Growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s, John Waters was not like other children; he was obsessed by violence and gore, both real and on the screen. With his weird counter-culture friends as his cast, he began making silent 8mm and 16mm films in the mid-'60s; he screened these in rented Baltimore church halls to underground audiences drawn by word of mouth and street leafleting campaigns. As his filmmaking grew more polished and his subject matter more shocking, his audiences grew bigger, and his write-ups in the Baltimore papers more outraged. By the early 1970s he was making features, which he managed to get shown in midnight screenings in art cinemas by sheer perseverance. Success came when Pink Flamingos (1972) - a deliberate exercise in ultra-bad taste - took off in 1973, helped no doubt by lead actor Divine's infamous dog-crap eating scene. Waters continued to make low-budget shocking movies with his Dreamland repertory company until Hollywood crossover success came with Hairspray (1988), and although his movies nowadays might now appear cleaned up and professional, they retain Waters' playfulness, and reflect his lifelong obsessions.
Movie | TURA! | Self (archive footage) | 2025 |
Movie | Scala!!! | Self | 2024-01-05 |
Movie | Little Richard: I Am Everything | Self | 2023-04-11 |
Movie | Lynch/Oz | Host (Chapter 3: 'Kindred') (voice) | 2023-05-15 |
Movie | Blaze | Magistrate | 2022-08-25 |
Series | Pride | Self | 2021-05-14 |
Movie | The Velvet Underground | Self | 2021-10-15 |
Movie | Overall Planning | Christopher | 2021-03-19 |
Movie | Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi | Host | 2020-05-19 |
Movie | The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo | Himself | 2020-11-20 |
Movie | Joel Calls Indie Film Type Dudes | 2020-03-23 | |
Movie | Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears | Professor Linnaeus | 2020-02-27 |
Movie | Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness | Host | 2020-04-21 |
Movie | 30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing | Self | 2019-12-14 |
Movie | At the Video Store | Self | 2019-10-11 |
Movie | Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn | Self | 2019-09-29 |
Movie | Sniffing Out ‘Polyester’ | Self | 2019-09-17 |
Movie | Sickies Making Films | Self | 2018-02-22 |
Movie | Mansfield 66/67 | Self | 2017-01-29 |
Movie | Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution | Self | 2017-06-12 |
Movie | 2:22 | Bill | 2017-06-29 |
Movie | Three Summers | Eamon | 2017-11-02 |
Movie | Whatever Happened to Gelitin | Himself | 2016-03-10 |
Movie | Weiner | Self (archive footage) | 2016-05-20 |
Movie | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | First Class Passenger | 2015-12-17 |
Movie | Sympathy For The Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment | Self | 2015-10-30 |
Movie | The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin | 2015-09-08 | |
Movie | Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story | Self | 2015-05-30 |
Movie | Tab Hunter Confidential | Self | 2015-03-15 |
Movie | Suburban Gothic | Cornelius | 2014-07-19 |
Movie | Jingle Bell Rocks! | Himself | 2013-12-06 |
Movie | Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open | Self | 2013-04-04 |
Movie | The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies | Self | 2013-03-27 |
Movie | Return to Nim's Island | Booker | 2013-03-15 |
Movie | I Am Divine | Self | 2013-03-09 |
Movie | Mansome | Self | 2012-05-18 |
Movie | Excision | William | 2012-09-12 |
Movie | The Mystery of a Hansom Cab | Mark Frettlby | 2012-10-28 |
Movie | Charles Manson, The Church of Satan, The Universal Order & The Process Church of Final Judgment | 2012-06-06 | |
Movie | Kapyong | Narrator | 2011-04-28 |
Movie | The Advocate for Fagdom | Himself | 2011-11-04 |
Movie | Mangus! | 2011-04-01 | |
Movie | These Amazing Shadows | Self | 2011-01-22 |
Movie | Blank City | Self | 2011-04-06 |
Movie | William S. Burroughs: A Man Within | Self | 2010-11-05 |
Movie | Centre Place | Jack Houghton | 2010-07-27 |
Movie | Uncle Bob | Self (archiveFootage) | 2010-06-26 |
Movie | Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore | 2010-06-01 | |
Movie | Beautiful Darling | Self | 2010-04-02 |
Movie | It Came from Kuchar | Self | 2009-09-22 |
Movie | For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism | Self | 2009-03-01 |
Movie | Coven of the Heathenites | Self | 2008-01-01 |
Movie | New Line Cinema: The First Generation and the Next Generation | Self | 2008-03-05 |
Movie | Not Quite Hollywood | Self | 2008-08-28 |
Movie | Obscene | Self | 2008-09-26 |
Movie | Starz Inside: In the Gutter | Self | 2008-07-29 |
Movie | The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels | Narrator | 2008-10-31 |
Movie | Jackass 2.5 | Himself | 2007-12-18 |
Movie | Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story | Self | 2007-11-08 |
