to reckon with their past.

Christopher Campbell (@thefilmcynic), Nonfics, Film School Rejects, Thrillist

The best biographical documentaries that mostly look back on a life tend to be based on books. The top three are: “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” about Hollywood mogul Robert Evans; “Life Itself,” about film critic Roger Ebert, and “Man on Wire,” about high-wire legend Philippe Petit. Each of those also benefit from their subjects being alive at the time of filming (or most of the filming) to add an extra level or chapter to the story — even Evans manages to give his story a little extra simply by narrating his own life. I also highly recommend “The Internet’s Own Boy,” which is impressive for how quickly it was made following subject Aaron Swartz’s death.

But the greatest biographical documentaries for me are the two films about Aileen Wuornos made by Nick Broomfield. The first one, “Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer,” is more about her life leading up to the making of the film, told through interviews as well as her murder trial. The second doc, “Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer,” revisits Wuornos as she’s about to be executed. Both documentaries also, as most of Broomfield’s do, contain an autobiographical element on the part of the filmmaker. And between the two of them, we see Broomfield as a more complex character than ever before, particularly as he’s dealing with the fate of Wuornos and the documentarian/subject relationship. It’s a fascinating twofer in that way, and emotionally difficult to come to terms with as a viewer.

Max Weiss (@maxthegirl), Baltimore Magazine

Courtney Howard (@Lulamaybelle), Freelance for FreshFiction, SassyMamaInLA

Carl Broughton II(@Carlislegendary), Editor-in-chief for thefilmera.com

The documentary will always be relevant not because it is about a music artist with immense talent dying young, but because of the underlying problems that led to her death. The toxic relationship with her boyfriend, the drugs, and the mental problems she suffered due to the prior mentioned subjects are things we are still tackling as a society. Amy Winehouse will always be a prime example of what happens when we make a spectacle and joke of serious problems. “Amy” is a little longer than 2 hours, but by the time it is over you not only feel you got her full story, but come out appreciating what she did for the music world. Overall Amy is the perfect documentary to showcase that people accept the love they think they deserve.

Deborah Krieger (@debonthearts) BUST Magazine, Paste Magazine

Pedro Strazza (@pedrosazevedo), B9

What it stands from the documentary for me, though, is the way it reveals the truth (or at least the version that it is trying to build) about the real Cássia, fighting some generalizations and prejudices that were made about the singer even on the wake of her death. Killed by a sudden heart attack that latter was attributed to an excess of work load (she did one hundred shows in seven months, according to her manager), Eller’s decease at the time was falsely linked to drugs by some news magazines, which contributed to a legal dispute about the fate of her son, Francisco – it was the musician’s wish that his caring would be assumed by her partner, Maria Eugênia, if anything happened, but the parents of the biological father tried to intervene. This way, it’s fascinating to me how “Cássia” in the end poses itself as some sort of justice corrector of mistakes made in the past, a feeling that in my judgment is present on the best productions of the genre.

Luke Hicks (@lou_kicks), Film School Rejects, Birth.Movies.Death., Chicago Reader

Hoai-Tran Bui (@htranbui), /Film

For the 40 years that they had been married, artist Noriko Shinohara lived in the shadow of her husband Ushio Shinohara, a gifted artist whose use of boxing gloves in his art had him declared one of the most promising artists of the ’70s New York art scene. But as the elderly couple struggles to make their rent while Ushio bemoans his feverish glory days, Noriko begins to tire of always supporting the genius. She starts telling her story through her alter ego “Cutie,” a talented and abused young artist whose life plays out in surreal illustrations which are sprinkled throughout Zachary Heinzerling’s documentary. “Cutie and the Boxer” is a touching and slightly tragic portrait of a pair of artists whose love has been defined and hindered by art. It’s a beautiful little example of how behind every “brilliant artist,” there’s a just as brilliant woman.

Kristen Lopez (@Journeys_Film), Culturess, The Young Folks

Director Kurt Kuenne started out making a documentary about his best friend, Andrew Bagby and his murder. What Kuenne ended up doing was memorializing his best friend and Bagby’s young son who never knew his father. There’s a lot of sadness that runs throughout the film that, at times, makes you hurt. You hurt at what could have been, at what will never be known. In the end, all that’s left is what remains on-screen, family and friends telling the audience (and Zachary himself) about the man Andrew Bagby was. It’s a story that will make you cry because the guy sounded so average, he could have been anyone and it’s a shame that the circle of death that swirled around him is what made him famous. But, at the same time, if these tragic events had never happened, audiences would never know his name. It’s a movie that leaves you with questions not just about the nature of life and death, parentage and paternity, but how film narrative creates immortality.

Sean Mulvihill (@NotSPMulvihill), FanboyNation.com

Completely removed from any hopes of working within the modern studio system and knowing that his legacy is secure thanks to a critical reevaluation, the Brian De Palma shown in “De Palma” is a filmmaker with plenty of entertaining stories and no need to play nice. The result is a film that takes into the creative process of a great filmmaker, rife with amusing anecdotes about his famous collaborators and moments of earnest reflection about his critical and commercial flops.

Of course, almost all biographical documentaries have an element of hagiography to them. These are the type of movies that would exist without having some kind of myth to build upon, and “De Palma” only bucks this trend because Paltrow and Baumbach allow Brian De Palma to build his own myth in his own words without inserting their own commentary on their subject’s claims. When compared to the similar and saccharine portrait of a filmmaking legend, “Spielberg,” “De Palma” stands out so much because it takes on the unvarnished attitude of its subject, becoming a perfect reflection and distillation of his body of work. It’s that style that pulls De Palma devotees, like myself, further and further into the film. He’s talented. He’s prickly. He’s egotistical. He’s one of cinema’s greatest. Holy mackerel!

Ethan Warren (@ethanrawarren), Bright Wall/Dark Room

Emily Sears (@emily_dawn), Birth.Movies.Death., Fandor

Joel Mayward (@joelmayward), Cinemayward.com, Freelance

The film’s title reminds us that we often leave an art gallery or museum through their gift shop with an expectation to buy a trinket to remind us of our experience. The art is not simply there to be enjoyed and appreciated; it is now a commodity to be purchased and consumed. Whether we like it or not, our consumer culture defines value monetarily. This is nothing new; for hundreds of years and across divergent cultures, artists have needed wealthy patrons to fund projects. What is new is how technology, social media, marketing, and the American economic system have all intensified this process. Bizarre, subversive, and often hilarious, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” questions and critiques celebrity culture, capitalism, and Western culture itself in the best way: by making interesting art and inviting us to consider it.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@chrisreedfilm), Hammer to Nail/Film Festival Today

In that spirit, I’d like to go back over 20 years and cast my ultimate vote for Ruth Ozeki Lounsbury’s 1996 “Halving the Bones,” which similarly challenges the conventions of documentary filmmaking. In the movie, Lounsbury traces her family history on the maternal side, following the titular bones (those of her grandmother) on their journey from Japan to America, a trip that allows her to revisit the immigrant saga of her mother, as well as her own life as a biracial woman. Mixing real archival footage with reenactments – all blended together in one exciting whole – Lounsbury creates an evocative and poignant tribute to her foremothers, and to her own indomitable will as cineaste and historian.

