Maltin was born in New York City, the son of Jacqueline (née Gould), a singer, and Aaron Isaac Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge. Leonard Maltin Biography (1950-) He is married to Alice Tlusty, a researcher and producer. He has one daughter, born in 1986. Maltin is Jewish. Stereotypes overturned He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School. He is a good friend of film critic Roger Ebert.

Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After receiving a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, national newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide.

As an author, Maltin is best known for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, (some editions titled as his ...Movie and Video Guide), a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated since October 1987. (It was published under the title TV Movies until the 1990s, and in 2005 spawned a spin-off, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, limited to films released in 1960 and earlier to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles.) He has also written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of the art of cinematography, The Whole Film Sourcebook, Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.

Since May 29, 1982, Maltin has been the movie reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight. He also appears on the Starz cable network, and hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik (originally E! personality and game show host Todd Newton). He currently hosts a television show entitled Secret's Out on ReelzChannel movie network. He also spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and continues to provide creative input and host the various sets.

He appeared on Pyramid twice as a celebrity player, in 1987 on the CBS $25,000 version and in 1991 on the John Davidson version. He appeared on Super Password as a celebrity guest in 1988.

In the mid-1990s, he became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City. He currently teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.

In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former child star Billy Gray, of Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified as a drug addict and dealer in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee for the movie guide book. The statement appeared in print for nearly 25 years before Maltin made a public apology for the error.

He currently hosts "The Maltin Minute" for DirecTV customers.

Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy South Park called "Mecha-Streisand" where Maltin, along with actor Sidney Poitier and singer Robert Smith, fight and defeat Barbra Streisand, who has assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand, a giant, Godzilla-like robot version of herself. His own gigantic form was reminiscent of Ultraman with his initials on his chest.

He also appeared as himself in The New Batch. In a short segment, he gives a bad review of the first film (Gremlins) as several of the creatures creep up on him and strangle him to death. (In his guide, Maltin's three-star review of the movie noted that it contained "gratuitous cameo appearances.") He also made an appearance on the cartoon show Freakazoid! where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters. And while he's been a "talking head" in countless documentaries, he also appeared as himself in a faux documentary, Peter Jackson's "Forgotten Silver."

Maltin had starred on an episode of Entertainment Tonight, where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the film The Time Machine. He sits in the machine and then vanishes, as does the character in the film.

Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000; during a Season Nine episode, he was forced by Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film Gorgo. In an earlier episode featuring The Undead, Mike Nelson impersonates Maltin and apologizes to viewers for his good review, saying he must have been on drugs. Upon this admission, he was awarded the goatee of the millennium award. Additionally, his rating of two-and-a-half stars to the film Laserblast is ridiculed in the episode featuring that film.

In The Simpsons episode "A Star Is Burns", Marge says "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?". Lisa replies "Ewwww!" In the 1995 video release of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Maltin included before the start of the movies.

Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review; his two-star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No". In 1985 he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000. The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000"; in the song the instrumental melody is interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!" In 2004 he delivered a five-word review for Monsters Unleashed. His two star review consisted of the statement "It is what it is."

Maltin also selected and hosted a compilation of National Film Board of Canada animated shorts, Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada.

Comedian Doug Benson's podcast "Doug Loves Movies" features a segment called The Leonard Maltin game, in which the guest must guess the name of a movie based on the cast list in reverse order. Leonard Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself. He appeared on the show again in August 2010.

As author

• Movie Comedy Teams (NAL, 1970; revised editions, 1974, 1985)
• Behind the Camera (NAL, 1971), reissued as The Art of the Cinematographer (Dover, 1978)
• The Great Movie Shorts (Crown, 1972), reissued as Selected Short Subjects (Da Capo, 1983)
• The Disney Films (Crown, 1973; revised edition, 1985; 3rd edition, 1995 from Hyperion; 4th ed., 2000, Disney Editions)
• Carole Lombard (Pyramid, 1976)
• Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals (Crown, 1977; coauthor with Richard W. Bann; revised and reissued as The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, 1992)
• The Great Movie Comedians (Crown, 1978)
• Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (NAL and McGraw Hill, 1980; revised edition, November 1987)
• The Complete Guide to Home Video (Crown, 1981; coauthor)
• The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age (E.P. Dutton, 1997)
• Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy (M Press, 2008)
• Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen (HarperStudio, 2010)

As editor

• Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (originally published as TV Movies, then Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide) (NAL, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, published annually since 1988). Also published in Dutch edition as Speelfilm Encyclopedie, and Swedish version as Bonniers Stora Film & Video Guide.
• The Real Stars (Curtis, 1973)
• The Real Stars #2 (Curtis, 1974)
• The Laurel & Hardy Book (Curtis, 1973)
• Hollywood: The Movie Factory (Popular Library, 1976)
• Hollywood Kids (Popular Library, 1978)
• The Real Stars #3 (Curtis, 1979)
• The Whole Film Sourcebook (NAL and Universe Books, 1983)
• Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia (Dutton/Penguin, 1994)
• Leonard Maltin's Family Movie Guide (Dutton/Signet, 1999)