Wesley Morris

Early life

Morris was born and raised in Philadelphia. He attended high school at Girard College, graduating in 1993. While a high school student, he wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer teen supplement, "Yo! Fresh Ink." In 1997 he graduated from Yale University, where he had been a film critic at The Yale Daily News for four years.

Career

In 1999, he was one of many film critics who temporarily co-reviewed films with Roger Ebert on his television program in place of Gene Siskel, who was ultimately replaced by Richard Roeper.

Morris joined The Boston Globe in 2002, where he reviewed films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also made regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and did a weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com.

Before joining the Globe, he wrote film reviews and essays for the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle. He was featured in the 2009 documentary film For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism discussing the impact of video store shopping on the importance of film criticism, and how critic Harry Knowles started a questionable revolution of amateurs writing film criticism.

From 2013 to 2015, Morris wrote for ESPN's website Grantland.

In October 2015, Morris joined The New York Times as critic at large, contributing to the newspaper as well as The New York Times Magazine.

In September 2016, Morris and Times colleague J Wortham began hosting a podcast called Still Processing, produced by The New York Times and podcasting company Pineapple Street Media. The podcast received enthusiastic reviews and was named in several year-end lists of the best podcasts of 2016.

Morris was the guest editor of the 2024 edition of The Best American Essays anthology.

In June 2025, Morris launched Cannonball, a new podcast from The New York Times. The weekly interview show aims to cover culture "in the broadest possible sense," according to Morris.

Preferences

Favorite films

Morris participated in the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll, where he listed his ten favorite films as follows:

• Au hasard Balthazar (France, 1966)
• Beau Travail (France, 1999)
• Do the Right Thing (USA, 1989)
• Metropolis (Germany, 1927)
• Moonlight (USA, 2016)
• Naked (UK, 1993)
• O.J.: Made in America (USA, 2016)
• Taxi Driver (USA, 1976)
• There Will Be Blood (USA, 2007)
• Yi Yi (Taiwan, 1999)

In his video podcast, Cannonball with Wesley Morris, he listed his top 10 films of the 21st century as follows:

• Norte, the End of History (Philippines, 2013)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (Australia, 2015)
• The Piano Teacher (France, 2001)
• O.J.: Made in America (USA, 2016)
• Wall-E (USA, 2008)
• Moonlight (USA, 2016)
• The Holy Girl (Spain, 2004)
• Inherent Vice (USA, 2014)
• Love & Diane (USA, 2002)
• Magic Mike XXL (USA, 2015)

Awards

In 2011, Morris won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work at The Boston Globe; the award cited "his smart, inventive film criticism, distinguished by pinpoint prose and an easy traverse between the art house and the big-screen box office."

In 2015, Morris was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary for his 2014 Grantland columns, "Let's Be Real," "After Normal," and "If U Seek Amy."

In 2021, Morris won his second Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for a series of essays in The New York Times; the Pulitzer citation praised Morris for “unrelentingly relevant and deeply engaged criticism on the intersection of race and culture in America, written in singular style, alternatively playful and profound."

Personal life

Morris lives in Brooklyn, New York. Morris is gay.

References

References

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2. from subject
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4. Lehman, Susan. (December 8, 2015). "New Critic at Large: 'Breathtakingly Funny, Absolutely Serious'". [[The New York Times]].
5. Bahr, Sarah. (July 29, 2025). "A Podcast for the Questions Rarely Asked". [[The New York Times]].
6. Simmons, Bill. "Delighted to announce that Pulitzer Prize winner @wesley_morris joins @Grantland33 full-time and also starting January 1st". [[Twitter]].
7. "Here are the winners of the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes".
8. "Criticism".
9. (June 24, 1993). "Meet The Gang Who Made Our Ink Fresh". philly-archives.
10. (February 5, 2014). "Profiles in Criticism: Wesley Morris {{!}} IndieWire". IndieWire.
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12. "The Sixth Sense/Mystery Men/The Thomas Crown Affair/Bowfinger/Dick", Siskel & Ebert. Buena Vista Television. August 7, 1999.
13. Kahn, Joseph P.. (April 17, 2012). "Globe film writer Morris win Pulitzer for Criticism". The Boston Globe.
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15. (17 September 2015). "Wesley Morris Named Critic at Large in Culture at New York Times". New York Observer.
16. (September 17, 2015). "New York Times Hires Grantland Writer Wesley Morris". The Hollywood Reporter.
17. (September 6, 2016). "The New York Times gets serious about podcasting". Politico.
18. (December 18, 2016). "The 50 Best Podcasts of 2016". The Atlantic.
19. (21 December 2016). "15 Notable Podcasts Brought To You By 2016". The Huffington Post.
20. (December 27, 2016). "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2016 {{!}} IndieWire". IndieWire.
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23. (July 24, 2025). "What NYT's Top 100 Movies Missed: 2 Former Video Store Clerks Get Real-Cannonball{{!}}".
24. (January 15, 2015). "ESPN's Grantland Earns Three National Magazine Award Nominations". Advertising Age.
25. (15 January 2015). "The Finalists for the National Magazine Awards Are …". New York Observer.
26. Edmonds, Rick. (June 11, 2021). "An essay about his mustache and much, much more propels the New York Times' Wesley Morris to the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism". Poynter.
27. (13 March 2017). "Brooklyn 100 Influencer: Wesley Morris, The New York Times". Brooklyn Magazine.
28. "Wesley Morris - The Root 100 - 2021".