Bob Mondello, NPR Biography
Film Critic, Arts Information Unit
For NPR News listeners, a movie isn't a "must see" until NPR film critic and commentator Bob Mondello says it is. Each year, Mondello screens more than 150 new releases, assessing each on its cinematic merits, then sharing his critiques of the cream of the crop with NPR's award-winning newsmagazine All Things Considered. A connoisseur of the cinema and the stage, Mondello has also written about the arts for such diverse publications as USA Today, The Washington Post, and Preservation Magazine, as well as for commercial and public television stations in Washington, D.C.
A DC native, Mondello started his arts critiquing early, reviewing film and theater productions while still a student at the University of Maryland. After graduation, Mondello spent more than a decade in entertainment advertising, working in public relations for a movie theater chain and learning the ins and outs of the film industry. Soon his critical talents shone through and Mondello launched a successful venture as a freelance theater and movie reviewer for the ABC-TV affiliate in Washington, DC. In 1984, Mondello came to NPR to share his insights with the public radio community.
In addition to crafting reviews and commentaries for All Things Considered, Mondello continues to review more than 100 stage shows each year for NPR member station WETA FM and for Washington's City Paper, and serves as a panelist on WETA's PBS counterpart during a weekly program focused on the arts in DC.
Mondello confesses that in addition to his work with major news outlets, "I've written for every small paper in Washington that has ever folded." But admits he "hasn't been able to kill off the local public television and radio station yet, thank heaven!"
An avid traveler, Mondello even spends his vacations in other countries watching movies and plays. "I see in a year, what most people see in a lifetime."
