Ali Barthwell is an American writer. She reviews television for ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' and is a staff writer for ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in April 2014 on HBO. ''Last Wee ...

'', for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

Life and career

Barthwell was born and raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Both of her parents are physicians. She received her bachelor's degree from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

in 2010, where she was the co-president of the improv group Dead Serious. Shortly after graduating she won a scholarship to train in improv and sketch comedy at Second City. She was inspired to apply after seeing

Amber Ruffin Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979) is an American comedian. She hosts her own late-night talk show titled ''The Amber Ruffin Show'' on NBC and Peacock. She has been a writer for ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' since 2014. When she joined ...

perform on the Second City Mainstage. She has written television recaps and reviews for ''

'' since 2016. She has recapped programs including ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'', ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

'', and productions from ''The Bachelor'' franchise. Along with her two brothers and two friends, Barthwell organized the inaugural

Wakanda Wakanda () is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Wakanda has been depicted as being in East Africa. It is located in sub-Saharan Africa, and is home to the superhero Black Panther. Wakanda first app ...

Con in Chicago in August 2018, inspired by the release of ''

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...

''. The event was received positively and drew approximately 2,500 attendees. Barthwell connected the event to

afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocu ...

and described WakandaCon as "a space for Black people to look past the present and into our future.” She joined the writing staff of ''

'' in 2020. Barthwell won successive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2021 and 2022 for her work.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Ali Barthwell
on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Ali Barthwell
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthwell, Ali Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American women writers African-American writers American women television writers American television writers Writers from Chicago Wellesley College alumni Primetime Emmy Award winners 21st-century African-American women Writers Guild of America Award winners