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Some
Biography Interview Questions
Here
are over 150 good interview questions designed
to spark forgotten memories and help you
produce interesting, lively, and
memorable biographies. Good questions are
one of the core elements of a
successful biography.
Early
Childhood
When and where were you
born?
Do you recall any interesting
stories regarding your birth?
What is your earliest
memory?
Who was the most influential
person to you as a child?
What adjectives would you use
to describe your childhood? Why?
How would your parent(s)
describe you as a child? Why?
Did you have any pets as a
child? What kind?
What did you do during the
summertime?
What was your favorite
game?
Who was your first best
friend?
Did you have any nicknames?
What were you most afraid of as
a child?
Do you recall any interesting
stories related to you by any of your elder
relatives that you
have never forgotten and you think are worth
telling to this audience?
Grade
School/High School
Where did you attend high
school?
Who was your best friend?
Are you still in touch with them?
What was your favorite subject
to study?
Did you play on any sports
teams?
What was your favorite
sport?
Were you involved in any school
clubs?
Did you participate in your
student body government?
Is there a teacher that you
remember having been particularly
influential?
How would you describe yourself
as a student, both socially and
academically?
What did you like most about
school? Least?
What sort of extracurricular
activities did you participate in as a
teen?
Did you earn any honors or were
you recognized for any achievements?
Did you have a teen idol?
If so, who was it and how did they spark
your interest?
Who was your first
boy/girlfriend?
What was your favorite
music/band/dance in high school?
What would people you know find
surprising about you as a teen?
College
Did you attend college?
If so, which one? If not, why?
How were you able to attend
college? Did you put yourself through
school, or were you supported by your
parents?
Did you live in a dorm?
Who was your most memorable
roommate?
Are you in touch with any?
Why did you decide to attend
college?
What subject(s) did you study
and why?
Did you get a degree? In
what?
What generation of your family
were you to receive a degree?
Was your family supportive of
your decision to attend college? How
so?
How did your college experience
prepare you for your later years?
If you could do it again, would
you take a different academic path, or are
you satisfied with the route you
followed?
Did you go on to receive an
advanced degree? If so, what was it
and have you used it in your professional
career?
What on-campus activities did
you participate in?
Military Experience
How did it come about that you
went into the military?
Did you ever serve duty over
seas? If so, where and for what reason
were you abroad?
How many years did you serve
for?
What rank were you while in the
service?
Did you form any long lasting
relationships?
What is your fondest memory
while serving duty?
What was the most difficult
aspect of participating in the military?
Were you ever in combat?
Explain the circumstances.
What is your opinion regarding
war as a means to resolve conflict?
Would you ( or did you)
encourage your child to enlist? Why or
why not?
What is your opinion regarding
the government’s compensation for
veterans?
Do you consider your duty as
having been a positive or negative life
experience? Why?
What did you learn from the
military that benefited you most in
life?
Career
What was your first job?
What was your best job?
What was your worst job?
What is the longest amount of
time you have ever stayed with one
company? What was your position
there?
In addition to being paid
money, how else has your career created
value in your life?
Do you have any regrets
regarding your career path?
What is your most significant
accomplishment as a professional?
Were you ever fired for unjust
reasons?
What do you consider to be the
best possible work environment?
Who was the biggest influence
in your career?
What would be your ideal
job?
Family
Do you have children? If
so, how many and what ages/sexes?
What is your goal as a
parent?
What does the word “family”
mean to you?
Do you have any regrets
regarding the way you raised your
children?
In what way have you influenced
your children the most?
How would your children
describe you as a parent?
How do you describe yourself as
a parent?
In what ways have your parents
influenced you the most?
Which of your parents do you
most similar to and why?
Do you wish you had been raised
differently? How so?
What is your relationship with
your parents like today?
What role do you play in your
family?
How has manner in which you
were raised affected the way in which you
parented your own children?
Do you have siblings? How
many, are they older or younger, and what
are their sexes?
How are your relationships with
your siblings?
Would you change anything about
your relationships with them?
Who are you closest to in your
family?
Who do you admire most in your
family and why?
Were you raised in a broken
home? If so, who were you raised by
and how did this affect you?
Have you lost any family
members to death?
If so, what was your
relationship to them and how did their death
affect you/your family?
Pets?
Love
Who was your first love?
Have you had your heart
broken?
Have you broken any hearts?
Have you ever been married? To
whom and for how long?
Describe your courtship.
How did you and your spouse
first meet?
How did you propose/accept?
Describe your
wedding/honeymoon.
Do you believe in love at first
sight?
Have you ever been
divorced?
Describe your worst
break-up.
Who was your biggest crush?
What role do you play in your
marriage/relationships?
Do you have any regrets
regarding your love life?
What was the most special way
you’ve shown someone that you loved
them?
What was the most special way
you’ve been sown you’re loved?
Politics/History
What do you consider to be the
most significant political event that has
occurred during your life?
What do you consider to be the
most significant political event that has
occurred in all of human history?
Which political figure do you
most admire?
Which political figure do you
least admire?
Other than the present, which
historical era would you like to have lived
in?
What do you consider to be the
most important war fought during your
lifetime? In all of history?
What do you consider to be the
least important?
Have you ever fought for a
political cause?
What social movements have
affected your social conscience and how?
What would you like to see
change in the current political/social
atmosphere?
Are you politically active?
If you had to choose, what one
political/social cause would you give your
life for?
If you could meet any
historical icon, of the past or present, who
would it be and why?
General
What is your definition of
“happiness”?
What was your worst injury?
What celebrity would you most
want to meet?
What is your most memorable
travel experience?
What’s the farthest from home
you’ve ever been?
What is the funniest thing
that’s ever happened to you?
What was your most rebellious
moment?
If you had to choose, what is
the one thing you regret about the way in
which you’ve lived your life?
What is your happiest
memory?
Your saddest?
What accomplishment are you
most proud of?
If you could do it all over
again, what would you do differently?
How do you hope to be
remembered?
How do you think people will
remember you?
Who is your biggest fan?
Whose biggest fan are you?
What do you like to do in your
spare time?
When asked, what’s the one
question you always answer with a lie?
What do you want the epitaph on
your tombstone to be?
What is your most
embarrassing moment?
If you could possess one
super-human power, what would it be?
What is your greatest fear?
What is your greatest hope?
What are you really bad at that
you’d love to be great at?
What do you think happens after
death?
What place does religion have
in your life?
If there is a heaven, what do
you imagine it to be like?
If you were re-born as an
animal, what would you want to be?
If you could be anyone in
history, who would it be?
Do you have any phobias?
What’s your favorite joke?
What are the main lessons
you’ve learned in life?
Age Specific
Questions
Where were you and how did you
react to…
·
President Kennedy’s assassination?
·
landing on the moon?
·
the fall of the Berlin Wall?
·
the explosion of the Challenger?
·
Sept.11?
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