Ben Mankiewicz is the primetime host of Turner Classic Movies. When he made his TCM debut more than 20 years ago in September 2003, he became only the second host hired in the network's history.
During his career at TCM, he has introduced thousands of movies on the air. Additionally, he’s become one of the best interviewers in the business, leading thoughtful and entertaining long-form conversations with more than two hundred of the industry’s top talents, including Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Sophia Loren, Martin Scorsese, Harrison Ford, Warren Beatty, Spike Lee, Annette Bening, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ava DuVernay, Conan O’Brien, Olivia Wilde, Robert Redford, Pam Grier, Quentin Tarantino, Billy Dee Williams, Jodie Foster, Brad Bird, Stacey Abrams, Maureen Dowd, Bill Hader, Faye Dunaway, Lou Gossett, Jr., and Michael Douglas. Oh, and Tom Hanks.
Mankiewicz is the host of TCM’s first podcast, The Plot Thickens. Each of the four seasons, I’m Still Peter Bogdanovich, The Devil’s Candy, Lucy, and Here Comes Pam were met with outstanding reviews and industry awards. He is also the host of Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast, a collaboration between TCM and Max. Guests for the first season include Steven Soderbergh, Nancy Meyers, Bill Hader, Alexander Payne, Emerald Fennell, and Cord Jefferson.
Since 2019, Mankiewicz has served as a contributor to the Peabody and Emmy-winning news magazine, CBS News Sunday Morning, and has hosted the American Society of Cinematographers Awards since 2018.
Prior to TCM, Mankiewicz worked as a reporter and anchor in Charleston, SC, and Miami, FL, twice being named Best Anchor in South Florida by The New Times.
Mankiewicz moved to Los Angeles nearly 75 years after his grandfather, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (“Mank” to his all his friends), headed west to work in the picture business. Soon after arriving, Herman cabled his friend Ben Hecht in New York, "There are millions to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." His grandson is now proudly one of those idiots.
He's a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tufts University, and Georgetown Day High School in Washington, DC, the school with the least fearsome mascot in recorded history: the Grasshoppers.
Mankiewicz lives in Southern California with his dynamic wife, their whip-smart daughter, and three dogs: one who’s perfect, one who’s new, and one who’s available for adoption at any time. Seriously, please take him.
