Gerard Malanga has been acclaimed internationally through his simultaneous careers as a poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator, and archivist. Educated at the University of Cincinnati and Wagner College in Staten Island, he studied poetry and underground filmmaking with the legendary Willard Maas and his wife, Marie Menken. He went to work for Warhol in 1963 as a silk screening assistant and soon become a major influence on the art and films created in Warhol's Factory. He starred in many Warhol  productions, such as The Chelsea Girls and Vinyl, and introduced Warhol to many of his most noteworthy collaborators, among them artist/filmmaker Paul Morrissey, the band, The Velvet Underground, and Warhol Superstars Nico and International Velvet.

Together Warhol and Malanga founded Interview magazine in 1969. In 1985 he was appointed first photo archivist to New York City's Department of Parks and Recreation; in 1988 he joined the Society of American Archivists.

Malanga has written twenty-three books and numerous articles. His photographs and films have been exhibited throughout the world. Today, Malanga is a Fellow at the Simon's Rock of Bard College in Massachusetts.