Harry Jay Knowles is an online film critic known for his movie news and review website, Ain't It Cool News.

Harry was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Helen Jane and Jarrell Jay Knowles. His early years were spent traveling the Southwest and Mexico with his parents who did light shows for touring rock bands. His parents then settled in Austin and began trading comic books and movie memorabilia from the upstairs floor of their Victorian era house. Harry's parents also produced the Austin Fantasy Film Fest in 1976, one of the first science fiction conventions in Austin. Harry spent many hours watching B-grade horror movies as well as other genres from mostly bootlegged 16 mm prints.

In 1994, Harry fell while pushing a cart up a ramp at a convention, and was subsequently run over by the cart with its 1200 pound load of memorabilia. The accident injured his back and left him virtually bedridden. With money from his mother's life insurance, he purchased a top-of-the-line computer and a friend arranged for Internet service allegedly so they could play Doom online together. After teaching himself how to navigate the Internet, Harry began frequenting newsgroups to exchange gossip and rumors with other fans about upcoming films.

After being chastised by future film critic Mike D'Angelo for posting binary image files to the newsgroups, Knowles launched the website that would become Ain't It Cool News in February 1996. A principal offering was Harry's colorful movie reviews, but the secret weapon was the insider news from a network of "spies" inside the entertainment industry. These spies were initially a fabrication to give Ain't It Cool News' content some flair, but later the site would attract genuine sources who wanted to retain their anonymity and so took on spy pseudonyms.

Due to the popularity, or perhaps the notoriety, of the website, Harry was sought out by the mainstream media, including magazines, newspapers, and television news programs. In 2000, he was ranked #95 in the Forbes Power List. This is in recognition of the influential power of his website. Due to his unorthodox style of journalism, Quentin Tarantino referred to Harry as "the Wolf Blitzer of the Internet." Harry has made guest appearances on the television shows Siskel & Ebert at the Movies and Politically Incorrect.

On March 15, 2003, Knowles's was impersonated by Horatio Sanz in a sketch on Saturday Night Live, wherein he was referred to as "that chubby guy from Ain't It Cool News." Knowles feigned offense on his website at being called "chubby." "I'm morbidly obese," he quipped on his site, "and I've worked hard to get there!".

Every year since 1999, on the weekend closest to his birthday (December 11th), Harry Knowles hosts an event called the Butt-numb-a-thon; a 24-hour film festival featuring un-official premieres, and vintage films. Additionally, Harry co-programs Austin's Fantastic Fest, an eight-day film festival focusing on the genres of horror, science fiction and fantasy. Both events are held at Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Austin.

Harry married Patricia Jones on July 15, 2007 at Green Pastures in Austin.

Visit Harry on line at http://www.aintitcool.com.

Harry Knowles at CONvergence 2005