Movie | The Junior Defenders | Narrator | 2007-10-23 |
Movie | There's a Hippo in my House | Narrator (Voice) | 2007-10-21 |
Movie | Hairspray | Flasher | 2007-07-19 |
Movie | Each Time I Kill | Movie Watcher | 2007-03-30 |
Series | 'Til Death Do Us Part | 2007-03-19 | |
Movie | Here’s Looking at You, Boy | Self | 2007-02-16 |
Movie | Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis | Self | 2007-04-11 |
Movie | Meet The Kuchar Brothers | 2006-01-01 | |
Movie | I, of the Cyclops | 2006-01-01 | |
Movie | This Film Is Not Yet Rated | Self - Director of 'A Dirty Shame' | 2006-01-26 |
Movie | Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema | Self | 2006-02-12 |
Movie | Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2006-02-24 |
Movie | (buz'be bur'kle) n. A Study in Style | Self | 2006-03-21 |
Movie | Jackass Number Two | Self | 2006-09-22 |
Movie | Footlight Parade: Music for the Decades | 2006-03-21 | |
Movie | This Filthy World | Self | 2006-11-24 |
Movie | Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes | 2006-03-21 | |
Movie | The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway | Self | 2006-08-01 |
Movie | Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream | Himself | 2006-06-20 |
Series | I Love the '70s: Volume 2 | Self | 2006-07-10 |
Movie | It Came from... Baltimore!! | Self | 2005-07-12 |
Movie | Chucky's Family Vacation | Pete Peters (Archive Footage) | 2005-06-07 |
Movie | Inside Deep Throat | Self | 2005-02-11 |
Movie | Stealth | Black Ops Doctor | 2005-07-27 |
Movie | Seed of Chucky | Pete Peters | 2004-11-12 |
Movie | Thinking XXX | Self | 2004-10-27 |
Series | Fireflies | Perry Luscombe | 2004-02-01 |
Movie | Abby Singer | John Waters (uncredited) | 2003-10-28 |
Movie | Totally Gay! | Self | 2003-08-29 |
Movie | Evil Never Dies | Professor Arkin | 2003-06-01 |
Movie | A History of Sex | Self | 2003-01-14 |
Movie | Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat | The Reverend | 2002-03-31 |
Movie | The Cockettes | Self | 2002-01-16 |
Movie | Memories of Oz | Himself | 2001-06-24 |
Movie | Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story | 2000-09-08 | |
Movie | Divine Trash | Self | 2000-03-31 |
Movie | Cecil B. Demented | Reporter | 2000-08-02 |
Movie | Sweet and Lowdown | Mr. Haynes | 1999-12-03 |
Movie | In Bad Taste | Self | 1999-09-03 |
Movie | Forever Hollywood | Self | 1999-01-01 |
Movie | Chameleon II: Death Match | Henry Kubica | 1999-01-01 |
Movie | Welcome to Hollywood | John Waters | 1998-10-01 |
Movie | Pecker | Pervert on Phone (voice) (uncredited) | 1998-09-25 |
Movie | The Real Macaw | Dr. Lance Hagen | 1998-09-24 |
Movie | Anarchy TV | 1998-01-31 | |
Movie | Anthem | Self | 1997-07-25 |
Movie | Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow! | 1996-08-13 | |
Movie | God Save the Queens | 1995-06-23 | |
Movie | Ebbtide | Michael Suresch | 1994-01-01 |
Movie | Singapore Sling | John Stamford | 1994-03-09 |
Movie | Serial Mom | Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited) | 1994-04-13 |
Movie | Growing Up with John Waters | Himself | 1993-01-01 |
Movie | Jesus Christ Superstar | Pontius Pilate | 1992-06-06 |
Series | All The Rivers Run II | Brenton Edwards | 1990-03-18 |
Movie | Heaven Tonight | Johnny Dysart | 1990-11-12 |
Movie | Homer and Eddie | Robber #1 | 1989-08-17 |
Movie | Grievous Bodily Harm | Morris Martin | 1988-10-26 |
Movie | Boulevard of Broken Dreams | Tom Garfield | 1988-10-13 |
Movie | Captain Johnno | Frank | 1988-04-17 |
Movie | Hairspray | Dr. Fredrickson | 1988-02-26 |
Movie | Bushfire Moon | Patrick O'Day | 1987-12-10 |
Movie | The Last of the Mohicans | Hawkeye Bumppo (voice) | 1987-07-31 |
Movie | Going Sane | Martin Brown | 1987-07-30 |
Movie | Passion Flower | Leslie Gaitland | 1987-03-04 |
Movie | Something Wild | Used Car Guy | 1986-11-07 |
Movie | I Can't Get Started | 1985-01-01 | |
Movie | The Ballad of Sexual Dependency | 1985-01-01 | |
Movie | Divine Waters | Self | 1985-01-01 |
Movie | The Perfectionist | Stuart Gunn | 1985-12-01 |
Movie | High Country | Ben Lomax | 1984-08-29 |
Series | All the Rivers Run | Brenton Edwards | 1983-10-04 |
Movie | Attack Force Z | Ted King | 1982-06-01 |
Movie | Breaker Morant | Cpt. Alfred Taylor | 1980-06-11 |
Movie | Demolition | 1979-06-21 | |
Movie | Cass | Mike | 1978-10-30 |
Movie | Weekend of Shadows | Rabbit | 1978-06-28 |
Movie | The Scalp Merchant | 1978-01-01 | |
Movie | The Getting of Wisdom | Rev. Shepherd | 1977-08-25 |
Movie | Summerfield | David Abbott | 1977-09-30 |
Movie | The Adventures of Eliza Fraser | David Bracefell | 1976-12-16 |
Movie | End Play | Mark Gifford | 1976-01-01 |
Movie | Edith's Shopping Bag | Himself | 1976-01-01 |
Movie | Love Letter to Edie | Self | 1975-01-01 |
Series | Rush | 1974-08-20 | |
Movie | Pink Flamingos | Mr. J (voice) (uncredited) | 1972-03-17 |
Movie | Mondo Trasho | Reporter (voice) (uncredited) | 1969-03-14 |