Ann Hornaday is an American film critic. She has been film critic at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' since 2002 and is the author of ''Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies'' (2017). In 2008, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Early life

Hornaday grew up in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, majoring in government; she graduated in 1982.

Career

After graduating from college, Hornaday moved to New York to become a freelance writer, contributing to ''Premiere'', ''Us'' and ''Ms.'' magazines; at the latter, she also worked as a researcher and assistant to

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

, a role she held from 1983 to 1985. Hornaday began contributing to the "Arts & Leisure" section of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', eventually going on to become film critic at the ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'' in 1995. In 1997 she moved to ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'', then to ''

'' in 2002, following the retirement of the ''Post'' previous critic Rita Kempley. She has also written features for '' Working Woman'' and ''

Self In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes. The first-person perspective distinguishes selfhood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) same ...

'' magazine. In 2008, Hornaday was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, with the prize committee citing "her perceptive movie reviews and essays, reflecting solid research and an easy, engaging style." In 2017, Hornaday published ''Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies''. The book, a 304-page text published with

Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...

, draws on a series Hornaday began writing in 2009 for the ''Post'', aimed at explaining the various specialized crafts in filmmaking – like sound, editing, cinematography – to a general audience. Hornaday approached it as a journalistic project, interviewing people working in a variety of roles in film to ask them to describe what they do as well as "what they wished audiences appreciated more about their work". In a review for ''The New York Times'',

Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a senior writer in 1991, working as a film critic for the magazine alongside Owen Gleiberman from 1995 to 2013. Early life Lisa Schwarzbaum w ...

described the book as "a pleasantly calm, eminently sensible, down-the-middle primer for the movie lover — amateur, professional or

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

-centric orator — who would like to acquire and sharpen basic viewing skills."

Personal life

Hornaday lives in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

References

External links

Archive
at ''The Washington Post''
Ann Hornaday, "The 34 best political movies ever made" ''The Washington Post'' Jan. 23, 2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornaday, Ann Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Smith College alumni The Washington Post people The Baltimore Sun people Austin American-Statesman people Writers from Des Moines, Iowa American women film critics National Society of Film Critics Members 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists Journalists from Iowa American film critics