Some real-life events are so much stranger (or cooler or more exhilarating) than fiction that filmmakers couldn't come up with a better plot even if they tried. From con artists who pulled off heists you never dreamed of to unsung heroes who lived extraordinary lives you never learned about in history class, here are some of the best movies based on true stories to reserve the next time you need inspiration.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Natalie Bay

Story Teenage Frank Abagnale (DiCaprio) leaves home to commit fraud and check scams, eventually stealing $2.8 million. He is pursued (and eventually caught - spoiler alert) by an FBI agent (Hanks) who realizes that his unique expertise can be used to catch other criminals and teams up with Abagnail.

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Glen Powell, Mahershala Ali

Story Hidden Figures is the story of a 1960s NASA race and It is the story of three black women working in NASA's racially and gender segregated computing division in the 1960s and how their work directly contributed to the United States sending men into space.

Starring James Franco

Story Aron Ralston (Franco) hikes through Canyonlands National Park in Utah without telling anyone where he is going. One accident leads to Aron being stranded in the canyon for 127 hours. Eventually he is forced to take extreme measures to survive. This film is not for the faint of heart.

Starring Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook

Story If you like intense survival stories, "127 Hours. 127 Hours" then you might want to watch "Into the Wild". The film tells the story of amateur survivalist Christopher McCandless (Hirsch), who makes a series of bad decisions. Warning: not a happy ending.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, John Carroll Lynch, Dermot Mulroney, Chloe Sevigny

Story The attacks by the self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s remain a mystery to this day. David Fincher's 2007 film, "Zodiac," seeks to answer questions about the identity of the killer.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Matthew McConaughey, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Joanna Lumley, Jean Dujardin

Story Jordan Belfort ( Based on DiCaprio's memoir of the same name, The Wolf of Wall Street depicts the opulence and debauchery of Wall Street in the 1980s. Hint: lots of debauchery. A lot.

Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci

Story The Academy Award-winning film is the story of the Boston Globe's investigative reporting team, Spotlight, which in the early 2000s investigated Catholic The film depicts the rigorous and in-depth reporting of the Boston Globe's investigative reporting team, Spotlight, as they investigate child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the early 2000s.

Starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoff Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman

Story In 1972, the Watergate scandal rocked America. Two journalists from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman), broke the news that President Richard Nixon was involved in the scandal and later wrote a book about their investigation. All the Presidents Men is based on that book.

Starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta

Story Goodfellas follows 25 years in the life of mobster Henry Hill (Liotta).

Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris

Story In 1970, astronauts Jim Lovell (Hanks), Jack Swigert (Bacon), and Fred Heise (Paxton) aboard Apollo 13 was to be the third U.S. mission to land on the moon. Tragically, as NASA struggled to bring the astronauts home safely, an explosion on board forced the cancellation of the original mission. The film spawned the iconic (but somewhat misguided) line, "Houston, we have a problem."

Starring Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley

Story A masterpiece in which German businessman Oskar Schindler (Neeson) saved the lives of over 1000 refugees, mostly Polish Jews, during the Holocaust.

Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart

Story Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of Brockovich, a single mother who takes a job at a law firm. Brockovich is about to uncover evidence that contaminated groundwater is linked to increased cancer rates among the local population.

Starring Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, Nick Nolte

Story Set during the Rwandan genocide, the film follows the efforts of hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) to save over 1000 refugees.

Starring Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke

Story The Miracle Worker is an inspiring film about the work of Anne Sullivan (Bancroft), who teaches communication to Helen Keller (Duke), who is blind and deaf.

Starring Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher

Story Based on the true story of screenwriters Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, the film follows one of an interracial couple (Gordon, played this time by Kazan ) is seriously ill, this touching and funny film focuses on their struggles.

Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman

Story In 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, six Americans evade arrest but become stranded in Iran. CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck, who also directed) devises a bizarre plan to get them out of Iran, posing as a film crew on location.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella

Story Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) and the rise of Facebook. A truly timeless story.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyongo, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard

Story: The Academy Award-winning film was The film tells the true story of Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a black man born a free man in New York State, but kidnapped and sold into slavery in Washington, D.C. in 1841. He worked as a slave in Louisiana for 12 years and was eventually freed.

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Julia Stiles Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Trace Lysette, Cardi B, Rizzo

Story During the 2008 financial crisis, exotic dancers in New York City stock A wild true crime film based on a magazine article about exotic New York dancers using drugs to max out the credit cards of their brokerage clients during the 2008 financial crisis.

Starring Akwafina, Zhao Xujian, Zhi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhang Yongbo, Lu Hong, Aoi Mizuhara, Liu Hongli, X. Mayo

Story A semi-autobiographical film about a Chinese American family who learns that their grandmother has a short life expectancy, based on director Lulu Wang's own life. It is based on the life of director Lulu Wang herself (and is also an episode of the "This American Life" podcast).

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Soris, Harry Lloyd, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney

Story The late renowned physicist Stephen Hawking's great scientific discoveries, his diagnosis of motor neuron disease at age 21, and his marriage to Jane Wilde.

Starring Eddie Murphy, Davine Joy Randolph, Keegan-Michael Key, Titus Burgess, Craig Robinson, Mike Epps, Wesley Snipes

Story Comedian Rudy Ray Moore is a comedian who is in charge of his character, the A hilarious Hollywood tale about comedian Rudy Ray Moore making an independent film based on his character Doremite.

Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Keaton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Story Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention The film depicts the 1969 trial of seven defendants (including comedians, student activists, and Black Panthers) who were indicted by the federal government following the

Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Derek Jacobi, Andrew Havill, Michael Gambon

Story Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, the film is about an unexpected ascendant to the throne and a stuttering The film tells the story of the friendship between King George IV and speech therapist Lionel Logue, who must overcome his stutter when he unexpectedly ascends to the throne.

Starring Daniel Caolya, Laquise Stanfield, Dominic Fishback, Jesse Plemons, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Dominique Thorne, Martin Sheen

Story In the 1960s, an FBI informant ( Stanfield) infiltrates the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party and obtains information on its leader, Chairman Fred Hampton (Kaorja). This Academy Award-nominated film chronicles the events leading up to Hampton's murder.