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.
134 movies · 51 shows
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
2026·0.0
Return to Mortville
2026·0.0
Gays Against Guns
2026·0.0
Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh
2025·5.1
TURA!
2025·7.0
Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus
2025·0.0
It's Dorothy!
2025·4.0
A Summer with Joe, Liz and Richard
2025·6.0
As Time Goes By
2024·0.0
Doc of Chucky
2024·7.8
Scala!!!
2024·7.8
Lynch/Oz
2023·6.8
Little Richard: I Am Everything
2023·6.6
Don't Fall in Love with Yourself
2022·5.0
Fragments of Paradise
2022·6.5
Living with Chucky
2022·6.6
The Book of Harth
2022·8.5
Tell Me Iggy
2022·6.0
Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida
2021·7.0
The Velvet Underground
2021·6.8
My Life with the Waters
2021·0.0
The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo
2020·5.6
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020·6.8
Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
2020·6.4
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness
2020·6.8
Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes
2020·0.0
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
2019·5.3
At the Video Store
2019·10.0
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
2019·6.1
Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’
2019·0.0
Mugworth
2018·0.0
Crime and Beauty: Making ‘Female Trouble’
2018·0.0
Female Trouble: On-Set Footage
2018·0.0
Sickies Making Films
2018·5.0
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
2017·7.0
Mansfield 66/67
2017·4.8
Wall Writers
2016·6.2
In Conversation With Director John Waters, Actress Kathleen Turner and Actress Mink Stole
2016·0.0
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
2016·2.0
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
2015·6.0
Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
2015·5.7
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015·6.0
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
2015·5.7
Tab Hunter Confidential
2015·7.3
Suburban Gothic
2014·5.5
The Last Impresario
2014·5.5
I Am Divine
2014·7.3
Jingle Bell Rocks!
2013·0.0
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open
2013·5.0
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies
2013·5.9
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
2012·7.0
Excision
2012·6.3
Mansome
2012·4.9
The Advocate for Fagdom
2011·5.3
Blank City
2011·6.8
Mangus!
2011·1.0
These Amazing Shadows
2011·7.4
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010·6.5
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
2010·6.0
Beautiful Darling
2010·6.0
The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice!
2010·6.9
It Came from Kuchar
2009·7.2
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
2009·5.7
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
2008·6.0
Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press
2008·4.4
Starz Inside: In the Gutter
2008·4.5
New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation
2008·10.0
Coven of the Heathenites
2008·0.0
365 Day Project
2007·10.0
You Can’t Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of "Hairspray"
2007·6.0
The Roots of 'Hairspray'
2007·0.0
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007·7.8
The Junior Defenders
2007·5.0
Jessica the Hippo
2007·0.0
Hairspray
2007·6.7
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
2007·6.6
Each Time I Kill
2007·6.0
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007·4.8
This Filthy World
2006·7.6
Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'
2006·0.0
Jackass Number Two
2006·6.6
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006·7.1
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway
2006·0.0
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006·6.3
Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
2006·10.0
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
2006·6.0
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes
2006·0.0
Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades
2006·0.0
(buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style
2006·7.5
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
2006·6.8
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006·5.4
That Man: Peter Berlin
2006·6.5
Meet The Kuchar Brothers
2006·0.0
I, of the Cyclops
2006·0.0
It Came from... Baltimore!!
2005·7.6
All the Dirt on 'A Dirty Shame'
2005·7.7
Inside Deep Throat
2005·6.4
Seed of Chucky
2004·5.5
Thinking XXX
2004·5.5
Closer Than That: A Documentary on Low
2004·0.0
Abby Singer
2003·6.8
A History of Sex
2003·5.5
Sylvester: Mighty Real
2002·10.0
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat
2002·4.8
The Cockettes
2002·6.7
Memories of Oz
2001·6.8
Welcome to Hollywood
2000·4.2
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
2000·6.6
Cecil B. Demented
2000·6.4
Divine Trash
2000·7.2
Sweet and Lowdown
1999·6.8
In Bad Taste
1999·8.0
Yesterday's Tomorrows
1999·8.5
Forever Hollywood
1999·8.3
Pecker
1998·6.1
Anarchy TV
1998·5.0
Anthem
1997·5.4
Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow!
1996·0.0
God Save the Queens
1995·0.0
Serial Mom
1994·6.7
The Big Wet
1993·0.0
Growing Up with John Waters
1993·0.0
Gastronomic Getaway
1991·8.5
Homer and Eddie
1989·5.6
Hairspray
1988·6.8
Way USA!
1988·0.0
Something Wild
1986·6.6
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1985·0.0
Divine Waters
1985·7.6
Nuart Theatre No Smoking PSA
1982·0.0
Edith's Shopping Bag
1976·6.8
Love Letter to Edie
1975·6.5
Pink Flamingos
1972·6.1
Mondo Trasho
1969·5.2