Small Business Meets Show Business

The best portrayals of entrepreneurs on the silver screen.

And the Winner Is...
In honor of the Academy Awards, we plumbed the depths of film history to come up with our picks for the top entrepreneurs in the movies. These films include both small-business owners and corporate moguls, but each entrepreneur shares one thing in common: They have a business vision that consumes them and they act on it.

From Entrepreneur.com:
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Citizen Kane (1941)
Charles Foster Kane,
publishing magnate

Citizen Kane is the story of a man who raised himself up by his bootstraps to become a legend. Kane began his entrepreneurial career by taking control of a small-town newspaper his father figure owned. From there, he built a media empire, eventually running for government office.

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Ghostbusters (1984)
Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz and Dr. Egon Spengler, supernatural pest control

The path from academia to entrepreneurship is a well-trod one, which is how the three main characters of Ghostbusters end up, well, busting ghosts. Although business is slow at first, the trio is soon called in to bust spirits in a building that hosts a portal of evil.
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Baby Boom (1987)
J.C. Wiatt, baby food manufacturer

Yes, Baby Boom is an '80s yuppie fantasy, but the struggles and successes of its main character still resonate today. J.C.'s circumstances may be a bit unrealistic (how exactly did she finance her new home and business?), but her work/life balance struggle is not.


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Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Preston Tucker, car manufacturer

Preston Tucker had a dream to build the next great American automobile, but his claims of his car being safer than others made the auto industry hostile to the newcomer. Believing Tucker's rhetoric would make their autos seem unsafe, they use their clout in Washington to bankrupt him.

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Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump and Dan Taylor, shrimp company

Forrest Gump has the unique honor of being the only non-biographical movie on this list to have spawned a real-world business; there are, in fact, 15 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants spread across the United States. In the movie, Forrest Gump brings his friend Lieutenant Dan out of his depression and into business with him.
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High Fidelity (2000)
Rob Gordon, used record
store owner

Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is the everyman's entrepreneur: He turned his passion (music) into a business with a secondhand record store, Championship Vinyl. But the focus of the film is Rob's inability to grow up, especially in the love department: His girlfriend dumps him partially in response to his obsession with music.
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Chocolat (2000)
Vianne Rocher, chocolatier

Vianne is the perfect small-town shop proprietor. Her customers become family in her homey and quaint chocolaterie, and her slightly salacious and completely delicious products create the type of fans any business would want. But most important, her backbone is strong in her fight against the unbending and unfair mayor.

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Barbershop (2002)
Calvin Palmer, barbershop owner

Calvin (Ice Cube) sells off his family business, but later realizes he wants it back, so he has to raise double the money to get it back. Though Barbershop focuses more on the back-and-forth of the shop's inhabitants, it's a great look at how a business can mean so much more than the income it generates for the entrepreneur.

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Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Estela Garcia, fashion designer and manufacturer

When Estela's sister Ana accompanies her to one of her buyers' offices at a high-end boutique in Beverly Hills, she learns firsthand how much Estela's dresses are being marked up, how terribly unfair a small business can be treated by its customers and how hard it can be to compete.

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The Aviator (2004)
Howard Hughes,
serial entrepreneur

While Hughes had a relatively easy entry into the entrepreneurial life via his father's company and money, what was admirable was his fascination with and eventual knowledge of the aviation industry. He was virtually self-taught, yet he broke aviation records, designed new technology and planes, and even tested new aircraft.
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