Daniel Joyaux (@thirdmanmovies), Freelance for Vanity Fair, The Verge, MovieMaker Magazine, and The Independent

“Jane” gets all of this in a way that overwhelms me. The restored and color-corrected footage (shot by Hugo Van Lawick in the ’60s and ’70s) is simply gorgeous, and the Philip Glass score that emotes it is powerful. There’s a final, climactic montage where the score reaches operatic heights, and those flickering images moved me to watery eyes both times I saw the film. One of my critic friends didn’t like “Jane” because he said it devolved into hagiography and never mentioned the valid criticisms of her work. Maybe he’s right, I don’t know. I’ll embarrassingly admit I knew very little about Goodall before seeing the film. But I also think the relative success or failure of “Jane” as a perfect portrayal of its subject misses the point. Regardless of how well it embodies great journalism, it absolutely embodies great cinema.

Luiz Gustavo (@luizgvt), Cronico de Cinema

But he knows that that’s the path to make João Bérnard in nothing but an echo, a shadow of itself, in the film. To know someone like him is, actually, to know what touched him deeply. That’s why, as we learn about his life and work, we’re also walking through the movies that he loved the most: Lubitsch’s “The Shop Around the Corner”, Mankiewicz’s “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” and, of course, Ray’s “Johnny Guitar”. It is very hard not to fall in love with these movies, like the title foreshadows. The final line, a frase used by João Bénard da Cost when writing about Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry”, encapsulates the whole spirit of this very delicate film: “Fundamental é a vida. A vida continua sempre. É de vida que fala este filme de morte” (“Life is fundamental. Life goes on forever. It is about life that this movie of death speaks of”). After watching this documentary, those words will haunt you forever.

Carlos Aguilar (@Carlos_Film), Freelance

Miyazaki’s grumpy, humorous, and at times bleak observations about the world are interspersed with archival footage from his early days in animation. “Kingdom” is as much a documentary about the studio itself, as it is about the man at the center of it and those who, through their complementing talents, have been part of his remarkable creative life. With Takhata’s recent passing, the final minutes of the film now serve as a heartwarming eulogy to his friendship with Miyazaki and his own breathtaking oeuvre.

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89 best biographical documentaries movies to watch - a good movie to watch, biographical, documentaries, 89 best biographical documentaries movies to watch.

Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal (2024)

The Missing Picture (2013)

Angle (2023)

American Symphony (2023)

Fighting with My Family (2019)

Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows (1998)

I Am: Celine Dion (2024)

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story (2020)

For the Love of Spock (2016)

Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)

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IMDb Top Biographic Documentaries

1. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

2. Three Identical Strangers

3. I Am Greta

4. The Great Hack

5. Citizenfour

7. Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You

9. The Imposter

10. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

11. Grizzly Man

12. Guillermo Villas: Settling the Score

13. The Act of Killing

14. The Dawn Wall

15. Diego Maradona

16. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

17. Searching for Sugar Man

19. Blackfish

20. The Last Waltz

21. Beware the Slenderman

22. Crazy, Not Insane

23. O.J.: Made in America

24. Beastie Boys Story

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The 100+ Best Biographical Documentary Series, Ranked

The best television documentary biographies are as engaging as a scripted series, while also sharing real lives. The best biography documentary series ever shown on television tell the tales of people - from celebrities to average folks who led extraordinary lives. If you’ve been looking for the best biography documentaries to add some enjoyable education to your TV nights, this list of the best art and art history documentary series of all time will help you figure out what needs to go into your queue.

Some documentary biography series follow individuals for the full run of the show, such as The Defiant Ones , or any documentary series that follows the life of historical figures such as Churchill or Napoleon. Many other documentary biography series use an anthology format and tell the story of different people each episode. 30 for 30 , Behind the Music , and even E! True Hollywood Story tell peoples' stories with a mix of reenactment, file footage, and information from experts in the field.

Which shows do the best job sharing information about the lives of famous people? Vote up the best biography documentary shows and add any biographical documentary series that are missing.

The Last Movie Stars

• Premiered : July 21, 2022

Worth Your Time?

Time: The Kalief Browder Story

• Premiered : 2017

Bobby Kennedy for President

• Premiered : April 27, 2018

E! True Hollywood Story

• Premiered : February 16, 1997

I'll Be Gone in the Dark

• Premiered : March 5, 2018

100 Foot Wave

• Premiered : July 18, 2021

Best Biographical Documentaries About Artists on Netflix

By Film Threat Staff | June 17, 2021

Documentaries have a different fan base as they satisfy the innate hunger for learning and knowing more. Netflix offers one of the most extensive collections of documentaries, including biographies based on the artist’s life.

You can feel closer to these celebrities because we have compiled the list of  best documentaries on Netflix  so you can know everything about your icons.

Who better than Quincy Jones’ daughter, actor, writer, and producer Rashida Jones, to film a documentary about him? Jones and Alan Hicks shot “Quincy” for many years.

Their video blends a thorough and appreciative biography of an EGOT-winning artist with more down-to-earth shots of the man’s everyday life in the current day, as he deals with deteriorating health and increased demands on his time.

Betty White: First Lady of Television

America’s first (and, possibly, still current) favorite actress is highlighted in this educational and uplifting video. Betty White is known as the “First Lady of Television” because she was not only the first woman to star in a comedy, create a show, and be nominated for an Emmy, but she was also the first woman to appear on television. 

Betty White: Debut Lady of Television is a feature-length documentary that follows White’s career from her radio days until her first appearance on television in the 1930s.

Even though some of these documentaries are available on specific Netflix libraries, you can  change your Netflix region  by connecting to a  VPN server  and enjoy them from anywhere. 

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Nina Simone is a living legend, a black power figure, a chanteuse from a dingy bar, and a trained pianist. She led a life marked by tormented despair, musical brilliance, and ruthless honesty. She had reached the pinnacle of her profession when she chose to focus on social causes.

