Matthew Kennedy is a writer, film historian, and anthropologist living in San Francisco. He is the author of three biographies of classic Hollywood: Marie Dressler: A Biography (McFarland, 1999, paperback 2006), Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory: Hollywood's Genius Bad Boy (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes (University Press of Mississippi, 2007). He has also contributed to four anthologies: Strategies in Teaching Anthropology (Pearson Prentice Hall, first and fourth editions, 2000 and 2006) and The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance & Musical Theater and of Film and Television (Cleis Press, 2004 and 2005). He is film critic for the respected Bright Lights Film Journal, and his articles have appeared in The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Performing Arts, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Kennedy is a former modern dancer, arts administrator, concert producer, and contracted writer for George Lucas Books. He currently teaches anthropology at the City College of San Francisco and film history at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has been a guest speaker at a number of venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, Mechanics Institute Library in San Francisco, and on radio, podcasts, and television. Recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship and a San Francisco Cable Car Media/Journalism Award, he holds a BA in theater arts from UCLA and an MA in anthropology from UC Davis. He is a member of The Authors Guild and The American Society of Journalists and Authors, and is represented by Stuart Bernstein Representation for Artists in New York.