Ben Mankiewicz

Benjamin Frederick Mankiewicz (born March 25, 1967) is an American television personality, progressive political commentator, and film critic.

He is a host on Turner Classic Movies and has been a commentator on The Young Turks and What the Flick?!

Mankiewicz was born in Washington, D.C., to press secretary Frank Mankiewicz and Holly Mankiewicz (née Jolley) of German–Jewish descent.

He is the cousin of screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz and filmmaker/television producer Nick Davis, the grandson of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, the grand-nephew of screenwriter, producer, and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the brother of NBC News reporter Josh Mankiewicz.

He attended Georgetown Day School for his primary and secondary education and received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University.

In 1992, he received a Master of Science degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism with an emphasis in broadcast journalism.

Mankiewicz began his career as a reporter and an anchor for WCSC-TV (a CBS affiliate) in Charleston, South Carolina.

He joined WAMI in Miami, Florida, in 1998, where he served as anchor of The Times, a daily news magazine show and the station's highlight program.

Since 2003, Mankiewicz has been a host of Turner Classic Movies.

When he made his debut on TCM, he became the second host hired in the network's history (Robert Osborne being the first).

As a film critic, Mankiewicz co-hosted the nationally syndicated television series At the Movies from 2008 to 2009 and co-hosted the online film review show What the Flick?! on The Young Turks Network.

Mankiewicz has made cameo appearances in the Lifetime television movie The Bling Ring (2011) and the action film White House Down (2013).

Mankiewicz also appears regularly on other shows as a political and media commentator, including The Michael Brooks Show in 2017, and hosts a segment on the CBS Sunday morning show called Screen Time.

He was among the people interviewed for the documentary film Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019).

He launched TCM original podcast (April 2020), "The Plot Thickens" in which he interviews renowned director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) who chronicles his life in and out of film.

The podcast is scheduled to have others connected to film interviewed in subsequent podcasts.