Brother of Dannie Helen Loraine Knowles
Was featured in a seminar at the 2000 Comic Con in San Diego.
Eagle scout (BSA) with Gold palm
Harrys 3rd cousin 3 times removed is one of Hollywoods goldenage "A" list actresses Linda Darnell (Blood and Sand, Mark of Zorro, My Darling Clementine, etc...)
Harrys 3rd Great Grand-Uncle is old time Western movie star Guinn Big Boy Williams (Santa Fe Trail, The Alamo, Virgina City, etc...)
Weighs approximately 320 lbs
Since 1999, has held an annual birthday party for himself known as Butt-Numb-a- Thon, which is a 24-hour movie marathon, featuring old movies from his personal stash, as well as playing host to the unofficial premieres of major upcoming releases.
His grandfather, Jay W. Knowles, sang in the early to mid 1940s with the "Big" bands of Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, and Jimmy Dorsey on various USO and "War Bond" tours and at appearances on many military bases.
Knowles was offered a voice cameo in the film Zombiegeddon. He agreed, but later backed out. His reasons for doing so are unknown.
Harry is the son of J. Jay Knowles and Helen Portwood Knowles, Film School students at The University of Texas in 1969-1970... They ran the "Minds I" lightshow performance company 69-71 working with many top headline "Rock" groups during those years; and The N. E. Mercantile Co. "Pop" culture collectibles store (Comics, Movie & Rock Posters, Vintage Toys, Gum & Cigarette Cards, Original Art, etc...) into the early 80s. Harry, his sister Dannie, and Jay continued the collectibles business until 1997 when Aint It Cool News took off.
Harry Jay Knowles was trying to come up with a name for his newly formed movie news web site and had seen Broken Arrow earlier that day. He had been repeating a line of Travoltas all day. Jokingly his father J. Jay Knowles said "Why not call it Aint It Cool News?" They looked at each other for a split second then Harry exclaimed, "Thats it! Well call it Aint It Cool"and an Internet institution was born in Feb. 1996. Thats a true story... Aint it Cool?
Originally Jorge Garcia was attached to play Harry Knowles in 2007s upcoming "Fan Boys", but several scheduling conflicts with "Lost" caused him to turn down the role. Then, Kevin Smith stepped in and was very enthusiastic about playing Harry, but some last-minute editing for Clerks 2 forced him to step down. Fathergeek is played in the flick, as are Harrys sister and nephew although the latter 2 are combined into a single non-existant(in reality)niece role. Harrys 1953 Chevy "Geek-mobile" also has a stand-in for the film.
Selected to #98 on Premiere Magazines List of the 100 Most Important People in Entertainment, 1999.
Selected to Entertainment Weeklys Top 101 Power List for 1997.
Selected #82 in Movieline Magazines List of The 100 Best Things to Happen to Hollywood, 1997.
Selected to the Brills Content Top 50 Influence List of high impact media players of 2000.
Selected to the Yahoo Internet Life Top 100 Web Sites List for 2000.
Selected to Wireds Top 25 List of players bringing 21st Century Hollywood to life, in Nov. 1997.
Selected to Forbes Celebrity Power 100 List for 2000.
Selected the #1 Entertainment News Site (aintitcool.com) in the World by The London Times in August of 2005.
Selected # 13 on Forbes "Web Celeb 25" list in January, 2007.
Harry started his film education by populating the 24 hour 16mm film rooms at shows around the country that his mom and dad sold vintage posters and comics at. By age 3 he had his own table selling movie and superhero gum cards alongside his parents, soaking up untold hours of fans conversations along the way. By 5 he had added stacks of 8x10 stills to his stock and had begun visiting with show guests like the Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid, Buck Rogers, Fu Man Chu, Billy Batson, Capt. Midnight, Red Ryder, the original Superman, most of the Tarzans, and comic artists like Jack Kirby, Al Williamson, Jim Steranko, and Will Eisner as well as other celebs like 4E Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen and Harlan Ellison. By the beginning of middle school Harry was selling the vintage posters, comics, autographs, and animation cels alongside his dad and had turned his cards and stills business over to his younger sister Dannie. He continued the collectibles business while taking college film and creative writing classes until AICN begin to make money in 1997.
Selected #9 in the Forbes "Web Celeb 25" list in Janurary, 2008.
Between appearances and speaking engagements around the world Harry lives in Austin, Texas where he edits his award winning movie news Web page, aint-it-cool-news.com and is writing magazine articles as well as working on scripts and a soon to be published book about his Internet adventures.
