Mary McNamara is a culture columnist and critic for the Los Angeles Times. Previously she was assistant managing editor for arts and entertainment following a 12-year stint as television critic and senior culture editor. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 2015 and finalist for criticism in 2013 and 2014, she has won various awards for criticism and feature writing. She is the author of the Hollywood mysteries “Oscar Season” and “The Starlet.” She lives in La Crescenta with her husband, three children and two dogs.
Latest From This Author
An autistic actor playing an autistic character, Aidan Delbis is one of Hollywood’s overnight success stories, going straight from high school to the set of a Yorgos Lanthimos movie.
Not all of Hollywood’s best ghost stories can be found on a screen; some live in its landmarks and lore. Here are a few of the most notorious, from the Hollywood Roosevelt to the Mama Cass House to Greystone Mansion.
- Review
‘Mr. Scorsese’ is the best behind-the-scenes reel you’ll ever get to see of the famed director
Anchored by hours of conversation with Martin Scorsese and some of his longtime friends and collaborators, Rebecca Miller’s ‘Mr. Scorsese’ is a convincing portrait of a man whose life is work.
The multihyphenate artist’s latest television series for Netflix is a fairy-tale-like exploration of the underbelly of the so-called troubled teen industry.
Seen from one angle, Trump is most certainly attempting to quash what we have come to know as democracy. But from another, it’s a grudge-holding president kicking the industry that helped him achieve power when it’s already struggling for breath.
‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘The Conjuring’ appear to occupy the opposite ends of the franchise universe. But were they really so different after all?
Times writers share their favorite moments from behind the scenes and on the show, along with one lesser moment.
Columnists Mary McNamara and Glenn Whipp recap the top winners, biggest upsets, most entertaining moments and more from the 2025 Emmy Awards.
With a decidedly non-Hollywood style, can stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze revive the Emmys simply by being completely different?
- Voices
Commentary: I thought rabies was a thing of the past — until my dog had a run-in with a rabid bat
I had never personally encountered rabies so I thought I never would. And then we found our dog hunched over a bat.