After bringing up the topic of racism, she lost a considerable number of record deals. Simone used her songs to address the injustice with so many lives wasted due to racial prejudices and hatred. Her songs became protest chants, infuriating the studios even more.

Dolly Parton: Here I Am

Dolly Parton’s modest beginnings in Appalachia laid the groundwork for her long career as an American icon—and she’s never forgotten where she came from. The well-known singer/songwriter is renowned for her philanthropy and social justice activities and her singing.

The 50th anniversary of Dolly Parton’s debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage kicks off Dolly Parton: Here I Am. Get an inside peek at the singer’s life through interviews with her close friends and loved ones, and don’t be shocked if you start planning your next vacation to Dollywood by the time the documentary closes.

Gaga: Five Foot Two

There is no doubt that Lady Gaga is an icon. From her meet-up with her fan, battle with chronic pain, and working on new music, we are interested in every aspect of her life. 

The documentary focuses on the development and creation of ‘Joanne’ to feel closer to the magical tunes created by Lady Gaga.

Biggie: I Got a Story To Tell

Biggie  was notorious B.I.G – the life story of a hustler turning to a rap king is motivational and inspiring. The documentary follows the journey of  Biggie . With rare footage and in-depth interviews, it will bring you closer to the rap king. The documentary is full of information, passion, hope, adventure, and a will to enjoy life to its fullest.

BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky

If you have not been living under a rock for the past few years, you have probably heard about K-pop. It is the most trending music right now, and this documentary focuses on the life of the reigning queens of K-pop; BLACKPINK. 

The show focuses on the band’s early struggles and how they made their mark in a male-dominated industry. The triumph, struggle, and individuality of each artist are the focus of this documentary.

Excuse Me, I Love You

Do you want to be transported to a world of sultry, sugary pop perfection? Allow Ariana Grande to assist you. This tour documentary puts you in the front row of Ari’s Sweetener World Tour’s London stop to see her spectacular performances of favorites including “God Is a Woman,” “7 Rings,” and more.

If you know what makes an artist despite the difficulties of life, this documentary can bring Ariana closer to you. 

Miss Americana

Taylor Swift is part of a generation of pop singers who have never had much of an “offstage” presence. They are continuously exposing themselves on social media and through their music. Despite this, “Miss Americana” is illuminating. 

This film is about an idol trying to figure out how to use her power best. Still, it’s also about the challenges of having a powerful voice in an age where followers and critics alike assemble on the internet to examine and analyze everything.

Whether you are a fan of piano, classical, rock, K-pop, or Jazz, our picks for the best biographical documentaries on Netflix can entertain all. All you need now is the album of your icons, posters to idolize, and a sharp memory to brag the newly learned facts to your friends and colleagues. 

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this kind of movie can inspire a lot of people, a journey from zero to hero, a struggle that maybe not many people can imagine, thank you for sharing

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The 22 best documentaries streaming in August 2024

Here are the true stories that deserve spots on your watchlist.

Looking for great fly-on-the-wall looks at subcultures, obsessions, and stories of incredible artistry? From the beautiful time capsule in Summer of Soul to the sublime tragedy of Fire of Love and Grizzly Man , the best documentaries can wrangle complex histories into intricate, astonishing narratives that mirror the human condition. 

To make a documentary is to capture a subject as honestly as possible, offering a snapshot that's educational, sensational, or (ideally) both. Here are the 22 best documentaries streaming now across various platforms.

20 Feet From Stardom (2013)

Darlene Love was a backup singer for years, supporting acts who were the kind of stars she should have been, too. This Oscar-winning documentary features interviews with dozens of backup singers about their experience standing behind artists who got to be the face of their music rather than being edged out of the spotlight. 

The archival footage in 20 Feet From Stardom is particularly harrowing, capturing how essential these unknown singers were to the songs that captivated the world. — Chris Bellamy

Where to watch 20 Feet From Stardom : The Roku Channel

American Movie (1999)

Sometimes you’ve just gotta slam a guy’s head into a kitchen cabinet repeatedly until you get the shot right. This is the American Dream… at least according to Mark Borchardt, the I-think-I-can amateur filmmaker at the heart of American Movie . This portrait of his creative process, directed by Chris Smith, is exceptionally funny, and the joke is often on Borchardt, but the affectionate eye of the camera is never condescending.

Too many titles use the word “American” as a faux-meaningful affectation. This one earns the modifier — not because it’s some sweeping statement, but because its American-ness feels so elemental, from its Midwest suburban setting to Borchardt’s single-minded passion for his horror project, which he pursues with a courageous tenacity. — C.B.

Where to watch American Movie : Tubi

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Neither self-serious nor blithe, Michael Moore ’s satirical documentary explores the issues that led to the Columbine massacre and gun violence in America broadly. The film, like most of Moore’s output, has a sensationalist aspect, largely (if not entirely) because of his personality; however, it also serves as a reminder of his talent for synthesizing the rising cultural shifts of the 1990s and early aughts. Here, we watch as Moore walks us slowly, almost subliminally, to a place of logical rage, and then shake our heads at how little has changed. — Eric Farwell

Where to watch Bowling for Columbine : Tubi

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Kurt Kuenne’s devastating documentary about grief and the Canadian legal system's failings revolves around the murder of his friend, Andrew Bagby, at the hands of his mysterious ex, Shirley Turner. What follows is an examination of Turner's baffling release from prison and the incredible sorrow that envelops the family after tragically losing a son and getting mired in a custody battle with the very person responsible. — E.F.

Where to watch Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father : Amazon Prime Video

Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)

There’s no “right” way to deal with grief, or the anxious fear of waiting for something bad to happen that you know will come to pass. But Kirsten Johnson found a unique outlet in Dick Johnson Is Dead , in which she deals with her father’s dementia and the looming specter of his death by killing him on camera repeatedly (with his enthusiastic participation). 

Watching father and daughter execute each fatal scenario gives us a remarkable glimpse into their relationship — and the catharsis that comes with the creative process itself. The film’s intimate sense of joy is not a deflection against the truth of what the Johnsons are facing, but a self-conscious, honest expression of it. — C.B.

Where to watch Dick Johnson Is Dead : Netflix

Fire of Love (2022)

One of two movies about volcanologists Katherine and Maurice Krafft released in 2022 (the other directed by Werner Herzog ), Fire of Love is part self-portrait, part nature documentary, and part elegy. The pair died in the 1991 Mount Unzen eruption but left behind two decades of footage from which this documentary is compiled. 

