John Waters
Directing
Born April 22, 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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.
Filmography
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
Self
The Brandon Novak Story
Self
Baltigore
The Broker
Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Self
Return to Mortville
Self
Kevin
Armando (voice)
Gays Against Guns
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
Stage Manager
Room Temperature
TURA!
Self
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
Self
It's Dorothy!
Self
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
Self
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
Self - Writer and Film Director
Marisa y Gomoso
As Time Goes By
Doc of Chucky
Self
Scala!!!
Self
Lynch/Oz
Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice)
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Self
Digman!
Magnus (voice)
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
Self (Archival)
Fragments of Paradise
Self
Living with Chucky
Self
The Book of Harth
Self
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
Tell Me Iggy
Self
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Self
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
Self [archival]
The Velvet Underground
Self
Chucky
Wendell Wilkins
Pride
Self
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
Himself
Helluva Boss
Rolando (voice)
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
Host
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
Host
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
Host
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
Self - Host
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
Self
At the Video Store
Self
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Self
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
Self
Permanent Green Light
Mugworth
Sir Butler
Liverspots and Astronots
O-Dor
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
Explained
Narrator (voice)
Sickies Making Films
Self
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
Self
FEUD
William Castle
Mansfield 66/67
Self
Hairspray Live!
Search Party
Sheffield
Wall Writers
Narrator (voice)
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
Self
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
Self
The New Yorker Presents
Self
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
First Class Passenger
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Self
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Guest
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
Self
Tab Hunter Confidential
Self
Kiddie Flamingos
Suburban Gothic
Cornelius
The Last Impresario
Self
Clarence
Captain Tom (voice)
I Am Divine
Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self - Guest
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Self
Jingle Bell Rocks!
Self
The Blacklist
John Waters
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
Self
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
Self
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
Self - Director
Excision
William
Mansome
Self
Finding Your Roots
Self
The Advocate for Fagdom
Self
Blank City
Self
Mangus!
Jesus Christ
These Amazing Shadows
Self
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Self
Fish Hooks
The Yeti Lobster (voice)
Offspring
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
Beautiful Darling
Self
Putty Hill
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
Self
It Came from Kuchar
Self
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
Self
RuPaul's Drag Race
Self - Guest Judge
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
Narrator
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
Self
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
Self
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
Self
Coven of the Heathenites
Self
365 Day Project
Self
You Can’t Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of "Hairspray"
Self
The Roots of 'Hairspray'
Self
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Self
The Junior Defenders
Narrator
Jessica the Hippo
Narrator (Voice)
Indie Sex
Self
An American Crime
Hairspray
Flasher
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Self
Each Time I Kill
Movie Watcher
'Til Death Do Us Part
The Graham Norton Show
Self - Guest
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Self
This Filthy World
Self
Jackass Number Two
Self
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
Self
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Self
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
The Henry Rollins Show
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Self
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
Self
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Self - Narrator (voice)
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Self
That Man: Peter Berlin
Self
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
I, of the Cyclops
The Colbert Report
Self - Guest
My Name Is Earl
Walter Hamerick
It Came from... Baltimore!!
Self
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
Self
Inside Deep Throat
Self
Seed of Chucky
Pete Peters
Thinking XXX
Self
A Dirty Shame
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
Himself
Abby Singer
John Waters (uncredited)
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self - Guest
A History of Sex
Self
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
The Reverend
The Cockettes
Self
Memories of Oz
Self
Welcome to Hollywood
John Waters
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
Self
Cecil B. Demented
Reporter
Divine Trash
Self
Sweet and Lowdown
Mr. Haynes
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Pornmonger Man
In Bad Taste
Self
Yesterday's Tomorrows
Self
Forever Hollywood
Self
Pecker
Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited)
The Roseanne Show
Self - Guest
So Graham Norton
Self - Guest
Anarchy TV
Whipped
The View
Self
Anthem
Self
E! True Hollywood Story
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
The Daily Show
Self - Guest
God Save the Queens
Family Album
Vincent
Serial Mom
Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
The Big Wet
Narrator
Eurotrash
Frasier
Roger (voice)
Late Show with David Letterman
Self - Guest
Homicide: Life on the Street
R. Vincent Smith
Growing Up with John Waters
Self
HBO First Look
Poison
Gastronomic Getaway
Cry-Baby
The Simpsons
John (voice)
Homer and Eddie
Robber #1
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Self
Hairspray
Dr. Fredrickson
Way USA!
21 Jump Street
Mr. Bean
Something Wild
Used Car Guy
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Nuart Theatre No Smoking PSA
Self
Late Night with David Letterman
Self - Guest
Polyester
Desperate Living
Female Trouble
Edith's Shopping Bag
Self
Saturday Night Live
Self - Cameo (uncredited)
Love Letter to Edie
Self
Pink Flamingos
Mr. J (narration) (uncredited)
The Diane Linkletter Story
Multiple Maniacs
Mondo Trasho
Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
Eat Your Makeup
Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head
Hag in a Black Leather Jacket
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter