The Chicago Tribune’s film critic since 2006, Michael Phillips is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (BA, Journalism). Before joining the Tribune in 2002 as drama critic, he worked as theater critic of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Dallas Times-Herald. He began his career as film critic and arts editor for the Twin Cities weekly City Pages, and as film critic for Minnesota Public Radio.
Phillips has taught film studies, criticism and arts journalism for DePaul University, Columbia College, the University of Chicago Graham School and the University of Illinois, where he serves as mentor and director of the U of I College of Media Roger Ebert Fellowship. He has also lectured and taught at the University of Georgia, Arizona State University and the University of Nevada-Reno. Until 2019, Phillips taught as a faculty member of the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute in Waterford, Conn.
His work in other mediums includes co-hosting the long-running nationally syndicated series “At the Movies” opposite Richard Roeper and, later, A.O. Scott; introducing more than 100 feature presentations as on-air host for Turner Classic Movies; semi-regular appearances on the Chicago podcast “Filmspotting,” heard on WBEZ-FM (91.5); and writing and hosting “The Film Score,” a series of hour-long music specials broadcast on Classical WFMT (98.7 FM).
Michael's also happy to be a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the College of Communication.