Roger Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize winning film critic, journalist, and screenwriter.  Described by Forbes magazine as the "most powerful pundit in America", Ebert was the first film critic to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well as a Pulitzer Prize.

Ebert's began his criticizing career in 1967 as a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and later gained national recognition co-hosting a number of shows with Gene Siskel in which they coined the 'thumbs up- thumbs down' style of reviewing.