# Alicia Malone

Alicia Maree Malone (born 4 September 1981) is an Australian–American author and television host for Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Born in Canberra, Malone became a cinephile of classic Hollywood films at a young age. After graduating from Canberra Girls Grammar School, she moved to Sydney intending to work in television. In 2000, she was hired by the Channel Seven television station as a teleprompter operator, and later worked in numerous production roles. In 2006, Malone was hired by Movie Network Channels as a producer and editor. With the support of a close friend and colleague, she began hosting film-related programming, and served as a red carpet interviewer at Australian film premieres.
In 2010, Malone moved to Los Angeles to work in American television. She was hired by her native Australian Today show as a press junket journalist, whereby she held media interviews with numerous celebrities. Meanwhile, she hosted several podcasts and wrote two non-fiction books, exploring the involvement of women in film. In 2016, she was hired as a host for the now-defunct streaming service FilmStruck, which led to her hiring as a full-time host for Turner Classic Movies.

## Early life

Malone was born in Canberra, Australia. When she was three years old, she watched The NeverEnding Story (1984) in a movie theater with her mother and sisters. During the film, the character Atreyu tries to save his beloved horse Artax, which made her very emotional. She remembered, "I started crying and yelling ... I made so much noise my mum had to take me out of the theater." She has credited the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as her introduction to classic cinema, becoming an avid admirer of Marilyn Monroe. To advance her knowledge into cinema, at a young age, she read editions of Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide and watched films presented on Bill Collins' Golden Years of Hollywood program on Network 10.
While studying at Canberra Girls Grammar School, Malone started a film club, intending to convince her classmates to appreciate classic cinema. After graduating, she chose not to attend a university but instead moved to Sydney, intending to work in television. There, she applied and won a half scholarship to study television at a technical college. Meanwhile, she worked at a Video Ezy rental store, where she was hired on the spot, and advised unsuspecting customers which films they should rent. After an acquaintance suggested her, Malone began working at the Channel Seven television station, which was broadcasting the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics at the time, as a teleprompter operator.
Malone stayed at Channel Seven for six years, working a variety of production roles. Then, she applied for a job opening as a producer and editor for the premium television station Movie Network Channels. While there, she reflected: "When I saw the fun tasks the TV hosts got to do on the channel—interviewing filmmakers, reviewing movies—I knew that's what I wanted to do. It was like my film club or video store experiences on a much larger level." She stated her request to Renée Brack, a friend and colleague of hers, who agreed and allowed Malone to do live red carpet events.

## Career
### Film journalist

In 2010, Malone moved to Los Angeles and was permitted an O visa, allowing her to only work in television. Her first work in the United States was doing press junkets for the Australian Today show. During these events, she developed a habit for hugging the celebrities she had interviewed. She recalled: "...you know, you're not supposed to touch these celebrities, they're kind of the untouchable — some of them you can't even shake hands with. So I thought a hug would be a great way to break the ice, to make it be like, we're both humans ... and then it became kind of a theme." After several years of interviewing celebrities, Malone returned to broadcast television, appearing as a "film expert" on American television networks, including CNN, MSNBC, and NBC's Today.
On 20 September 2015, Malone gave her first TEDx Talk titled #GirlsInFilm at TEDxSanJuanIsland. In this talk, she discussed the under representation of females in the Hollywood film industry. On 13 May 2017, she gave her second seminar at TEDxBend titled Female Directors in Hollywood & Impact of Movies Made From 1 Perspective. There, she recounted the history of female film directors in Hollywood, and how more than one type of story can be told.
In October 2016, Malone launched and hosted the web series Indie Movie Guide for Fandango. As a correspondent, she reviewed independent films in limited release and covered numerous film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance, Telluride, and South by Southwest (SXSW). At the 2018 SXSW Conference, Malone moderated an all-female panel discussion titled "The Female Voices of Film Twitter," with film critics Monica Castillo, Jacqueline Coley, Amy Nicholson, and Jen Yamato. At the 2019 SXSW Conference, she moderated another panel discussion inspired by her book The Female Gaze, discussing with three other female directors about their careers, subverting the male gaze, and whether female directors are telling authentic stories. In 2019, she began hosting the video series Reel Destinations for Focus Features, exploring the actual locations of their films.

