Kevin Thomas, a Los Angeles Times film critic for over 50 years, is widely regarded as the dean of American movie critics. Beginning his reviews in 1962, he became the longest-running critic for a single newspaper in U.S. history. From 1984 to 2005, he wrote the “Screening Room” column, bringing avant-garde and underground cinema to a broader audience. Thomas, born in 1936 in Los Angeles, earned a Phi Beta Kappa degree from Gettysburg College and a master’s in English Literature from Penn State. He was honored by the National Society of Film Critics in 2005 for his support of independent and foreign films. He has also been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and holds a position on the Advisory Board of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.
