Four years before former President Donald Trump picked Sen. J.D. Vance to be his running mate, Vance’s life story was turned into a movie.
Four years before former President Donald Trump picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance to be his running mate, Vance’s life story was turned into a movie.
The book—which chronicles the strife in Vance’s life while growing up in poverty—eventually caught the attention of Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, who turned Hillbilly Elegy into a Netflix original movie in 2020.
Gabriel Basso stars as Vance in the biopic—which is streaming on Netflix—while Amy Adams plays his mother, Bev. Glenn Close also stars as Bev’s mom and J.D.’s grandmother Bonnie, also known as Mamaw.
The film also stars Haley Bennett as J.D.’s sister, Lindsay, while Freida Pinto stars as J.D.’s girlfriend Usha. Owen Asztalos, Tierney Smith and Sunny Mabery are also featured in the film as the younger versions of J.D., Bev and Bonnie, respectively.
Part of Vance’s story also includes his enlistment in the U.S. Marines, a tour of duty in Iraq and his path to becoming a lawyer at Yale Law School. After his memoir was published, Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 before becoming the VP running mate of Republican candidate Trump on Monday.