This is a love story between two people and their shared obsession, one inseparable from the other. The film casts their lives as a testament to the power of science and paints discovery as the ultimate act of self -discovery. — E.F.

Where to watch Fire of Love : Hulu

The Fog of War (2003)

Robert McNamara is a polarizing figure. Partly responsible for escalating the Vietnam War, and a key person in the Cuban Missile Crisis, he served as Secretary of Defense for Kennedy’s bright but tumultuous presidency. Now in his late 80s, this documentary sees McNamara recount the “lessons” he learned and reflect on his career.

Errol Morris did a tremendous job articulating the key aspects of McNamara’s life and legacy that influenced his approach to the decorum of war, but he also gives his subject space to consider what he got wrong. — C.B.

Where to watch The Fog of War : Tubi

Free Solo (2018)

Free Solo is a gripping psychological profile almost by accident. Ostensibly, it’s about Alex Honnold’s attempt to complete the first free solo climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan, but in spending so much time documenting the pursuit, the film can’t help but implicitly ask why , or rather, what kind of person would be driven to do this?  

The mortality rate for free solo climbers is a fact Honnold casually accepts. Thus, Free Solo is thrilling for its footage and what its subject tries to accomplish, but a sense of existential ambivalence comes with that morbid thrill. — C.B.

Where to watch Free Solo : Hulu

Gates of Heaven (1978)

In Errol Morris’ debut, viewers are introduced to the unique personalities that operate pet cemeteries in Napa Valley. Morris lets his subjects' personalities sparkle, weaving a wild farcical tale about the mundane that is believable but just weird enough to stand out. 

Morris would later scale up to more serious and heady subjects, but he never had a more curious or more fascinated eye than when documenting 450 dead animals being dug up for reburial at a different location. — E.F.

Where to watch Gates of Heaven : AMC+

Grizzly Man (2005)

Werner Herzog has long been an important and divisive figure in documentary filmmaking, and this film is perhaps the best example of why. Following the life and death of bear obsessive Timothy Treadwell, Herzog tries to give audiences a jumping-off point for understanding his passion, succeeding only to the extent that it’s possible to understand him at all. 

This is a complicated portrait of a person who believed in the good of wild animals and ultimately died as a result. But Herzog never judges or condescends to Treadwell, even if his involvement in documenting the fallout becomes increasingly complicated. — E.F.

Where to watch Grizzly Man : Amazon Prime Video

Hoop Dreams (1994)

Hoop Dreams possesses a lightning-in-a-bottle magic that documentaries rarely capture. Over five years, the film follows two young Black teenagers in Chicago who get recruited to play basketball at an upscale prep school. It’s the late 1980s, Michael Jordan is ascending to god status, and the possibilities of discovering the next great superstar are infinite. 

Regardless of whether Arthur Agee and William Gates become the next Jordan — or even the next Isiah Thomas — their lives wind up far more interesting than potential glory, with unexpected developments achieving a profundity few scripts ever could have. — C.B.

Where to watch Hoop Dreams : Max

If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise (2010)

Spike Lee ’s follow-up documentary to the equally excellent When the Levees Broke (which is also streaming on Max) examines the effort to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how the disaster changed the city. 

Lee is terrifically skilled at bringing disparate concepts together; here, he captures everything from police corruption and the loss of four housing projects to the New Orleans Saints and their Super Bowl XLIV victory, the latter serving as a vibrant pulse that amplifies the possibility of what the city is capable of. — E.F.

Where to watch If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise : Max

Lost in La Mancha (2002)

Monty Python 's Terry Gilliam tried and failed to mount his vision of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote for years before finally succeeding in 2018, 16 years after this documentary arrived. Despite every effort Gilliam and his production crew made, there was no way to save the initial attempt at making the movie, which may have contributed to Gilliam’s diminished presence in the entertainment industry.

This film explores the many ways that art can be destroyed or inhibited, including a NATO practice base making too much noise, the destruction of sets, and personal injury. It’s also a rare documentary where knowing the outcome after the cameras stopped rolling enhances the work rather than rendering it irrelevant, turning the entire project into an arc about the long road some dreams take. — C.B.

Where to watch Lost in La Mancha : The Roku Channel

Meru (2015)

Anyone who’s ever said “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” has never met the climbers in Meru . For them, the destination is everything as they scale Mount Meru in the Indian Himalayas via the treacherous Shark’s Fin route with their eyes on the peak. 

Few documentaries have ever provided this kind of first-person access to true, gravity-defying danger — because most documentaries are not co-directed by one of the very people at risk. But Jimmy Chin is the exception, filming his climb, avalanches, injuries, and near-fatal setbacks that befall the voyage. What follows is remarkable, harrowing, and a marvel of documentary editing. — C.B.

Where to watch Meru : Amazon Prime Video

MLK/FBI (2020)

Sam Pollard helms this keen examination of the FBI’s role in the torment and death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. From early attempts to create division and dissent in his ranks to phone taps, the organization operated from a place of racist anxiety over the power of Black America and one leader who was leading a peaceful and righteous path to equity. 

Pollard’s film is especially poignant in showing how short-sighted the country remains, even if the methods of dismantling progress have shifted from political entities to more public-facing groups. — E.F.

Where to watch MLK/FBI : AMC+

Paris Is Burning (1990)

To say Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ cultures were largely ignored or erased by mainstream America in the 1980s (and beyond) is an understatement. That fact is one undercurrent of Jennie Livingston ’s Paris Is Burning , which documents Harlem ball culture of the mid-to-late ’80s and finds a host of endearing performers all too eager to bring us into their orbit. 

The beauty and vibrancy of drag balls speak for themselves, but Livingston is also savvy enough to understand how those events intersect with the political and social realities of the time. This is a vital document that’s both celebratory and sobering. — C.B.

Where to watch Paris Is Burning : Max

The Punk Singer (2013)

Kathleen Hanna fronted punk greats Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, two bands that existed at different times in the evolving (but still sexist) conversation about women and their place in culture, with the musicians often serving as paragons of feminist critique and anguish. 

This Sini Anderson documentary contextualizes Hanna within the progressive alternative rock scene that emerged in the 1980s and gained true steam in the ’90s, before highlighting her struggle with Lyme Disease and the way the messages in Hanna’s music translate her personal battles. — E.F.

