Mark Blankenship

As an undergraduate at Emory, he was a member —and during his sophomore year, president—of Rathskellar, the university's comedy improv troupe. Blankenship also acted in and was dramaturge for several productions at Theater Emory, an Equity theatre

In 2008 Blankenship founded the pop culture blog The Critical Condition with Art Meets Commerce, a New-York based new media advertising and marketing firm. The blog sought to engage readers in dialogue about various aspects of pop culture, acknowledges the impact it has on the larger culture and offers insight and analysis of the ways it is shaped by the changing zeitgeist. As an entity, it also became part of the increasingly interconnected "conversation" that exists among culture bloggers. The blog has officially been on hiatus since February 21, 2012.

While at Yale, Blankenship began writing for Variety, The Village Voice (where he was among the inaugural participants in the publication's University Wits series, and American Theatre. He also served as dramaturg for Yale Repertory Theatre's 2005 production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie.

He has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn since 2005. His writing credits include numerous pieces for The New York Times, Variety, New York Daily News, The Village Voice, The Advocate, Time Out New York, The Huffington Post, NPR and American Theatre. He regularly appears as panelist/expert commentator for CBC News: Sunday and CNN.com.

Blankenship was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where he majored in Theater Studies and minored in English literature. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2001, and he is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. While at Emory, he served as the theatre, film and music critic of the student newspaper, The Emory Wheel. He also studied theater at Oxford University. Blankenship attended Yale School of Drama from 2002–2005 and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.

While still a senior at Emory, he was hired as Literary Manager of Atlanta's Horizon Theatre Company, a position he held from April 2001—August 2002.

In late 2001, he was cast as the voice of Dooley, the Southern Movie Hound on the short-lived Turner South series The Southern Movie Hound.

Mark Blankenship (born December 9, 1978) is a writer, critic and the co-creator and editor-in-chief of the now dormant popular culture blog The Critical Condition.