Tommy Edison

Tommy Edison
Personal information
Born (1963-07-17) July 17, 1963
Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Website http://blindfilmcritic.com/
YouTube information
Channel TommyEdisonXP
Subscribers 320,000
(November 2016)
Total views 35 million
(November 2016)
Catchphrase(s) No spoilers. I don’t even know what happened.
Subscriber and view counts updated as of May 2016.

Tommy Edison (born July 17, 1963) is an American YouTuber, radio presenter and film critic known for his blindness and self-deprecating sense of humor.[1] Since 1994, he has worked as a traffic reporter for the station Star 99.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut,[2] a job which he accomplishes by listening to police scanners and calls from listeners.[3]

Motivated to review films by his frustration with their visual language,[1] he started a YouTube channel called Blind Film Critic with his friend Ben Churchill in 2011. His reviews focus on script, music and sound effects.[4] The first film he reviewed was Scream 4;[5] his favorites include Hugo, Goodfellas, Clerks and American Hustle.[1] In 2013, audio description allowed him to watch his first silent film, which he joked was "eye-opening"—however, he does not use it when preparing his reviews.[1] He was endorsed by Roger Ebert in 2011, and has been featured on The Howard Stern Show and CNN.[1] He also makes videos answering viewers' questions about blindness on another channel entitled The Tommy Edison Experience, and has covered topics such as dreams,[3] colors,[6] Braille[7] and assistive technology.[8]

Early life and career

Edison has been blind since birth, and was born with an underdeveloped optic nerve.[1] He was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Canterbury School and the University of Bridgeport, where he studied music.[2] He has credited his parents for treating him the same as his sighted sisters during his upbringing.[9] After developing an interest in local and New York radio stations, he was hired as a disc jockey for the station WJAZ in Stamford, Connecticut in 1987, becoming its traffic reporter two years later.[2]

Personal life

Edison is married to Alannah Uhrich, a concert promoter.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Buckmaster, Luke (December 3, 2014). "No spoilers: meet the film critic who's never watched a single film". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Weizel, Richard (September 28, 1997). "Connecticut Q&A: Tommy Edison; On the Air About Traffic, and Blind". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Painter, Kim (May 23, 2012). "Blind movie critic Tommy Edison educates the masses". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Bunbury, Stephanie (December 3, 2014). "Meet Tommy Edison, the blind film critic". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  5. ↑ Gibson, Megan (May 19, 2011). "Q&A: Tommy Edison, The Blind Film Critic With a Big YouTube Following". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Dahl, Melissa (July 2, 2014). "Could You Describe 'Red' to a Blind Person?". New York Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ von Baldegg, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr (May 7, 2012). "How Tommy Edison, the 'Blind Film Critic,' Became a YouTube Sensation". The Atlantic. Atlantic Media. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  8. ↑ Ellcessor, Elizabeth (2016). Restricted Access: Media, Disability, and the Politics of Participation. New York University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781479867431.
  9. ↑ McCurley, Mark (August 20, 2011). "Don't miss it: Milford blind film critic's website a must-see hit (video)". New Haven Register. Digital First Media. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
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