### Author

Following her first TEDx Talk, Malone reflected: "After starting to get pushback for supporting women online, I decided that I should do it even more. I saw that I had a platform that could have an effect on people, so I wanted to use it for more than just building social media follows." One day, while reading the book Movie-Made America by Robert Sklar, Malone came across the fact that there were more opportunities for women during the first few decades of American cinema than any other industry at the time. Interested, she thoroughly researched the topic and interviewed prominent figures about the historical involvement and under representation of females in the Hollywood film industry. In 2017, Malone published her first book Backwards and in Heels. She followed up with her second book The Female Gaze in response to readers who asked how can they support female filmmakers in the industry.
In 2022, Malone published her third book Girls on Film, detailing her personal history and career, and how her love for classic cinema has shaped her worldview. Her fourth book titled TCM Imports: Timeless Favorites and Hidden Gems of World Cinema is scheduled to be released on 22 April 2025.

### Television host

One night, in 2010, after channel-surfing on cable television, Malone wrote down a particular goal in mind to become a host for Turner Classic Movies (TCM). In 2014, she co-hosted the podcast series Profiles with Malone and Mantz, alongside Scott Mantz for Popcorn Talk Network. There, Keven Undergaro, co-founder of Popcorn Talk, held a private seminar with Malone, where she mentioned her dream goal. Undergaro knew Darcy Hettrich, who worked as the head of talent for TCM. Nervous at the prospect, Malone spent a year sharpening her skills before submitting a showreel of herself discussing classic films. At the time, Turner Classic Movies was partnering with The Criterion Collection on FilmStruck, a film streaming service. In 2016, she was hired to host video introductions for FilmStruck. She also hosted The FilmStruck Podcast interviewing filmmakers whose films were featured on the service. In November 2018, FilmStruck was shut down by WarnerMedia, under the ownership of AT&T, to streamline business operations.
In 2018, Malone was hired as a full-time host for Turner Classic Movies, making her first official appearance on 4 March. She has stated that before filming her segments, she researches and writes her own introductions. Malone further added: "There are fact checkers and producers that review things but they're pretty good at not suppressing what we say." As of 2024, she hosts the afternoon lineup on Sundays and the primetime lineup on Tuesdays. In 2019, Malone was made the current host of the TCM Imports programming block on late Sunday nights.
In the fall of 2020, Malone and her colleague Jacqueline Stewart co-hosted an original limited interview series titled Women Make Film, inspired by Mark Cousins' documentary of the same title. Malone told Entertainment Weekly this was the first time she felt free to professionally discuss women in film to the degree she wanted: "Usually in my previous jobs I've been told, 'Shh, don't talk so much about women. You've got to broaden things out; otherwise, the men won't listen.' I love that at TCM I've been given free rein, and Jacqueline as well, to speak about any subject we like with these special guests." During the summer of 2022, Malone hosted an original limited series Follow the Thread, interviewing fashion and costume designers about men and women's cinematic fashion trends from the 19th to the mid-late 20th century.

## Personal life

Malone lives in Midcoast Maine, having relocated there from Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic. There, she joined the board of directors for the Strand Theatre, a historic movie theatre in Rockland.

## Books

* Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present And Future Of Women Working In Film. Coral Gables, Florida: Mango Publishing. 2017. ISBN 978-1-63353-618-0.
* The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women. Coral Gables, Florida: Mango Publishing. 2018. ISBN 978-1-63353-837-5.
* Girls on Film: Lessons From a Life of Watching Women in Movies. Coral Gables, Florida: Mango Publishing. 2022. ISBN 978-1-64250-656-3.
* TCM Imports: Timeless Favorites and Hidden Gems of World Cinema. New York: Running Press. 2025. ISBN 978-0-762-48848-3.