John Waters
Directing • Born 1946-04-22
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.
Filmography
179 credits
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
Movie • 2006
Seed of Chucky
Movie • 2004
Pete Peters
Something Wild
Movie • 1986
Used Car Guy
The Velvet Underground
Movie • 2021
Self
Thinking XXX
Movie • 2004
Self
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
Movie • 2021
Self [archival]
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Movie • 2006
Self - Narrator (voice)
Sweet and Lowdown
Movie • 1999
Mr. Haynes
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
Movie • 2008
Narrator
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
Movie • 2002
The Reverend
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Movie • 2023
Self
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Movie • 2006
Self
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Movie • 2006
Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
Jingle Bell Rocks!
Movie • 2013
Self
It Came from Kuchar
Movie • 2009
Self
Homer and Eddie
Movie • 1989
Robber #1
This Filthy World
Movie • 2006
Self
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Movie • 2010
Self
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
Movie • 2015
Self
Pink Flamingos
Movie • 1972
Mr. J (voice) (uncredited)
The Book of Harth
Movie • 2022
Self
Divine Trash
Movie • 2000
Self
Mangus!
Movie • 2011
Jesus Christ
Excision
Movie • 2012
William
My Life with the Waters
Movie
Self
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
Movie • 2008
Self
Yesterday's Tomorrows
Movie • 1999
Self
Mansome
Movie • 2012
Self
The Advocate for Fagdom
Movie • 2011
Self
Love Letter to Edie
Movie • 1975
Self
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
Movie • 2013
Self
In Bad Taste
Movie • 1999
Self
Lynch/Oz
Movie • 2023
Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice)
A History of Sex
Movie • 2003
Self
That Man: Peter Berlin
Movie • 2006
Self
I Am Divine
Movie • 2014
Self
Tell Me Iggy
Movie • 2022
Self
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Movie • 2007
Self
Beautiful Darling
Movie • 2010
Self
God Save the Queens
Movie • 1995
Living with Chucky
Movie • 2022
Self
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway
Movie • 2006
Self
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
Movie • 2010
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Movie • 2006
Self
Suburban Gothic
Movie • 2014
Cornelius
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
Movie
Self
The Brandon Novak Story
Movie
Self
These Amazing Shadows
Movie • 2011
Self
Fragments of Paradise
Movie • 2022
Self
The Junior Defenders
Movie • 2007
Narrator
Scala!!!
Movie • 2024
Self
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
Movie • 2013
Self
At the Video Store
Movie • 2019
Self
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
Movie • 2005
Self
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
Movie • 2015
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
Movie • 2008
Self
Sylvester: Mighty Real
Movie • 2002
Self
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Movie • 2006
Self
Tab Hunter Confidential
Movie • 2015
Self
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
Movie • 2025
Self
Each Time I Kill
Movie • 2007
Movie Watcher
Wall Writers
Movie • 2016
Narrator (voice)
365 Day Project
Movie • 2007
Self
Blank City
Movie • 2011
Self
Hairspray
Movie • 2007
Flasher
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
Movie • 2006
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
Movie • 2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
Movie • 2006
Self
TURA!
Movie • 2024
Self (archive footage)
Mansfield 66/67
Movie • 2017
Self
Jackass Number Two
Movie • 2006
Self
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
Movie • 2016
Self
Welcome to Hollywood
Movie • 2000
John Waters
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Movie • 2007
Self
Edith's Shopping Bag
Movie • 1976
Self
Abby Singer
Movie • 2003
John Waters (uncredited)
Way USA!
Movie • 1988
Growing Up with John Waters
Movie • 1993
Self
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
Movie • 2006
Gastronomic Getaway
Movie • 1991
I, of the Cyclops
Movie • 2006
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
Movie • 2015
First Class Passenger
Memories of Oz
Movie • 2001
Self
Sickies Making Films
Movie • 2018
Self
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
Movie • 2000
Self
Inside Deep Throat
Movie • 2005
Self
It Came from... Baltimore!!
