Kevin Thomas (born June 12, 1936)Kevin Blair Thomas birth registration is an American film critic who wrote reviews on a regular basis for the Los Angeles Times from 1962 until 2005. His long tenure makes him the longest-running film critic among major United States newspapers.Interview with Kevin Thomas , Alternative Projections – Los Angeles Filmforum, Retrieved October 21, 2013
Thomas is known for giving fairly positive reviews compared to other critics, and certainly less critical than Kenneth Turan, who joined the Los Angeles Times in 1991.Anderson, John and Laura Kim. I Wake Up Screening: What To Do Once You've Made That Movie, p. 195 (2006) () (Thomas "can also be very generous to filmmakers") However, Thomas also gained fame after being punched in the nose by Tommy Sands, whose acting he criticized in a review of None but the Brave (1965).
Early life and education Thomas was born in Los Angeles in 1936. He earned a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College in 1958 and master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1960.
Honors and awards In 2003, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association gave Thomas a Lifetime Achievement Award. Thomas holds an honorary position on the advisory board of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and its Dorian Awards."Members". GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics: Home of The Dorian Awards. Retrieved October 5, 2019
In his 2022 book Cinema Speculation – which includes an entire chapter about Thomas – Quentin Tarantino said that Kevin Thomas was the only critic at the Los Angeles Times who seemed to enjoy his job.
A documentary on Thomas premiered in 2025 at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
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