John Waters
Biography
John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. Other films he has written and directed include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.
As an actor, Waters has appeared in Sweet and Lowdown (1999), 'Til Death Do Us Part (2007), Mangus! (2011), Excision (2012), Suburban Gothic (2014), and has appeared in the Child's Play franchise with Seed of Chucky (2004) and third season of the television series Chucky (2024). He hosted and produced the television series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You (2006). Throughout his career, Waters has often collaborated with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders. More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show This Filthy World.
Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations, photography, and sculpture. The audiobooks he narrated for his books Carsick and Mr. Know-It-All were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015 and 2020, respectively. In 2018, Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Acting (118 movies)
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006
Seed of Chucky
2004
Something Wild
1986
The Velvet Underground
2021
Thinking XXX
2004
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
2021
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
2006
Sweet and Lowdown
1999
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
2008
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
2002
Little Richard: I Am Everything
2023
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006
Jingle Bell Rocks!
2013
It Came from Kuchar
2009
Homer and Eddie
1989
This Filthy World
2006
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
2015
Pink Flamingos
1972
The Book of Harth
2022
Divine Trash
2000
Mangus!
2011
Excision
2012
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
2008
Yesterday's Tomorrows
1999
Mansome
2012
The Advocate for Fagdom
2011
Love Letter to Edie
1975
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
2013
In Bad Taste
1999
Lynch/Oz
2023
A History of Sex
2003
That Man: Peter Berlin
2006
I Am Divine
2014
Tell Me Iggy
2022
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007
Beautiful Darling
2010
God Save the Queens
1995
No Smoking in This Theater
1982
Living with Chucky
2022
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006
Suburban Gothic
2014
These Amazing Shadows
2011
Fragments of Paradise
2022
The Junior Defenders
2007
Scala!!!
2024
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
2013
At the Video Store
2019
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
2005
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
2008
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006
Tab Hunter Confidential
2015
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
2022
Each Time I Kill
2007
Wall Writers
2016
Blank City
2011
365 Day Project
2007
Hairspray
2007
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
2006
TURA!
2024
Mansfield 66/67
2017
Jackass Number Two
2006
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
2016
Welcome to Hollywood
2000
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007
Edith's Shopping Bag
1976
Abby Singer
2003
Way USA!
1988
Growing Up with John Waters
1993
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
I, of the Cyclops
2006
Gastronomic Getaway
1991
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
2015
Memories of Oz
2001
Sickies Making Films
2018
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
2000
Inside Deep Throat
2005
It Came from... Baltimore!!
2005
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007
Forever Hollywood
1999
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
2017
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985
Mugworth
2018
Coven of the Heathenites
2008
Jessica the Hippo
2007
Serial Mom
1994
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
2016
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
2020
The Cockettes
2002
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
2015
Anthem
1997
Pecker
1998
Cecil B. Demented
2000
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
2020
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
2020
Directing (19 movies)
Pink Flamingos
1972
Hairspray
1988
The Diane Linkletter Story
1970
Serial Mom
1994
Pecker
1998
Cry-Baby
1990
A Dirty Shame
2004
Cecil B. Demented
2000
Desperate Living
1977
Polyester
1981
Female Trouble
1974
Roman Candles
1967
Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head
1968
Hag in a Black Leather Jacket
1964
Eat Your Makeup
1968
Kiddie Flamingos
2015
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
2019
Multiple Maniacs
1970
Mondo Trasho
1969
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Hag in a Black Leather Jacket | 1964 | Producer |
| Hag in a Black Leather Jacket | 1964 | Writer |
| Roman Candles | 1967 | Writer |
| Roman Candles | 1967 | Producer |
| Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head | 1968 | Writer |
| Eat Your Makeup | 1968 | Writer |
| Eat Your Makeup | 1968 | Producer |
| Mondo Trasho | 1969 | Original Music Composer |
| Mondo Trasho | 1969 | Producer |
| Mondo Trasho | 1969 | Writer |
| The Diane Linkletter Story | 1970 | Writer |
| The Diane Linkletter Story | 1970 | Producer |
| Multiple Maniacs | 1970 | Original Music Composer |
| Multiple Maniacs | 1970 | Writer |
| Multiple Maniacs | 1970 | Producer |
| Pink Flamingos | 1972 | Producer |
| Pink Flamingos | 1972 | Writer |
| Female Trouble | 1974 | Screenplay |
| Female Trouble | 1974 | Producer |
| Desperate Living | 1977 | Writer |
| Desperate Living | 1977 | Producer |
| Polyester | 1981 | Screenplay |
| Polyester | 1981 | Producer |
| Hairspray | 1988 | Screenplay |
| Cry-Baby | 1990 | Writer |
| Serial Mom | 1994 | Writer |
| Pecker | 1998 | Screenplay |
| Cecil B. Demented | 2000 | Writer |
| A Dirty Shame | 2004 | Writer |
| This Filthy World | 2006 | Screenplay |
| Kiddie Flamingos | 2015 | Writer |