John Waters
Directing
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.
TV Shows(48)
Kevin
Armando (voice)
2026
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
Self - Writer and Film Director
2025
Digman!
Magnus (voice)
2023
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
2022
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Self
2022
Chucky
Wendell Wilkins
2021
Pride
Self
2021
Helluva Boss
Rolando (voice)
2020
Liverspots and Astronots
O-Dor
2018
Explained
Narrator (voice)
2018
FEUD
William Castle
2017
Search Party
Sheffield
2016
The New Yorker Presents
Self
2016
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Guest
2015
Clarence
Captain Tom (voice)
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self - Guest
2014
HitRECord on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Self
2014
The Blacklist
John Waters
2013
RuPaul Drives...
Self - Guest
2013
Finding Your Roots
Self
2012
Fish Hooks
Ezekiel Freshwater / Hair Man (voice)
2010
Offspring
2010
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race
Self - Guest Judge
2009
Indie Sex
Self
2007
'Til Death Do Us Part
2007
The Graham Norton Show
Self - Guest
2007
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
Self
2006
The Henry Rollins Show
2006
The Colbert Report
Self - Guest
2005
My Name Is Earl
Walter Hamerick
2005
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self - Guest
2003
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Pornmonger Man
1999
The Roseanne Show
Self - Guest
1998
So Graham Norton
Self - Guest
1998
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
The Daily Show
Self - Guest
1996
Family Album
Vincent
1994
Frasier
Roger (voice)
1993
Late Show with David Letterman
Self - Guest
1993
Homicide: Life on the Street
R. Vincent Smith
1993
HBO First Look
1992
The Simpsons
John (voice)
1989
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Self
1988
21 Jump Street
Mr. Bean
1987
Late Night with David Letterman
Self - Guest
1982
Saturday Night Live
Self - Cameo (uncredited)
1975
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956
Movies(135)
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Self
2026
Gays Against Guns
2026
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
Stage Manager
2025
TURA!
Self
2025
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
Self
2025
It's Dorothy!
Self
2025
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
Self
2025
As Time Goes By
2024
Doc of Chucky
Self
2024
Scala!!!
Self
2024
Lynch/Oz
Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice)
2023
Little Richard - I Am Everything
Self
2023
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
Self (Archival)
2022
Fragments of Paradise
Self
2022
Living with Chucky
Self
2022
The Book of Harth
Self
2022
Tell Me Iggy
Self
2022
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
Self [archival]
2021
The Velvet Underground
Self
2021
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
Himself
2020
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
Host
2020
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
Host
2020
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
Host
2020
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
2020
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
Self
2019
At the Video Store
Self
2019
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Self
2019
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
Self
2019
Mugworth
Sir Butler
2018
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
2018
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
2018
Sickies Making Films
Self
2018
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
Self
2017
Mansfield 66/67
Self
2017
Wall Writers
Narrator (voice)
2016
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
Self
2016
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
Self
2016
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
First Class Passenger
2015
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Self
2015
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
Self
2015
Tab Hunter Confidential
Self
2015
Suburban Gothic
Cornelius
2014
The Last Impresario
Self
2014
I Am Divine
Self
2014
Jingle Bell Rocks!
Self
2013
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
Self
2013
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
Self
2013
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
Self - Director
2012
Excision
William
2012
Mansome
Self
2012
The Advocate for Fagdom
Self
2011
Blank City
Self
2011
Mangus!
Jesus Christ
2011
These Amazing Shadows
Self
2011
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Self
2010
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010
Beautiful Darling
Self
2010
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
Self
2010
It Came from Kuchar
Self
2009
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
Self
2009
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
Narrator
2008
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
Self
2008
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
Self
2008
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
Self
2008
Coven of the Heathenites
Self
2008
365 Day Project
Self
2007
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Self
2007
The Junior Defenders
Narrator
2007
Jessica the Hippo
Narrator (Voice)
2007
Hairspray
Flasher
2007
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
Self
2007
Each Time I Kill
Movie Watcher
2007
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Self
2007
This Filthy World
Self
2006
Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
Self
2006
Jackass Number Two
Self
2006
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway
Self
2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Self
2006
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
Self
2006
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
2006
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
Self
2006
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Self - Narrator (voice)
2006
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Self
2006
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
2006
That Man: Peter Berlin
Self
2006
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006
I, of the Cyclops
2006
It Came from... Baltimore!!
Self
2005
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
Self
2005
Inside Deep Throat
Self
2005
Seed of Chucky
Pete Peters
2004
Thinking XXX
Self
2004
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
Himself
2004
Abby Singer
John Waters (uncredited)
2003
A History of Sex
Self
2003
Sylvester: Mighty Real
Self
2002
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
The Reverend
2002
The Cockettes
Self
2002
Memories of Oz
Self
2001
Welcome to Hollywood
John Waters
2000
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
Self
2000
Cecil B. Demented
Reporter
2000
Divine Trash
Self
2000
Sweet and Lowdown
Mr. Haynes
1999
In Bad Taste
Self
1999
Yesterday's Tomorrows
Self
1999
Forever Hollywood
Self
1999
Pecker
Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited)
1998
Anarchy TV
1998
Anthem
Self
1997
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996
God Save the Queens
1995
Serial Mom
Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
1994
The Big Wet
Narrator
1993
Growing Up with John Waters
Self
1993
Gastronomic Getaway
1991
Homer and Eddie
Robber #1
1989
Hairspray
Dr. Fredrickson
1988
Way USA!
1988
Something Wild
Used Car Guy
1986
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985
Divine Waters
Self
1985
Nuart Theatre no smoking PSA
1982
Pink Flamingos
Mr. J (narration) (uncredited)
1976
Edith's Shopping Bag
Self
1976
Love Letter to Edie
Self
1975
Mondo Trasho
Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
1969
My Life with the Waters
Self
Mary Woronov: Cult Queen
Self
The Brandon Novak Story
Self
Baltigore
The Broker
Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell