Actor
· Directing
John Waters
Born 1946-04-22
📍 Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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 177
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
as Self
2026
Kevin
as Armando (voice)
2026
Gays Against Guns
2026
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
as Stage Manager
2025
TURA!
as Self
2025
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
as Self
2025
It's Dorothy!
as Self
2025
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
as Self
2025
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
as Self - Writer and Film Director
2025
As Time Goes By
2024
Doc of Chucky
as Self
2024
Scala!!!
as Self
2024
Lynch/Oz
as Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice)
2023
Little Richard - I Am Everything
as Self
2023
Digman!
as Magnus (voice)
2023
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
as Self (Archival)
2022
Fragments of Paradise
as Self
2022
Living with Chucky
as Self
2022
The Book of Harth
as Self
2022
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
2022
Tell Me Iggy
as Self
2022
The Andy Warhol Diaries
as Self
2022
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
as Self [archival]
2021
The Velvet Underground
as Self
2021
Chucky
as Wendell Wilkins
2021
Pride
as Self
2021
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
as Himself
2020
Helluva Boss
as Rolando (voice)
2020
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
as Host
2020
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
as Host
2020
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
as Host
2020
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
2020
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
as Self
2019
At the Video Store
as Self
2019
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
as Self
2019
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
as Self
2019
Mugworth
as Sir Butler
2018
Liverspots and Astronots
as O-Dor
2018
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
2018
Explained
as Narrator (voice)
2018
Sickies Making Films
as Self
2018
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
as Self
2017
FEUD
as William Castle
2017
Mansfield 66/67
as Self
2017
Search Party
as Sheffield
2016
Wall Writers
as Narrator (voice)
2016
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
as Self
2016
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
as Self
2016
The New Yorker Presents
as Self
2016
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
as First Class Passenger
2015
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
as Self
2015
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self - Guest
2015
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
as Self
2015
Tab Hunter Confidential
as Self
2015
Suburban Gothic
as Cornelius
2014
The Last Impresario
as Self
2014
Clarence
as Captain Tom (voice)
2014
I Am Divine
as Self
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self - Guest
2014
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
as Self
2014
Jingle Bell Rocks!
as Self
2013
The Blacklist
as John Waters
2013
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
as Self
2013
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
as Self
2013
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
as Self - Director
2012
Excision
as William
2012
Mansome
as Self
2012
Finding Your Roots
as Self
2012
The Advocate for Fagdom
as Self
2011
Blank City
as Self
2011
Mangus!
as Jesus Christ
2011
These Amazing Shadows
as Self
2011
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
as Self
2010
Fish Hooks
as The Yeti Lobster (voice)
2010
Fish Hooks
as Ezekiel Freshwater / Hair Man (voice)
2010
Offspring
2010
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010
Beautiful Darling
as Self
2010
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
as Self
2010
It Came from Kuchar
as Self
2009
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
as Self - Guest
2009
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
as Self
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
as Self - Guest Judge
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
as Self - Special Guest
2009
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
as Narrator
2008
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
as Self
2008
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
as Self
2008
Coven of the Heathenites
as Self
2008
365 Day Project
as Self
2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
as Self
2007
The Junior Defenders
as Narrator
2007
Jessica the Hippo
as Narrator (Voice)
2007
Indie Sex
as Self
2007
Hairspray
as Flasher
2007
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
as Self
2007
Each Time I Kill
as Movie Watcher
2007
'Til Death Do Us Part
2007
The Graham Norton Show
as Self - Guest
2007
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
as Self
2007
This Filthy World
as Self
2006
Jackass Number Two
as Self
2006
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
as Self
2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
as Self
2006
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006
The Henry Rollins Show
2006
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
as Self
2006
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
as Self
2006
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2006
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
as Self
2006
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
as Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
2006
That Man: Peter Berlin
as Self
2006
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
I, of the Cyclops
2006
The Colbert Report
as Self - Guest
2005
My Name Is Earl
as Walter Hamerick
2005
It Came from... Baltimore!!
as Self
2005
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
as Self
2005
Inside Deep Throat
as Self
2005
Seed of Chucky
as Pete Peters
2004
Thinking XXX
as Self
2004
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
as Himself
2004
Abby Singer
as John Waters (uncredited)
2003
Real Time with Bill Maher
as Self - Guest
2003
A History of Sex
as Self
2003
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
as The Reverend
2002
The Cockettes
as Self
2002
Memories of Oz
as Self
2001
Welcome to Hollywood
as John Waters
2000
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
as Self
2000
Cecil B. Demented
as Reporter
2000
Divine Trash
as Self
2000
Sweet and Lowdown
as Mr. Haynes
1999
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Pornmonger Man
1999
In Bad Taste
as Self
1999
Yesterday's Tomorrows
as Self
1999
Forever Hollywood
as Self
1999
Pecker
as Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited)
1998
The Roseanne Show
as Self - Guest
1998
So Graham Norton
as Self - Guest
1998
Anarchy TV
1998
The View
as Self
1997
Anthem
as Self
1997
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996
The Daily Show
as Self - Guest
1996
The Daily Show
as Self
1996
God Save the Queens
1995
Family Album
as Vincent
1994
Serial Mom
as Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
1994
The Big Wet
as Narrator
1993
Frasier
as Roger (voice)
1993
Late Show with David Letterman
as Self - Guest
1993
Homicide: Life on the Street
as R. Vincent Smith
1993
Growing Up with John Waters
as Self
1993
HBO First Look
1992
Gastronomic Getaway
1991
The Simpsons
as John (voice)
1989
Homer and Eddie
as Robber #1
1989
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
as Self
1988
Hairspray
as Dr. Fredrickson
1988
Way USA!
1988
21 Jump Street
as Mr. Bean
1987
Something Wild
as Used Car Guy
1986
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985
Late Night with David Letterman
as Self - Guest
1982
Pink Flamingos
as Mr. J (narration) (uncredited)
1976
Edith's Shopping Bag
as Self
1976
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
1975
Love Letter to Edie
as Self
1975
Mondo Trasho
as Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
1969
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter
1956
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
as Self
The Brandon Novak Story
as Self
Baltigore
as The Broker
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell