Amy Nicholson | |
|---|---|
 Nicholson at LA Times office in 2025 | |
| Education | University of Oklahoma (B.A.) University of Southern California (M.A.) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2002–present |
Amy Nicholson is an Americanfilm critic for theLos Angeles Times. She is the co-host of the podcastUnspooled. She has reviewed films for several publications, includingLA Weekly,The New York Times,Variety, andThe Washington Post.[1]
Nicholson was raised inSan Antonio,Texas. As a child, she developed her admiration for films after watching "ancient films on TV" with her father and repeatedly watchingHome Alone (1990) with her friends, as well as watching films starringLeonardo DiCaprio.[2] After graduating fromIncarnate Word High School, she attended theUniversity of Oklahoma (OU) and initially enrolled to study psychology.[3] During her second semester, Nicholson took classes in film and anthropology; she reflected: "I was always really interested in the way people think about culture."[3]
Nicholson then double majored with aB.A. in Film Studies and Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma, and graduated in 2002.[4] After her studies, Nicholson relocated toLos Angeles to intern at theLA Weekly, and wrote freelance theater reviews for the paper for the subsequent nine years.[4] She enrolled into theUniversity of Southern California (USC), and graduated with a Masters in Professional Writing in 2008.[5]
After her graduation, Nicholson served as the editor-in-chief ofBoxoffice Magazine. In that capacity, she launchedBoxoffice Weekly, aniPad-exclusive e-magazine. Meanwhile, she also freelanced for theLos Angeles Times,Movieline,LA CityBeat, andIndieWire. Furthermore, she served the film editor atInland Empire Weekly from 2006 to 2010.[4]
In July 2013, Nicholson was hired as a full-time film critic forLA Weekly, a position she considered her dream job. Her reviews were featured in both the print and online editions, as well as eleven publications owned byVoice Media Group.[3][4][6] When reflecting on her role as a film critic, she stated, "I judge a film based on what it wanted to do."[3] In 2014, Nicholson wrote an essay "WhyRenée Zellweger's Face Matters," which was published inLA Weekly. Based on the essay, she was the recipient of the Best Online Commentary Award at the 2015National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. She also won the Best Critic Award in Broadcast or Print for her submitted reviews ofAmerican Sniper (2014) andFifty Shades of Grey andFocus (both released in 2015).[7]
In January 2016, Nicholson leftLA Weekly and became the chief film critic forMTV News.[8] Afterwards, she reviewed films and wrote articles that were published inVariety,The Guardian, andThe Washington Post.[9] In November 2024, Nicholson was hired as the film critic for theLos Angeles Times.[1]
Nicholson was a member of the international jury of the75th Berlin International Film Festival that took place in February 2025.[10]
In 2014, Nicholson published her first book,Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor. When asked why she selected to write aboutTom Cruise, she replied: "He's hiding in plain sight. Everybody knows who he is but no one really takes him as a serious actor. I really like taking someone that everybody thinks they know and making the argument that he's even more than we think."[3] She was given two and a half months to write the book, in which she watched ten of Cruise's films and analyzed them to determine his growth as an actor.[3] Her second bookExtra Girls is scheduled to be released bySimon & Schuster.[11]
In 2014, Nicholson began hosting the podcast seriesThe Canon onEarwolf, alongsideDevin Faraci.[12] In October 2016, due to a sexual assault allegation made against Faraci, Nicholson and Earwolf mutually agreed to place the podcast on an indefinite hiatus.[13]
In April 2017,The Canon returned from its hiatus but without Faraci. That same month, she invited actorPaul Scheer to discuss the 1984 filmGhostbusters. Scheer defended the film's artistic merits, in which Nicholson thoroughly enjoyed the conversation that she invited Scheer back to discussThe Room (2003) later that year. In 2018, she and Scheer launched their joint podcastUnspooled.[2] The podcast debuted at number 1 oniTunes Film & TV podcast rankings and number 4 on the iTunes overall top chart.[14][15]
