Directing · Baltimore, Maryland, USA · Born April 22, 1946
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.
MovieMary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
2026
as Self
MovieReturn to Mortville
2026
as Self
TVKevin
2026
as Armando (voice)
MovieGays Against Guns
2026
MovieSarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
2025
as Stage Manager
MovieTURA!
2025
as Self
MovieVelvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
2025
as Self
MovieIt's Dorothy!
2025
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MovieA Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
2025
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TVEverybody's Live with John Mulaney
2025
as Self - Writer and Film Director
MovieAs Time Goes By
2024
MovieDoc of Chucky
2024
as Self
MovieScala!!!
2024
as Self
MovieLynch/Oz
2023
as Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice)
MovieLittle Richard: I Am Everything
2023
as Self
TVDigman!
2023
as Magnus (voice)
MovieDon't Fall in Love with Yourself
2022
as Self (Archival)
MovieFragments of Paradise
2022
as Self
MovieLiving with Chucky
2022
as Self
MovieThe Book of Harth
2022
as Self
TVCharles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
2022
MovieTell Me Iggy
2022
as Self
TVThe Andy Warhol Diaries
2022
as Self
MovieBlood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
2021
as Self [archival]
MovieThe Velvet Underground
2021
as Self
TVChucky
2021
as Wendell Wilkins
TVPride
2021
as Self
My Life with the Waters
2021
as Self
MovieThe Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
2020
as Himself
TVHelluva Boss
2020
as Rolando (voice)
MovieTime Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020
as Host
MovieTime Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
2020
as Host
MovieTime Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
2020
as Host
TVTime Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
2020
as Self - Host
MovieJoel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
2020
Movie30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
2019
as Self
MovieAt the Video Store
2019
as Self
MovieBully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
2019
as Self
MovieSniffing Out ‘Polyester’
2019
as Self
MovieMugworth
2018
as Sir Butler
TVLiverspots and Astronots
2018
as O-Dor
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
2018
MovieFemale Trouble: On-Set Footage
2018
TVExplained
2018
as Narrator (voice)
MovieSickies Making Films
2018
as Self
MovieQueercore: How to Punk a Revolution
2017
as Self
TVFEUD
2017
as William Castle
MovieMansfield 66/67
2017
as Self
TVSearch Party
2016
as Sheffield
MovieWall Writers
2016
as Narrator (voice)
MovieIn Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
2016
as Self
MovieWhatever Happened to Gelitin
2016
as Self
TVThe New Yorker Presents
2016
as Self
MovieAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
2015
as First Class Passenger
MovieSympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
2015
as Self
MovieThe 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
MovieSeed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
2015
as Self
MovieTab Hunter Confidential
2015
as Self
MovieSuburban Gothic
2014
as Cornelius
MovieThe Last Impresario
2014
as Self
TVClarence
2014
as Captain Tom (voice)
MovieI Am Divine
2014
as Self
TVLate Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
TVHitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
2014
as Self
MovieJingle Bell Rocks!
2013
as Self
TVThe Blacklist
2013
as John Waters
RuPaul Drives...
2013
as Self - Guest
MoviePaul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
2013
as Self
MovieThe Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
2013
as Self
MovieFrankenstein: A Modern Myth
2012
as Self - Director
MovieExcision
2012
as William
MovieMansome
2012
as Self
TVFinding Your Roots
2012
as Self
MovieThe Advocate for Fagdom
2011
as Self
MovieBlank City
2011
as Self
MovieMangus!
