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.
Movies (126)
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
2026
Gays Against Guns
2026
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
2025
TURA!
2025
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
2025
It's Dorothy!
2025
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
2025
As Time Goes By
2024
Doc of Chucky
2024
Scala!!!
2024
Lynch/Oz
2023
Little Richard: I Am Everything
2023
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
2022
Fragments of Paradise
2022
Living with Chucky
2022
The Book of Harth
2022
Tell Me Iggy
2022
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
2021
The Velvet Underground
2021
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
2020
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
2020
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
2020
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
2020
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
2019
At the Video Store
2019
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
2019
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
2019
Mugworth
2018
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
2018
Sickies Making Films
2018
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
2017
Mansfield 66/67
2017
Wall Writers
2016
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
2016
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
2016
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
2015
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
2015
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
2015
Tab Hunter Confidential
2015
Suburban Gothic
2014
The Last Impresario
2014
I Am Divine
2014
Jingle Bell Rocks!
2013
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
2013
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
2013
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
2012
Excision
2012
Mansome
2012
The Advocate for Fagdom
2011
Blank City
2011
Mangus!
2011
These Amazing Shadows
2011
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010
Beautiful Darling
2010
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
2010
It Came from Kuchar
2009
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
2009
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
2008
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
2008
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
2008
Coven of the Heathenites
2008
365 Day Project
2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007
The Junior Defenders
2007
Jessica the Hippo
2007
Hairspray
2007
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007
Each Time I Kill
2007
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007
This Filthy World
2006
Jackass Number Two
2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
2006
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
2006
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006
That Man: Peter Berlin
2006
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
I, of the Cyclops
2006
It Came from... Baltimore!!
2005
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
2005
Inside Deep Throat
2005
Seed of Chucky
2004
Thinking XXX
2004
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
2004
Abby Singer
2003
A History of Sex
2003
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
2002
The Cockettes
2002
Memories of Oz
2001
Welcome to Hollywood
2000
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
2000
Cecil B. Demented
2000
Divine Trash
2000
Sweet and Lowdown
1999
In Bad Taste
1999
Yesterday's Tomorrows
1999
Forever Hollywood
1999
Pecker
1998
Anarchy TV
1998
Anthem
1997
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996
God Save the Queens
1995
Serial Mom
1994
The Big Wet
1993
Growing Up with John Waters
1993
Gastronomic Getaway
1991
Homer and Eddie
1989
Hairspray
1988
Way USA!
1988
Something Wild
1986
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985
Pink Flamingos
1976
Edith's Shopping Bag
1976
Love Letter to Edie
1975
Mondo Trasho
1969
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
The Brandon Novak Story
Baltigore
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell
TV Shows (53)
Kevin
2026
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
2025
Digman!
2023
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
2022
The Andy Warhol Diaries
2022
Chucky
2021
Pride
2021
Helluva Boss
2020
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
2020
Liverspots and Astronots
2018
Explained
2018
FEUD
2017
Search Party
2016
The New Yorker Presents
2016
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
Clarence
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
2014
The Blacklist
2013
Finding Your Roots
2012
Fish Hooks
2010
Fish Hooks
2010
Offspring
2010
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
2009
Indie Sex
2007
'Til Death Do Us Part
2007
The Graham Norton Show
2007
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
2006
The Henry Rollins Show
2006
The Colbert Report
2005
My Name Is Earl
2005
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
The Roseanne Show
1998
So Graham Norton
1998
The View
1997
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
The Daily Show
1996
The Daily Show
1996
Family Album
1994
Eurotrash
1993
Frasier
1993
Late Show with David Letterman
1993
Homicide: Life on the Street
1993
HBO First Look
1992
The Simpsons
1989
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
1988
21 Jump Street
1987
Late Night with David Letterman
1982
Saturday Night Live
1975
Tony Awards
1956