Thom Ernst is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

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

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 Dumfr ...

, 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 Elmira ...

and the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

.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 Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, as well as the surrounding area. Since December 1998, the ''Re ...

'', 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 (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. 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 of Ca ...

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

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

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', 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 Toront ...

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

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. 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 (french: Radio-Canada 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 div ...

, 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)