Where to watch The Punk Singer : AMC+

Samsara (2011)

Talking heads, voiceover, and archive footage have their place in documentary filmmaking, perhaps disproportionately so, but a movie like Ron Fricke’s Samsara unlocks the capabilities of the form. It’s far from the first non-narrative doc — for one, Fricke shot Godfrey Reggio’s iconic Koyaanisqatsi (1982) and directed Baraka (1992) — but it may be the most gorgeous. 

Samsara uses its spectacular, globetrotting 70mm footage to philosophize about life on Earth, forging connections across time, space, and place. Fricke’s meditation on cycles of creation and destruction is free-associative yet thematically controlled, with the final result existing somewhere at the nexus of musical, essay, and poem. — C.B.

Where to watch Samsara : Tubi

The Thin Blue Line (1988)

Errol Morris is one of the most celebrated documentarians of his time. Here, he follows his curiosity to the shooting of Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood and the man convicted of the crime, Randall Adams. Investigating inconsistencies in the case, Morris utilizes testimonies from key figures to recreate pieces of the night in question in strange and striking detail. 

Far from offering a traditional examination of a “wrong place, wrong time” miscarriage of justice, Morris turns his fixation into a shared obsession, with the director as the crafty detective and the audience as his second set of eyes. — E.F.

Where to watch The Thin Blue Line : Netflix

Stories We Tell (2012)

Sarah Polley films are gut punches that incorporate the mind as much as the heart, often exploring community, family, and truth. In this documentary about the affair that led to her birth, Polley incorporates home movie footage — some authentic, some staged — and interviews with different family members to plumb the depths of a woman who remains, even to those who knew her, something of an enigma. 

While most documentaries, personal or political, tend to land on one specific version of events, Stories We Tell is wise enough to know the truth is in the eye of the beholder, the rememberer, and the storyteller. — E.F.

Where to watch Stories We Tell : Amazon Prime Video

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)

Ahmir Thompson (a.k.a. Questlove ) painstakingly restored footage from the historic 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which saw the best acts of the era take the stage over six Sundays in the same summer as Woodstock. 

Words can’t adequately capture how emotionally resonant it is to see Stevie Wonder , Mahalia Jackson , Nina Simone , B.B. King, and Sly and the Family Stone, as brilliant as they’ve ever been, perform for New Yorkers who needed a reason to unite and celebrate. This isn’t just a movie about music but a musical experiment, a historical document with its own meticulously crafted beats and rhythms. — E.F.

Where to watch Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) : Hulu

The War Room (1993)

What goes into winning an election? This is the question explored in The War Room , which examines Bill Clinton’s presidential bid via the proxies of James Carville and George Stephanopolous, who ran his campaign and engineered its success in an outsized way. 

The film considers the relationship between the media and politicians, and how savvy minds can spin news into something that makes or breaks the success of someone, no matter how dirty their hands are. — E.F.

Where to watch The War Room : Max

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Watchdocumentaries.com is a leading online collection of free documentaries. Our mission is to curate informative and educational documentary films and to organise them in an accessible manner. The library is regularly updated with new titles for you to watch and enjoy.

The 30 Best Documentaries of All Time, Ranked

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The documentary genre is a more varied one than many people give it credit for. As a type of film, documentaries do usually aim to inform or educate about some kind of non-fiction story or topic, but that's not their sole purpose. Some aim to evoke certain feelings or experiences more than anything else, others aim to present an argument or point of view in a persuasive manner, and others are mostly concerned with simply entertaining audiences the way a work of fiction might. Furthermore, some documentaries aim to do a combination of the above, or maybe even none of the above, instead opting to do something else entirely

Exploring the world of documentary filmmaking can be a truly eye-opening thing to do, and reveal worlds or unique perspectives that aren't as easy to explore through other genres. It's safe to assume that documentary movies will never go out of style, which makes keeping track of the best documentaries out there worthwhile. Some of the best documentaries of all time have been around for decades, while others are more recent, and deal with ongoing, ever-topical issues. The films below aren't merely good documentaries; they're largely considered all-timers within the genre, and can all be described quite reasonably as the best documentaries ever. What follows are some of the finest documentary films of all time, ranked below from great to greatest.

30 'Bowling for Columbine' (2002)

Director: michael moore.

Coming out years before crime documentaries became Netflix's bread and butter, Bowling for Columbine uses a horrific crime spree as a jumping-off point to explore American culture, and its seemingly unending love of firearms. The event it's all framed around is the Columbine High School massacre of 1999, which claimed more than 20 victims.

In one of the best movies of 2002 , Michael Moore made arguably his most passionate and emotional movie with Bowling for Columbine , with the editing and presentation making the arguments put forward quite persuasive. It's in-your-face and uncompromising as a documentary, and it works well as something that clearly wants to start a conversation about a serious topic.

bowling for columbine

Watch on Tubi

29 'Sans Soleil' (1983)

Director: chris marker.

Sans Soleil is a documentary that's hard to summarize, and has a rather experimental approach to the format/genre. It has little by way of narrative or a direct argument that it wants to present, instead being an artistically presented odyssey through a woman's abstract thoughts, often relating to the meaning of life and human existence.

Sans Soleil feels broad and open to interpretation, but it's the kind of thing where someone could watch it and have it fully click , gaining an entirely different understanding than other viewers. This might make Sans Soleil something of an acquired taste, but it's worth at least one watch for those who appreciate unconventional and adventurous documentary movies .

Watch on Criterion

28 '13th' (2016)

Director: ava duvernay.

Standing as one of the most important cultural/political documentaries in recent memory, 13th is a difficult yet essential watch. It tackles the U.S. prison system with a particular focus on the racial inequality present within it, tying the way prisons function in modern times to the way slavery functioned back during the nation's earlier days.

It might be a difficult thing for some viewers to hear and grapple with, but 13th is persuasive and remarkably good at presenting the case for this claim. It's all assembled amazingly well, and makes for the kind of film that wants to frustrate, get people thinking, and have viewers reassess what they thought they knew. In these ways, 13th is a resoundingly successful documentary.

Watch on Netflix

27 'Gimme Shelter' (1970)

Directors: albert and david maysles, charlotte zwerin.

It's no secret that Martin Scorsese loves The Rolling Stones , having directed his own documentary about them and using their songs throughout his films. He seems particularly fond of the song "Gimme Shelter," which is also the name of this 1970 documentary about The Rolling Stones, focusing on one particularly infamous concert they performed in 1969.

Gimme Shelter is one of the few concert movies that could be described as nightmarish , because even if you enjoy some of the music on offer, the stark presentation of a tragic event is ultimately what's most memorable. It's an intense watch that's probably not for everyone, but it certainly stands as one of the most distinct - and harrowing - music documentaries of all time .