2011
as Jesus Christ
MovieThese Amazing Shadows
2011
as Self
MovieWilliam S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010
as Self
TVFish Hooks
2010
as The Yeti Lobster (voice)
TVOffspring
2010
MovieHerschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010
MovieBeautiful Darling
2010
as Self
MovieThe Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
2010
as Self
MovieIt Came from Kuchar
2009
as Self
TVWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
MovieFor the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
2009
as Self
TVRuPaul's Drag Race
2009
as Self - Guest Judge
MovieThe Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
2008
as Narrator
MovieObscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
2008
as Self
MovieStarz Inside: In the Gutter
2008
as Self
MovieNew Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
2008
as Self
MovieCoven of the Heathenites
2008
as Self
Movie365 Day Project
2007
as Self
MovieYou Can’t Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of "Hairspray"
2007
as Self
MovieThe Roots of 'Hairspray'
2007
as Self
MovieSpine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007
as Self
MovieThe Junior Defenders
2007
as Narrator
MovieJessica the Hippo
2007
as Narrator (Voice)
TVIndie Sex
2007
as Self
MovieHairspray
2007
as Flasher
MovieJack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007
as Self
MovieEach Time I Kill
2007
as Movie Watcher
TV'Til Death Do Us Part
2007
TVThe Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self - Guest
MovieHere’s Looking at You, Boy
2007
as Self
MovieThis Filthy World
2006
as Self
Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
2006
as Self
MovieJackass Number Two
2006
as Self
MovieThis Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006
as Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway
2006
as Self
TVI Love the '70s: Volume 2
2006
as Self
MovieMidnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006
as Self
MovieMommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006
TVThe Henry Rollins Show
2006
Movie42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006
as Self
MovieFootlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
2006
Movie(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
2006
as Self
MoviePlagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
2006
as Self - Narrator (voice)
MovieFabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006
as Self
MovieThat Man: Peter Berlin
2006
as Self
MovieMeet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
MovieI, of the Cyclops
2006
TVThe Colbert Report
2005
as Self - Guest
TVMy Name Is Earl
2005
as Walter Hamerick
MovieIt Came from... Baltimore!!
2005
as Self
MovieAll the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
2005
as Self
MovieInside Deep Throat
2005
as Self
MovieSeed of Chucky
2004
as Pete Peters
MovieThinking XXX
2004
as Self
MovieCloser Than That: A Documentary on Low
2004
as Himself
MovieAbby Singer
2003
as John Waters (uncredited)
TVReal Time with Bill Maher
2003
as Self - Guest
MovieA History of Sex
2003
as Self
Sylvester: Mighty Real
2002
as Self
MovieBlood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
2002
as The Reverend
MovieThe Cockettes
2002
as Self
MovieMemories of Oz
2001
as Self
MovieWelcome to Hollywood
2000
as John Waters
MoviePie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
2000
as Self
MovieCecil B. Demented
2000
as Reporter
MovieDivine Trash
2000
as Self
MovieSweet and Lowdown
1999
as Mr. Haynes
TVLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Pornmonger Man
MovieIn Bad Taste
1999
as Self
MovieYesterday's Tomorrows
1999
as Self
MovieForever Hollywood
1999
as Self
MoviePecker
1998
as Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited)
TVThe Roseanne Show
1998
as Self - Guest
TVSo Graham Norton
1998
as Self - Guest
MovieAnarchy TV
1998
TVThe View
1997
as Self
MovieAnthem
1997
as Self
TVE! True Hollywood Story
1996
MovieBallyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996
TVThe Daily Show
1996
as Self - Guest
MovieGod Save the Queens
1995
TVFamily Album
1994
as Vincent
MovieSerial Mom
1994
as Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
MovieThe Big Wet
1993
as Narrator
TVEurotrash
1993
TVFrasier
1993
as Roger (voice)
TVLate Show with David Letterman
1993
as Self - Guest
TVHomicide: Life on the Street
1993
as R. Vincent Smith
MovieGrowing Up with John Waters
1993
as Self
TVHBO First Look
1992
MovieGastronomic Getaway
1991
TVThe Word
1990
TVThe Simpsons
1989
as John (voice)
MovieHomer and Eddie
1989
as Robber #1
TVThe Incredibly Strange Film Show
1988
as Self
MovieHairspray
1988
as Dr. Fredrickson
MovieWay USA!
1988
TV21 Jump Street
1987
as Mr. Bean
MovieSomething Wild
1986
as Used Car Guy
MovieThe Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985
Divine Waters
1985
as Self
MovieNuart Theatre No Smoking PSA
1982
as Self
TVLate Night with David Letterman
1982
as Self - Guest
MovieEdith's Shopping Bag
1976
as Self
TVSaturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
MovieLove Letter to Edie
1975
as Self
MoviePink Flamingos
1972
as Mr. J (narration) (uncredited)
MovieMondo Trasho
1969
as Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Presenter
MovieMary Woronov: Cult Queen
as Self
MovieThe Brandon Novak Story
as Self
MovieBaltigore
as The Broker
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell
Serial Mom: Surreal Moments
as Self
New Line: Independent Legacies
as Self
