Directing
John Waters
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
Gays Against Guns
Film · 2026
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Film · 2026
Return to Mortville
Film · 2026
Eddie Cochran: Don't Forget Me
Film · 2026
Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive
Film · 2026
Kevin
Series · 2026
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
Film · 2025
TURA!
Film · 2025
It's Dorothy!
Film · 2025
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
Film · 2025
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
Film · 2025
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
Series · 2025
Scala!!!
Film · 2024
Doc of Chucky
Film · 2024
As Time Goes By
Film · 2024
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Film · 2023
Lynch/Oz
Film · 2023
Digman!
Series · 2023
The Book of Harth
Film · 2022
Tell Me Iggy
Film · 2022
Living with Chucky
Film · 2022
Fragments of Paradise
Film · 2022
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
Film · 2022
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Series · 2022
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
Series · 2022
The Velvet Underground
Film · 2021
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
Film · 2021
My Life with the Waters
Film · 2021
Pride
Series · 2021
Chucky
Series · 2021
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
Film · 2020
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
Film · 2020
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
Film · 2020
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
Film · 2020
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
Film · 2020
Helluva Boss
Series · 2020
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
Series · 2020
At the Video Store
Film · 2019
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Film · 2019
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
Film · 2019
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
Film · 2019
Sickies Making Films
Film · 2018
Mugworth
Film · 2018
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
Film · 2018
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
Film · 2018
Explained
Series · 2018
Liverspots and Astronots
Series · 2018
Mansfield 66/67
Film · 2017
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
Film · 2017
FEUD
Series · 2017
Wall Writers
Film · 2016
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
Film · 2016
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
Film · 2016
Search Party
Series · 2016
The New Yorker Presents
Series · 2016
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
Film · 2015
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
Film · 2015
Tab Hunter Confidential
Film · 2015
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
Film · 2015
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Film · 2015
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Series · 2015
I Am Divine
Film · 2014
Suburban Gothic
Film · 2014
The Last Impresario
Film · 2014
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Series · 2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Series · 2014
Clarence
Series · 2014
Jingle Bell Rocks!
Film · 2013
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
Film · 2013
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
Film · 2013
RuPaul Drives...
Series · 2013
The Blacklist
Series · 2013
Excision
Film · 2012
Mansome
Film · 2012
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
Film · 2012
Finding Your Roots
Series · 2012
Mangus!
Film · 2011
The Advocate for Fagdom
Film · 2011
These Amazing Shadows
Film · 2011
Blank City
Film · 2011
American Horror Story
Series · 2011
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Film · 2010
Beautiful Darling
Film · 2010
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
Film · 2010
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
Film · 2010
Fish Hooks
Series · 2010
Fish Hooks
Series · 2010
It Came from Kuchar
Film · 2009
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
Film · 2009
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Series · 2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
Series · 2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
Series · 2009
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
Film · 2008
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
Film · 2008
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
Film · 2008
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
Film · 2008
Coven of the Heathenites
Film · 2008
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Film · 2007
The Junior Defenders
Film · 2007
Each Time I Kill
Film · 2007
365 Day Project
Film · 2007
Hairspray
Film · 2007
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Film · 2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Film · 2007
Jessica the Hippo
Film · 2007
You Can’t Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of "Hairspray"
Film · 2007
The Roots of 'Hairspray'
Film · 2007
'Til Death Do Us Part
Series · 2007
The Graham Norton Show
Series · 2007
Indie Sex
Series · 2007
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
Film · 2006
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Film · 2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Film · 2006
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Film · 2006
This Filthy World
Film · 2006
That Man: Peter Berlin
Film · 2006
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway
Film · 2006
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Film · 2006
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Film · 2006
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
Film · 2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
Film · 2006
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
Film · 2006
Jackass Number Two
Film · 2006
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
Film · 2006
I, of the Cyclops
Film · 2006
Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
Film · 2006
The Henry Rollins Show
Series · 2006
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
Series · 2006
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
Film · 2005
Inside Deep Throat
Film · 2005
It Came from... Baltimore!!
Film · 2005
My Name Is Earl
Series · 2005
The Colbert Report
Series · 2005
Seed of Chucky
Film · 2004
Thinking XXX
Film · 2004
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
Film · 2004
A History of Sex
Film · 2003
Abby Singer
Film · 2003
Real Time with Bill Maher
Series · 2003
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
Film · 2002
Sylvester: Mighty Real
Film · 2002
The Cockettes
Film · 2002
Memories of Oz
Film · 2001
Divine Trash
Film · 2000
Welcome to Hollywood
Film · 2000
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
Film · 2000
Cecil B. Demented
Film · 2000
Sweet and Lowdown
Film · 1999
Yesterday's Tomorrows
Film · 1999
In Bad Taste
Film · 1999
Forever Hollywood
Film · 1999
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Series · 1999
Pecker
Film · 1998
Anarchy TV
Film · 1998
So Graham Norton
Series · 1998
The Roseanne Show
Series · 1998
Anthem
Film · 1997
The View
Series · 1997
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
Film · 1996
The Daily Show
Series · 1996
E! True Hollywood Story
Series · 1996
The Daily Show
Series · 1996
God Save the Queens
Film · 1995
Serial Mom
Film · 1994
Family Album
Series · 1994
Growing Up with John Waters
Film · 1993
The Big Wet
Film · 1993
Frasier
Series · 1993
Homicide: Life on the Street
Series · 1993
Late Show with David Letterman
Series · 1993
Eurotrash
Series · 1993
HBO First Look
Series · 1992
Gastronomic Getaway
Film · 1991
The Word
Series · 1990
Homer and Eddie
Film · 1989
The Simpsons
Series · 1989
Way USA!
Film · 1988
Hairspray
Film · 1988
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Series · 1988
21 Jump Street
Series · 1987
Something Wild
Film · 1986
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Film · 1985
Divine Waters
Film · 1985
Nuart Theatre No Smoking PSA
Film · 1982
Late Night with David Letterman
Series · 1982
Edith's Shopping Bag
Film · 1976
Love Letter to Edie
Film · 1975
Saturday Night Live
Series · 1975
Pink Flamingos
Film · 1972
Mondo Trasho
Film · 1969
Tony Awards
Series · 1956
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
Film
The Brandon Novak Story
Film
Baltigore
Film
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell
Film
New Line: Independent Legacies
Film