Watch on Max

26 'Man on Wire' (2008)

Director: james marsh.

Somehow functioning as both a documentary and a heist movie at the same time, Man on Wire tells a wild true story that was also adapted into a feature film with 2015's The Walk . It's about daredevil/tightrope walker Philippe Petit , and the way he managed to execute a stunt in 1974 that involved walking between the two towers of the World Trade Center, which had then only recently been built.

Man on Wire 's pacing makes it feel more dynamic and thrilling than many other documentaries out there , and some of the footage/photographs captured prove awe-inspiring to look at. It's artistically presented and genuinely exciting, serving as both a psychological exploration of a rather unique man while also celebrating the absolutely wild feat he managed to pull off.

Man on Wire

Watch on Hulu

25 'Grey Gardens' (1975)

Directors: david maysles, albert maysles, ellen hovde, muffie meyer.

For better or worse, Grey Gardens feels like a proto-reality TV show, arguably leading the way for the genre to exist in all its wild , uncomfortable, and sometimes exploitative glory. This is because Grey Gardens simply observes two real-life people who live strange lives, and may or may not be exaggerating their odd behavior because cameras are present.

The two women at the center of Grey Gardens are relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis , and they live in a large yet rundown house, and have very isolated lives. It's an unsettling and uncomfortable film that blurs the line between documentary and drama , but ultimately one that's proven influential within the genre, and a somewhat haunting watch that has resonated with many viewers since its 1975 release.

24 'They Shall Not Grow Old' (2018)

Director: peter jackson.

There have been many great films about the First World War , and among them would have to be They Shall Not Grow Old . It was released on the 100th anniversary of the conflict's end, and uses colorized and meticulously restored footage to depict the harrowing experience of trench warfare in a way that's never been shown before in previous WW1 documentaries.

It was an ambitious project directed by Peter Jackson , and though getting the footage to look so striking would have taken a great deal of work, the results speak for themselves. They Shall Not Grow Old isn't an easy watch, but it is an essential one , and recontextualizes a century-old conflict by presenting an emotional and intimately personal look at the horrors of war.

23 'Life of Crime: 1984-2020' (2021)

Director: jon alpert.

Life of Crime: 1984-2020 may have a bit of a clunky title, but as a film, it's anything but clunky. It's the third and final installment in a series of documentaries that follow several individuals who engage in petty crime and/or struggle with drug addictions, with it all being filmed in an uncompromising and very raw fashion.

This 2021 film spends one hour recapping the first and second documentaries in the series (which covered the 1980s and 1990s respectively) before moving on to what happened to the subjects at its center in the 21st century. Life of Crime: 1984-2020 sheds light on a group of people who've seemingly been forgotten by society, showing their flaws while also being empathetic. It's devastating, proving hard to watch, and maybe even harder to forget.

22 'The Act of Killing' (2012)

Director: joshua oppenheimer.

Though The Act of Killing isn't a horror movie by any means, it feels more brutal and terrifying than most could ever hope to be. It covers a difficult subject in a unique yet stomach-churning way, focusing on the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966 which saw somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million people being killed (mostly people associated with communism, or believed to be).

It follows various people who participated in these killings more than 40 years on from the events, with the filmmakers getting these individuals to recreate what they did through the guise of "making a film" in the hope they'll realize the brutality of their past actions. The Act of Killing is a daunting look at the dark side of human nature , as well as a terrible period in history that's still in living memory for many people living today.

The Act of Killing

A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.

Watch on Peacock

21 'The Thin Blue Line' (1988)

Director: errol morris.

The true crime genre has experienced a boom in the last five to 10 years, and on a streaming service like Netflix in particular, it seems difficult to avoid documentaries about crime. Many documentaries that are definable as true-crime owe a great deal to 1988's The Thin Blue Line , which was revolutionary for documentary filmmaking as a whole.

It follows the investigation surrounding the murder of a police officer in Dallas, criticizing certain aspects of how it was done, and arguing that the primary suspect might not have been as guilty as detectives believed. The Thin Blue Line was influential enough to impact criminal proceedings, ultimately highlighting how powerful a well-argued and intelligently presented documentary can be.

20 'Harlan County, USA' (1976)

Director: barbara kopple.

While Harlan County, USA may be almost 50 years old, it remains relevant, and will continue to feel vital for as long as workers don't feel fairly compensated for their work. It focuses on a specific 1973 strike in Harlan County, but the ideas and struggles explored here are relevant to various industries and groups of workers.

The "USA" part of the title could be referring to Harlan County, or it could be read as emphasizing that the sort of conflict here is something felt throughout the USA, back in the 1970s and to this day, too, with the recent Writer's Guild of America strike . The presentation in Harlan County, USA is simple, no-nonsense, and ultimately persuasive, ensuring it stands as a classic - and essential - work of documentary filmmaking.

19 'The Times of Harvey Milk' (1984)

Director: rob epstein.

Biographical stories can often be told more powerfully through documentaries than in traditional feature films (though the former isn't likely to earn as many Oscar nominations as the latter). This is demonstrated by 1984's The Times of Harvey Milk , because while the 2008 film Milk covers similar ground and is compelling, seeing it play out in a documentary is even more powerful.

As the title implies, this documentary covers the life and career of Harvey Milk - both cut tragically short by his assassination in 1978. The Times of Harvey Milk aims to celebrate what he accomplished for gay rights in America while mourning his untimely passing , and serves as an emotional and extremely well-presented look at Milk and his life.

18 'Free Solo' (2018)

Directors: jimmy chin, elizabeth chai vasarhelyi.

Viewers with acrophobia should stay well away from Free Solo , because it can be genuinely hard to watch for anyone who has even a slight fear of heights. It follows Alex Honnold as he attempts to climb a 3000-foot-high rock face by himself, and without the safeguards of ropes or safety gear.

As far as "man versus nature" documentary movies go, this is easily one of the greatest of all time, and in a way, ends up being more heart-racing than the vast majority of blockbuster thrillers out there (even the great ones). As far as adrenaline-rush documentaries go, few can compete with what Free Solo pulls off.

Alex Honnold faces the biggest challenge of his career, climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He pursues it Free Solo, which means climbing without a rope and alone.

Watch on Disney+

17 'American Movie' (1999)

Director: chris smith.

A heartwarming and funny documentary , American Movie is one of the essential documentaries about the filmmaking process of the last few decades . It centers on independent filmmaker Mark Borchardt and his attempts to complete his movie, an unusual horror film about addiction and demonic cults called Coven .

