From Hollywood to Bollywood, countless life-battle-waging characters have inspired multitudes. Characters full of strength, hope, and resilience, these have evolved into an emotional reality behind the cancer. Let’s go through some most unforgettable cancer stories in cinema and TV, still leaving marks till today.
Female Characters: Cancer Stories in Cinema and TV
Hazel Grace Lancaster
The Fault in Our Stars (Hollywood)
Hazel Grace, portrayed by Shailene Woodley, is a fan favorite. An absolutely favorite to play the young girl who battles against cancer. Her love story and saga told of both love and loss on the screens of cinema and TV as one of the most well-known cancer stories.
Emma Greenway Horton
Terms of Endearment (Hollywood)
The classic performance of Debra Winger simply won their hearts. As a mom diagnosed with cancer, Emma’s story is essentially family, resilience, and enduring love-film that calls for movie buffs who love the films based on a cancer theme and love.
Kathy Jamison
The Big C (Hollywood TV Series)
Laura Linney play Kathy, rendering as much humor and grace in the character of a woman who is suffering from cancer. This becomes a highly popular show for realistic portrayal by a woman facing life’s hardest moments of real magic in cancer stories in the cinema and television world.
Kate Fitzgerald
My Sister’s Keeper (Hollywood)
Sofia Vassilieva as Kate, a young girl fighting cancer, brings one emotional story of a family fighting for love and survival. This is one of the most touching cancer movies based on true stories.
Anandita “Anu” Roy
Anand (Bollywood)
Sumita Sanyal reprises in this Bollywood classic as Anu. The story of hers, that of Rajesh Khanna’s Anand, shall always stand in Indian cinema and telefilm as a victorious battle in a war of impending death.
Piku Banerjee
Piku (Bollywood)
In Piku, Deepika Padukone plays a strong woman battling the challenges of life, family, and illness. Deepika Padukone’s character deals with family and illness, but not cancer specifically. But her emotional performance contains all the themes of cancer movies on Netflix and elsewhere.
Male Characters: Cancer Stories in Cinema and TV
Walter White
Breaking Bad (Hollywood TV Series)
The most identifiable cancer stories in film and television are with Bryan Cranston, playing the role of Walter White, a teacher transformed into a meth kingpin while dealing with cancer as a survival story full of moral conflict.
Adam Lerner
50/50 (Hollywood)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s rendition of Adam, a young man diagnosed with cancer, is a realistic and heartfelt journey that makes this one of the best sad cancer movies.
Ron Woodroof
Dallas Buyers Club (Hollywood)
Matthew McConaughey’s performance for his lead, Ron battled his own cancer fight, fighting against medicine is a great story of determination. This one is a landmark in the theme of cancer by any film or television company.
Landon Carter
A Walk to Remember (Hollywood)
Carter does not have cancer; it is his love interest, Jamie Sullivan, who is battling leukemia. Still shining in the role of Landon – a young man falls in love with a girl who is battling cancer. This stands to be one of the most touching movies on cancer and love.
Berlin (Andrés de Fonollosa)
Money Heist (Hollywood)
Pedro Alonso’s Berlin has brought much-needed complexity and charisma to portrayals of terminal illness in Money Heist. His role adds depth to stories in cinema and TV about cancer.
Join the Conversation
Which of the cancer storylines moved you to tears the most? Let us know in the comments! Now, let’s talk about how touching those stories can be and, sometimes, being inspired to be stronger when things get tough.