Movie • 2005
Self
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Movie • 2007
Self
Forever Hollywood
Movie • 1999
Self
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
Movie • 2017
Self
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Movie • 1985
Mugworth
Movie • 2018
Sir Butler
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
Movie • 2008
Self
Coven of the Heathenites
Movie • 2008
Self
Jessica the Hippo
Movie • 2007
Narrator (Voice)
Serial Mom
Movie • 1994
Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
Movie • 2016
Self
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
Movie • 1996
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
Movie • 2020
Himself
The Cockettes
Movie • 2002
Self
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Movie • 2015
Self
Anthem
Movie • 1997
Self
Pecker
Movie • 1998
Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited)
Cecil B. Demented
Movie • 2000
Reporter
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
Movie • 2020
Host
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
Movie • 2020
Host
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
Movie • 2012
Self - Director
Hairspray
Movie • 1988
Dr. Fredrickson
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Movie • 2019
Self
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
Movie • 2009
Self
Mondo Trasho
Movie • 1969
Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
Divine Waters
Movie • 1985
Self
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
Movie • 2020
Host
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
Movie • 2020
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
Movie • 2019
Self
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
Movie • 2018
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
Movie • 2019
Self
Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
Movie • 2006
Self
Anarchy TV
Movie • 1998
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
Movie • 2022
Self (Archival)
Doc of Chucky
Movie • 2024
Self
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
Movie • 2004
Himself
As Time Goes By
Movie • 2024
It's Dorothy!
Movie • 2025
Self
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
Movie • 2025
Self
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
Movie • 2025
Stage Manager
The Fancy Gentleman
Movie • 2018
Wadworth Thorndyke the Third
Baltigore
Movie
The Broker
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
Movie • 2018
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
Movie • 2010
Self
Nuart Theatre no smoking PSA
Movie • 1982
Gays Against Guns
Movie • 2026
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell
Movie
The Big Wet
Movie • 1993
Narrator
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
John (voice)
21 Jump Street
TV • 1987
Mr. Bean
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self - Guest
E! True Hollywood Story
TV • 1996
Frasier
TV • 1993
Roger (voice)
Finding Your Roots
TV • 2012
Self
Homicide: Life on the Street
TV • 1993
R. Vincent Smith
The Henry Rollins Show
TV • 2006
'Til Death Do Us Part
TV • 2007
Pride
TV • 2021
Self
So Graham Norton
TV • 1998
Self - Guest
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
TV • 2006
Self
Explained
TV • 2018
Narrator (voice)
The Andy Warhol Diaries
TV • 2022
Self
Offspring
TV • 2010
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
TV • 2014
Self
RuPaul Drives...
TV • 2013
Self - Guest
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self - Guest
Fish Hooks
TV • 2010
Ezekiel Freshwater / Hair Man (voice)
Fish Hooks
TV • 2010
The Yeti Lobster (voice)
Indie Sex
TV • 2007
Self
Search Party
TV • 2016
Sheffield
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV • 2009
Self - Guest
The Blacklist
TV • 2013
John Waters
The New Yorker Presents
TV • 2016
Self
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
TV • 2022
FEUD
TV • 2017
William Castle
Clarence
TV • 2014
Captain Tom (voice)
My Name Is Earl
TV • 2005
Walter Hamerick
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Cameo (uncredited)
Real Time with Bill Maher
TV • 2003
Self - Guest
RuPaul's Drag Race
TV • 2009
Self - Guest Judge
RuPaul's Drag Race
TV • 2009
Self - Special Guest
Chucky
TV • 2021
Wendell Wilkins
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
TV • 1988
Self
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Pornmonger Man
Liverspots and Astronots
TV • 2018
O-Dor
HBO First Look
TV • 1992
Family Album
TV • 1994
Vincent
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
TV • 2025
Self - Writer and Film Director
Helluva Boss
TV • 2020
Rolando (voice)
Kevin
TV • 2026
Armando (Voice)
Digman!
TV • 2023
Magnus (voice)
The Colbert Report
TV • 2005
Self - Guest