It's one of those films that's likely to hit home for anyone who's undertaken a daunting creative project before, or even those who've ever dreamed of fulfilling their creative desires. It celebrates art - no matter the budget or the technical qualities - and even for non-creatives, is likely to provide plenty of entertainment value thanks to its humor and down-to-earth charms.

Rent on Apple TV

16 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' (1991)

Directors: eleanor coppola, fax bahr, george hickenlooper.

While American Movie shows the struggles of independent filmmaking, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse - released at the other end of the 1990s - looks at the struggles of big-budget filmmaking. It follows the infamous production of Apocalypse Now , a film that ended up being a classic, but was plagued with just about every problem under the sun before release.

For as harrowing as the psychologically tense and violent war film is, Hearts of Darkness makes the fight to get the film made look equally brutal and mentally devastating . Francis Ford Coppola and the rest of the cast and crew went to hell and back to make one of the greatest films of the 1970s, and this documentary captures that nightmarish production in stark, eye-opening detail.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

15 'the beaches of agnès' (2008), director: agnès varda.

Agnès Varda was one of the greatest and most creative French filmmakers of all time. She was known for both her feature films and her documentary work, and while titles like Cléo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond are her best-known when it comes to the former, 2008's The Beaches of Agnès is probably her greatest achievement for the latter.

It plays out like a visual autobiography, with Varda reflecting on her youth, her filmmaking career, and her relationship with fellow French filmmaker Jacques Demy . The Beaches of Agnès is touching, entertaining, visually dazzling, and thought-provoking , all thanks to Varda's unique outlook on life, and could serve as a good introduction to the filmmaker's immense body of work.

14 'Man with a Movie Camera' (1929)

Director: dziga vertov.

Without Man with a Movie Camera , the entire documentary format may look entirely different today. It's likely one of the most important and influential documentaries of all time, using inventive visuals and creative editing techniques to show how life was in the Soviet Union during the 1920s.

Beyond that premise, there isn't really a whole to this silent film. Yet the style is what makes it dazzling and engaging to this day, and even if it doesn't grab all modern viewers, surely everyone can recognize its significance for the documentary format as a whole. At only 68 minutes long, documentary fans don't exactly have an excuse not to at least give it a shot.

Watch on Vudu

13 'Woodstock' (1970)

Director: michael wadleigh.

Woodstock is far from the only iconic concert film (more on those below), but it covers what many would argue was the most significant live music event of all time. That was 1969's Woodstock Music & Art Festival, an event that went for three days, saw 32 different musical acts perform, and was attended by more than 400,000 people.

A huge film is needed to capture such a large-scale event, and Woodstock is more than up to the task. The theatrical cut runs for over three hours, and a director's cut runs for almost four, with it capturing some iconic live music (including performances by Jimi Hendrix , Janis Joplin , and The Who ) as well as documenting what the festival was like for those attending, and the ways organizers dealt with certain issues that came about while the festival was underway.

12 'Stop Making Sense' (1984)

Director: jonathan demme.

Stop Making Sense isn't just one of the best films of 1984 ; it's right up there as one of the best concert films of all time. It documents new wave band Talking Heads at their creative and commercial peak, going through an excellent tracklist over 88 glorious, upbeat, entertaining minutes.

There isn't much of a message or story here, of course, but the way it's shot, edited, and paced is certainly more intricate than most concert films. Stop Making Sense is the gold standard for how music documentaries about concerts should look and feel , and an essential watch, regardless of whether you're a big Talking Heads fan.

Watch in Cinemas

11 'Paris Is Burning' (1990)

Director: jennie livingston.

Despite only running for about 70 minutes, Paris Is Burning covers many years, focusing on the New York drag scene throughout much of the 1980s. It looks at a subculture that was likely underground and unseen for many people during that time, and gives those who belong to it a chance in the spotlight.

Paris Is Burning holds up as one of the most important documentaries of the 1990s, and one that is still relevant today , even if these sorts of subcultures are a little more well-known today. It shows the power that documentary films have when it comes to raising awareness for different people and groups, and for doing so here with an LGBTQ subculture, Paris Is Burning is a landmark.

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Scott Peterson

Scott Peterson is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child.

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1972-present

Scott Peterson Today: Convicted Murderer Gives First On-Camera Interview in Decades for Peacock Documentary

The three-part documentary arrives 20 years after a jury found Scott was guilty in August 2004. He has maintained he didn’t kill Laci and their unborn son ever since his arrest. In Face to Face , Scott shares his side of the story outside of his past and ongoing appeals. He began working with the Los Angeles Innocence Project in January and is currently seeking access to evidence.

Another new docuseries is also revisiting the case. Netflix released  American Murder: Laci Peterson  on August 14. It features the first interview Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has given since her daughter’s death.

Watch Face to Face with Scott Peterson   and  American Murder: Laci Peterson 

Quicks Facts

Laci and scott peterson, murder case: arrest, trial, conviction, and appeals, 2024 innocence project investigation, documentaries and movies, who is scott peterson.

In a case that riveted the nation, Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci, in 2004. Laci was nearly eight months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Her body and the body of her fetus washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay three and a half months later. Scott was quickly arrested and eventually found guilty. His initial death sentence was overturned on appeal in 2020, and he is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Scott continues to maintain his innocence and is now working with the Los Angeles Innocence Project in effort to gain his freedom.

FULL NAME: Scott Lee Peterson BORN: October 24, 1972 BIRTHPLACE: San Diego, California SPOUSE: Laci Peterson (1997-2003) ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio

Scott Lee Peterson was born on October 24, 1972, in San Diego. He is the only child of Lee and Jackie Peterson, though both his parents had other children from previous relationships. Scott’s mother, Jackie, died from cancer at age 70 in 2013.

Scott grew up in a San Diego suburb and was a model student and avid golfer. He graduated from the University of San Diego High School and spent a semester at Arizona State University before returning home to attend Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. In 1994, he transferred to nearby California Polytechnic State University, where he majored in agricultural business.

While a student at Cal Poly, Peterson met Laci Rocha. The couple moved in together and married in 1997. She changed her name to Laci Rocha Peterson.

Soon after their wedding, they opened a burger joint called The Shack, eventually selling the profitable business and moving to Modesto, about 90 miles east of San Francisco, to be closer to Laci’s family. There, Scott got a job selling fertilizer, and Laci became a substitute teacher.

Early in 2002, Laci became pregnant. She and Scott were expecting their first child, a son they planned to name Conner, in February 2003. But before he was born, tragedy struck.

