Thom Ernst is a Canadian film critic and television host, best known as the final host of the television film series '' Saturday Night at the Movies''.Peter Howell, "Curtain prepares to close on TV show: Saturday Night at the Movies wraps up on TVO after 39 years". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', August 23, 2013. Originally from Waubamik,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, he later moved to

Waterloo Region The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfri ...

, attending

Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School is a high school just outside Baden, Ontario, Canada operated by the Waterloo Region District School Board. It opened in 1955 and is one of two rural high schools in Waterloo Region, the other being Elmir ...

and the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

.Harry Currie, "Passion for writing pays off for Thom Ernst"]. ''

Waterloo Region Record The ''Waterloo Region Record'' (formerly ''The Record'') is the daily newspaper covering Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Water ...

'', January 13, 1998. He began his career as a writer of stage plays, including ''Masculine Slaps'', ''Kings and Little Ones'', ''Henry Winkler Eats Free'', and ''To Quiet Blue''. He wrote the screenplay for ''Rosa's Time'', a short film that screened at the 1998

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. He joined ''Saturday Night at the Movies'' in 1998 as a researcher and interviewer, eventually becoming host of the show in the latter half of the 2000s. In 2000 he began appearing as a film critic on radio and television, including regular contributions to

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

and CTV News Channel. He has written as a freelancer for publications including the ''

'', ''

Toro Toro may refer to: Places *Toro, Molise, a ''comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, Italy *Toro, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria *Toro, Shizuoka, an archaeological site in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan *Toro, Zamora, a ''m ...

'', ''Northern Stars'', ''Original Cin'' and the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', and became a member of the

Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toro ...

in 2011. More recently he has hosted the television series ''Making Movies'' for TV1, the podcast ''This Movie Is About You'', and the radio program ''Reel Jazz Radio'', devoted to jazz and blues film music, for

CJRT-FM CJRT-FM (91.1 MHz) is a Canadian public radio station and charitable arts organization in Toronto, Ontario, known as ''JAZZ.FM91''. The studios are on Pardee Avenue in the Liberty Village neighbourhood of Toronto. The station describes itself a ...

. In 2023 he published ''The Wild Boy of Waubamik'', a memoir of his childhood experiences as a victim of physical and sexual abuse by his adoptive father."70 works of Canadian nonfiction to check out in spring 2023"

CBC Books CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, May 8, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Thom 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian memoirists 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male screenwriters Canadian film critics Canadian newspaper journalists Canadian television hosts Canadian radio hosts People from Parry Sound District Writers from the Regional Municipality of Waterloo University of Waterloo alumni Living people Canadian podcasters Year of birth missing (living people) Screenwriters from Ontario