Tom Waits
Acting • Born 1949-12-07
Biography
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. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Filmography
88 credits
The Outsiders
Movie • 1983
Buck Merrill
Rumble Fish
Movie • 1983
Benny
Coffee and Cigarettes
Movie • 2004
Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
Licorice Pizza
Movie • 2021
Rex Blau
Down by Law
Movie • 1986
Zack
Short Cuts
Movie • 1993
Earl Piggot
Until the End of the World
Movie • 1991
Singer in Bar
The Tiger and the Snow
Movie • 2005
Self / Sè stesso
The Book of Eli
Movie • 2010
Engineer
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Movie • 2009
Devil
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Movie • 2007
Kneller
Mystery Men
Movie • 1999
Doc Heller
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
Movie • 2017
Self
Ironweed
Movie • 1987
Rudy
Tom Waits: Big Time
Movie • 1988
Self
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
Movie • 1980
Self
Candy Mountain
Movie • 1988
Al Silk
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Movie • 1988
Self - Organ/Guitar
Queens Logic
Movie • 1991
Monte
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Movie • 1991
Wolf
Twixt
Movie • 2011
Narrator (voice)
Seven Psychopaths
Movie • 2012
Zachariah Rigby
Cold Feet
Movie • 1989
Kenny
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Movie • 2012
Narrator
![Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/lxpmTfyfn20JnsbJmjfUKlT7ugU.jpg)
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
Movie • 2006
Self
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
Movie • 2009
Self
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
Movie • 1999
Self
Tom Waits - One Star Shining : The First Decade
Movie
Self
Tom Waits: Under Review
Movie • 2008
Self
Tom Waits: No Visitors After Midnight
Movie • 1979
Self
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
Movie • 2008
Self
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
Movie • 1978
Self
Paradise Alley
Movie • 1978
Mumbles
Domino
Movie • 2005
Wanderer
Wildwood
Movie • 2026
(voice)
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
Movie • 1990
Zack (Archive footage)
Star.Wav
Movie
The Caller
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Movie • 1989
Silva
The Laughing Heart
Movie • 2013
Narrator
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
Movie • 2024
Self
The Cotton Club
Movie • 1984
Irving Stark
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
Movie • 2022
Self
The Two Jakes
Movie • 1990
Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Movie • 2015
Self
The Fisher King
Movie • 1991
Disabled Vet (uncredited)
Father Mother Sister Brother
Movie • 2025
Father
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
Movie • 1999
Self
This Is Sparklehorse
Movie • 2022
Self
One from the Heart
Movie • 1982
Trumpet player (uncredited)
Mystery Train
Movie • 1989
Radio DJ (voice)
Tom Waits for No One
Movie • 1979
Self
The Old Man & the Gun
Movie • 2018
Waller
Coffee and Cigarettes III
Movie • 1997
Tom
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
Movie • 2017
Self
Bukowski: Born Into This
Movie • 2003
Self
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Movie • 2018
Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
The Stone Boy
Movie • 1984
Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
Poetry in Motion
Movie • 1982
Self
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Movie • 1993
Self
The Dead Don't Die
Movie • 2019
Hermit Bob
The Moon’s Milk
Movie • 2018
Captain Millipede (voice)
The Absence of Eden
Movie • 2024
Hunley
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Movie • 1990
Self
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
Movie • 1977
Self
Wolfen
Movie • 1981
Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
Motherless Brooklyn
Movie • 2019
News Stand Owner (uncredited)
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
Movie • 1982
Self
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Movie • 1992
R.M. Renfield
The Monster of Nix
Movie • 2011
Virgil (Voice)
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
Movie • 1997
Narrator (voice)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Movie • 2025
Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
Wild Horse Nine
Movie • 2026
Tom Waits: Elephant Beer Blues - Songs After Closing Time
Movie • 1976
Self
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
Movie • 1986
Himself
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
Movie • 1985
Self
Greasy Lake
Movie • 1988
Narrator
The Last Ride
Movie • 2025
Self
Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Movie • 1998
Self
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
Movie • 2012
(archive footage)
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Musical Guest
Ultra City Smiths
TV • 2021
The Narrator (voice)
Austin City Limits
TV • 1975
Self
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Musical Guest
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
Fishing with John
TV • 1991
Self
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
Lloyd (voice)
Rockpalast
TV • 1974