On Christmas Eve 2002, Laci went missing. Scott later told police he had last seen his wife, then 27 years old and nearly eight months pregnant, that morning around 9:30 before he left to go fishing. Later in the day, neighbors saw their dog wandering around alone with a leash on, and one of them put the dog in the Petersons’ backyard. Scott says he returned home to find their dog there, but Laci was nowhere to be found.

Laci’s disappearance launched a massive search by authorities and volunteers and a media frenzy. Initially focusing around the Petersons’ house, police eventually expanded their search throughout the city of Modesto and into more remote areas in Stanislaus County. Meanwhile, a reward of $500,000 was offered for Laci’s safe return.

There would be no happy ending. In mid-April 2003, Laci’s body and the fetus of her and Scott’s unborn son washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay not far from Berkeley Marina, where Scott went the previous Christmas Eve.

By that point, news of Scott’s infidelity had gone public. In late November 2002, he met a masseuse named Amber Frey, and they began an affair unbeknownst to Frey. “Scott told me he was not married,” Frey later shared with reporters . “When I discovered he was involved in the Laci Peterson disappearance case, I immediately called the Modesto Police Department.” She contacted the police in late December.

On April 18, 2003—four days after Laci’s body was discovered—police arrested 30-year-old Scott in a San Diego suburb. He was found with dyed blonde hair and a goatee, $15,000 in cash, his brother’s ID, and multiple cell phones. Prosecutors charged Scott with two counts of capital murder and pinned his motivation for the crimes on his affair with Amber Frey. Scott pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence ever since.

His murder trial began June 1, 2004. More than five months later, on November 12, a jury convicted Scott of first-degree murder for Laci’s death and second-degree murder for the fetus. Upon the same jury’s recommendation, Judge Alfred Delucchi sentenced Scott to death by lethal injection on March 16, 2005.

First Appeal Ends with a New Sentence

Scott was placed on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California pending an automatic appeal. Scott’s defense team filed a 423-page appeal in July 2012 and argued their client didn’t receive a fair trial partly because some prospective jurors who opposed the death penalty but agreed to consider the punishment were dismissed from duty.

In August 2017, authorities fought against Scott’s appeal. In a 150-page document, the attorney general’s office cited the “overwhelming evidence” that he murdered his 27-year-old wife and child in 2002. Some of the evidence mentioned in the document included:

“his expressed wanderlust and desire to be responsibility-free, which he conveyed to his mistress as the birth of his son neared; buying a boat mere weeks before Laci’s disappearance; ‘fishing’ with the wrong gear on Christmas Eve morning in inclement weather; surreptitious trips to the marina in various rented vehicles after Laci’s disappearance; lies to friends and family concerning his whereabouts;

“The sale of Laci’s car and inquiry into selling their home, including furnishings; subscribing to pornography channels while the search was ongoing; Laci’s and Conner’s bodies washing ashore not far from [Scott] Peterson’s location on the bay; condition of the bodies correlat[ing] with the timing of Laci’s disappearance; and [Scott] Peterson’s disguised appearance and possession of survival gear and copious amounts of cash at the time of his arrest.”

In August 2020, the California Supreme Court reversed Scott’s death sentence and ordered a new sentencing. “Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case,” the court said in its ruling. “We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder.”

Scott received a new sentence for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for Laci’s murder in December 2021. Concurrently, he is serving 15 years to life for his unborn son’s murder. Barring any new developments in his case, he is expected to be behind bars for the rest of his life. He is an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison.

Second Appeal

In 2015, three years after submitting an automatic appeal, Scott’s attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court of the State of California that was largely similar to the first appeal but included new details about how one member of the jury had lied during the selection process by not sharing she had once been threatened by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend while pregnant. The petition argued the juror, who later publicly identified herself as Richelle Nice, was unfairly biased against Scott.

The appeal failed to earn Scott a new trial nor freedom. In December 2022, a California Superior Court judge deemed Nice’s misconduct was accidental. Her lies during jury selection “were the result of a combination of good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness,” the judge wrote . The ruling also rejected the argument that Nice was determined to convict Scott prior to his trial because of her own experiences.

Most recently, Scott’s case has been taken up by the Los Angeles Innocence Project. The nonprofit offers free legal services to people who are wrongly convicted or imprisoned. With Scott’s legal team, the Innocence Project submitted a request for evidence in January 2024 and sought DNA testing on more than a dozen items. In May, a judge ruled one item—a piece of duct tape found on Laci’s pants—could undergo DNA testing. Hearings for the evidence request, mostly from a burglary that happened across the street from Scott and Laci’s house around the time of her disappearance, are ongoing.

Since Scott’s conviction, a number of documentaries and movies have been released exploring the murder and tabloid-frenzied trial.

In 2004, the TV movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story was released, starring Dean Cain as Scott Peterson. A year later, CBS premiered its own retelling of the tale, Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution , which starred actor Janel Moloney as Frey.

As the years passed, there has been a shift in perspective. In 2016, the documentary, Trial by Fury: The People v. Scott Peterson , took a critical approach to the case, claiming Scott didn’t receive a fair trial. In the same vein, A+E Networks’ 2017 docuseries The Murder of Laci Peterson also cast doubt on whether he was guilty. The case was review again in 2018 through Marcia Clark Investigates .

Two new docuseries are releasing in August 2024 to mark the 20 th  anniversary of Scott’s conviction. American Murder: Laci Peterson  on Netflix focuses on Laci’s life and death and features interviews with her mother and Frey. Scott also gave his first on-camera interview since 2003 for Peacock’s Face to Face with Scott Peterson .

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

Adrienne directs the daily news operation and content production for Biography.com. She joined the staff in October 2022 and most recently worked as an editor for Popular Mechanics , Runner’s World , and Bicycling . Adrienne has served as editor-in-chief of two regional print magazines, and her work has won several awards, including the Best Explanatory Journalism award from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Her current working theory is that people are the point of life, and she’s fascinated by everyone who (and every system that) creates our societal norms. When she’s not behind the news desk, find her hiking, working on her latest cocktail project, or eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

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Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini

Keith and Sherri Papini's seemingly idyllic family life is shattered when Sherri vanishes from their northern California neighborhood, triggering a frenzied search that becomes news around the world. more

Keith and Sherri Papini's seemingly idyllic family life is shatte ... More

Starring: Keith Papini Jenifer Harrison Sheila Koester

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Keith and Sherri Papini's seemingly idyllic family life is shattered when Sherri vanishes from their northern California neighborhood, triggering a frenzied search that becomes news around the world.

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