Tom Waits

Actor

Born December 7, 1949 in Pomona, California, USA

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films.

Filmography

Coming soon

Ray Gunn

Eyera (voice)

Coming soon

Wild Horse Nine

Coming soon

Wildwood

(voice)

Father Mother Sister Brother

Father

Roofman

The Last Ride

Self

Human Nature in Eleven Parts

Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)

Star.Wav

The Caller

The Absence of Eden

Hunley

Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience

Self

This Is Sparklehorse

Self

Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious

Self

Licorice Pizza

Rex Blau

Ultra City Smiths

The Narrator (voice)

Motherless Brooklyn

News Stand Owner (uncredited)

The Dead Don't Die

Hermit Bob

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")

The Old Man & the Gun

Waller

The Moon’s Milk

Captain Millipede (voice)

Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30

Self

Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox

Self

Keith Richards: Under the Influence

Self

Seven Psychopaths

Zachariah Rigby

A Brief History of John Baldessari

Narrator

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

(archive footage)

Twixt

Narrator (voice)

The Monster of Nix

Virgil (Voice)

Miral

The Book of Eli

Engineer

The Fallen

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Devil

Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin

Self

One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur

Self

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Kneller

To Live and to Die in Samarkand

Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]

Self

The Tiger and the Snow

Self / Sè stesso

Domino

Wanderer

Coffee and Cigarettes

Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")

Bukowski: Born Into This

Self

Stille Nacht V: Dog Door

Mystery Men

Doc Heller

Bunny

Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Self

Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight

Narrator (voice)

Coffee and Cigarettes III

Tom

The Daily Show

Self

Short Cuts

Earl Piggot

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Self - Musical Guest

Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country

Self

Bram Stoker's Dracula

R.M. Renfield

Night on Earth

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

Wolf

Fishing with John

Self

The Fisher King

Disabled Vet (uncredited)

Until the End of the World

Singer in Bar

Queens Logic

Monte

Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter

Self

The Two Jakes

Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)

The Black Rider

Himself

The Simpsons

Lloyd (voice)

Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale

Silva

La fine della notte

Mystery Train

Radio DJ (voice)

Cold Feet

Kenny

Tom Waits: Big Time

Self

Candy Mountain

Al Silk

Greasy Lake

Narrator

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

Self - Organ/Guitar

Ironweed

Rudy

Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy

Himself

Down by Law

Zack

Tom Waits - Live On The Tube

Self

The Cotton Club

Irving Stark

Streetwise

The Stone Boy

Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)

Rita Ritter

La première journée de Nicolas

Rumble Fish

Benny

The Outsiders

Buck Merrill

Poetry in Motion

Self

The Making of 'One from the Heart'

Self

One from the Heart

Trumpet player (uncredited)

Wolfen

Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)

Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace

Self

Tom Waits: No Visitors After Midnight

Self

Paradise Alley

Mumbles

Saturday Night Live

Self - Musical Guest

Austin City Limits

Self

Rockpalast

The Mike Douglas Show

Self