
Neda Ulaby
Neda Ulaby reports on arts, entertainment, and cultural trends for NPR's Arts Desk.
Scouring the various and often overlapping worlds of art, music, television, film, new media and literature, Ulaby's radio and online stories reflect political and economic realities, cultural issues, obsessions and transitions, as well as artistic adventurousness— and awesomeness.
Over the last few years, Ulaby has strengthened NPR's television coverage both in terms of programming and industry coverage and profiled breakout artists such as Ellen Page and Skylar Grey and behind-the-scenes tastemakers ranging from super producer Timbaland to James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features. Her stories have included a series on women record producers, an investigation into exhibitions of plastinated human bodies, and a look at the legacy of gay activist Harvey Milk. Her profiles have brought listeners into the worlds of such performers as Tyler Perry, Ryan Seacrest, Mark Ruffalo, and Courtney Love.
Ulaby has earned multiple fellowships at the Getty Arts Journalism Program at USC Annenberg as well as a fellowship at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism to study youth culture. In addition, Ulaby's weekly podcast of NPR's best arts stories. Culturetopia, won a Gracie award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.
Joining NPR in 2000, Ulaby was recruited through NPR's Next Generation Radio, and landed a temporary position on the cultural desk as an editorial assistant. She started reporting regularly, augmenting her work with arts coverage for D.C.'s Washington CityPaper.
Before coming to NPR, Ulaby worked as managing editor of Chicago's Windy City Times and co-hosted a local radio program, What's Coming Out at the Movies. Her film reviews and academic articles have been published across the country and internationally. For a time, she edited fiction for The Chicago Review and served on the editing staff of the leading academic journal Critical Inquiry. Ulaby taught classes in the humanities at the University of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University and at high schools serving at-risk students.
A former doctoral student in English literature, Ulaby worked as an intern for the features desk of the Topeka Capital-Journal after graduating from Bryn Mawr College. She was born in Amman, Jordan, and grew up in the idyllic Midwestern college towns of Lawrence, Kansas and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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There are two Snow White movies scheduled for release this year, and Snow seems set to eclipse Cinderella as the fairy tale of the moment. Neda Ulaby investigates what makes this princess the one surging at this moment.
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Neda Ulaby talks to comedienne Niecy Nash about her new real-life sitcom, Leave It To Niecy, about her blended family.
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Wal-Mart announced an online video partnership with most of the major Hollywood movie studios on Tuesday. The idea is to make it easier for people to legally watch and share movies digitally.
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Food court mainstay Panda Express is now in the midst of a major transformation. It's adding premium products like Angus steak and portobello mushrooms, and new flavors to keep pace with an increasingly sophisticated American palate. But that fiendishly tasty orange chicken isn't going anywhere.
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Kyle Killen, the man who wrote the new drama Awake, was also behind the Mel Gibson flop The Beaver and the critically hailed but quickly cancelled Lone Star. Can he change his luck?
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For years, Friday nights have carried a grisly reputation — where shows on broadcast networks are sent to die. But a certain kind of cable show has recently performed well — even really well — on Friday nights. And even broadcast networks are finding flickers of life.
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In the nominations announced Tuesday, Martin Scorsese's film Hugo received the most this year — 11, including best picture and best director.
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NPR's Neda Ulaby reports that the division responsible for producing international films for Fox is stepping up its efforts to produce films that may not make much of a splash in the U.S., but make plenty of cash at home.
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One of the most powerful writers and producers in Hollywood is black, female, middle-aged and Muslim. Along with her husband, Mara Brock Akil produces The Game -- one of the biggest hits on cable TV . Last year, the couple collaborated on the comedy-drama film Jumping the Broom.