John Waters

John Waters - Film Director, Facts and Life

Violet FieldHome › AmericanJohn WatersApril 22, 1946394 views

0 based on 0 rates
John Waters Biography Stories 

John Waters's Personal Details

John Waters is an American actor, director, screenwriter, comedian, stage artist, journalist, visual artist and author.

InformationDetail
BirthdayApril 22, 1946
NationalityAmerican
FamousCarefree, Gays, New York University, Film & Theater Personalities, Actors, Directors, Comedians, Art Collector, Film Director
City/StateMaryland
SpousesZoe Burton
SiblingsKathy Waters, Steve Waters, Trish Waters
Known asJohn Samuel Waters Jr.
Universities
  • New York University
  • Calvert Hall College High School
  • New York University
  • Boys' Latin School of Maryland
Notable Alumnis
  • New York University
Birth PlaceBaltimore
Height188
GenderMale
FatherJohn Waters Sr
MotherPat Waters
Net Worth$60 million as of Jan 15,2017
Sun SignTaurus
Born inBaltimore
Famous asFilm Director, Comedian, Art Collector

// Famous Film Director

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was a screenwriter and film director known for his movies like ‘The Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The Shining’. This biography of Stanley Kubrick provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.

Baz Luhrmann

Baz Luhrmann

Baz Luhrmann is an Australian writer, filmmaker, and producer. Check out this biography to know about his birthday, childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him.

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Known as the king of farces and comic parodies, Mel Brooks is a famous American film director, comedian, actor, producer and composer. This biography provides detailed information on his childhood, life, career, works, achievements & timeline.

John Waters's photo

Who is John Waters?

John Samuels Waters Jr. is a director of quirky and unconventional movies. His style and creativity are worlds apart from the mainstream cinema and has every now and then tested the boundaries of propriety. He has given to the world some great movies like ‘Pink Flamingos’, ‘Hairspray’, ‘Cry Baby’, ‘Pecker’, etc. His movies have been characterized by a sense of exaggeration and over the top unrealistic portrayal of dispositions. He was never a normal child, always had a flair for the dark and grotesque. Waters started to portray violence in his creativity from his teen years when he filmed and screened his films in Baltimore to an underground audience. He is not just a director of excellent and peculiar taste but has also done some cameos in the movies and hosted television shows. Waters is also an avid collector of books. Some of his movies have been turned into hit Broadway musicals like: ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Cry Baby’ and he was honored at the Provincetown International Film Festival with Filmmaker on the Edge Award in 1999. Waters has dedicated his time and life to making movies, exhibiting his artwork and installations and materializing his bizarre concepts like hitchhiking to journey across United States. Nicknamed as ‘Pope of Trash’ and ‘The Sultan of Sleaze’ for his open quirkiness, Waters has authored books like: ‘Shock Value: A Tasteful Book about Bad Taste’, ‘Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters’ and ‘Change of Life’.

// Famous Art Collector

Dasha Zhukova

Dasha Zhukova

Dasha Alexandrovna Zhukova is a Russian businesswoman, fashion designer, and art collector. Let’s take a look at her family, personal life, age, net worth, achievements, and some fun facts.

Maria Altmann

Maria Altmann

Maria Altmann was an Austrian-American Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi occupied Austria and took refuge in America. This biography profiles her childhood, life, achievements and some fun facts.

Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson is an American actor, scriptwriter and producer. This biography provides detailed information on his childhood, life, works, achievements & timeline.

Childhood & Early Life

John Waters was born on 22 April 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland to Patricia Ann and John Samuel Waters. His father was into manufacturing of fire-protection equipments and theirs was an upper-middle class family. He grew up in Lutherville, a suburban area of Baltimore. The family belonged to Roman Catholic belief. He went to Calvert Hall College High School and graduated from Boy’s Latin School, Maryland. From the very young age Waters was drawn towards movies.

When he was seven years old, he was enthused by the movie called ‘Lili’ and it inspired a love for puppets in his heart. He was known to be violent and dark from the very childhood. He used to perform violent adaptations of ‘Punch and Judy’ at children’s birthday parties. When he was a teenager, his grandmother gifted him his very first 8mm film camera. He was into watching movies appropriate for his own age; he used to watch adult only films at the local drive-ins through his binoculars.

Waters’ friends, just like him, had a taste for counter culture art. They were anti mainstream culture and in 1960s together they started to shoot silent 8mm and 16mm films in Baltimore. These movies were secretly screened in Baltimore church to an underground audience. Audiences were drawn through secret word of mouth and leaflet campaigns on the street. Steadily his filmmaking technique started growing more mature and polished and the subject of his movies was becoming more and more bizarre. This attracted more young and creative, likeminded audience to his underground screenings.

Career

The first ever proper short film that Waters made is called ‘Hag in a Black Leather Jacket’ and it was screened only once in a coffee shop known as ‘Beatnik Coffee House’ but in his later years he exhibited the movie for a travelling photography exhibition. In 1966, Waters went to the New York University but his heart was not into it. According to him the kind of art and creativity he was into was completely opposite to what they preferred at the NYU. Not many days after joining the university, Waters and his friends were expelled as they were caught smoking marijuana on the NYU grounds.

Getting thrown out of NYU compelled Waters to come back to Baltimore and there he started filming short films like: ‘Roman Candles’ and ‘Eat Your Makeup’. Later he began to make films of longer length like: ‘Mondo Trasho’ and ‘Multiple Maniacs’. His childhood friend Glenn Milstead, also known as Divine, became the chief actor in his experimental movies. All of his early movies included local actors from Baltimore and were shot in Baltimore itself. His conglomerate of actors included, Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, etc.

Waters first formal success came with ‘Pink Flamingos’ in 1973. The movie is said to have stretched the peripheries of propriety and had extreme characterization. It contained inflated situations, very far off reality and the dialogues of the movie were also hyperbolic. This was the basic trend of all of his movies. There is a particular climax scene at the end of the movie which is infamous for its main lead, Divine, eating dog feces.

In 1981, Waters made a move from bizarre creativity to more of controlled and mainstream cinema. His first mainstream film called ‘Polyester’ was released in the same year, which starred Divine and Tab Hunter in it. After ‘Polyester’, Waters came up with many mainstream movies like: ‘Hairspray (1988)’, ‘Cry-Baby (1990)’, ‘Serial Mom (1994)’, ‘Pecker (1998)’ and ‘Cecil B. Demented (2000)’. Although these movies complied with the basics of the commercial cinema, they still had Waters’ patent creative strangeness to them.

In 2004, Waters released his conflict-ridden creative work called ‘A Dirty Shame’, starring Johnny Knoxville. In the same year, he appeared in a cameo in ‘Jackass Number Two’ and in ‘Seed of Chucky’ in which his character was called ‘Pete Peters’. In 2007, he hosted an American dramatization of marriages that ended in murder on the Court TV, called ‘Til Death Do Us Part’.

In 2008, he decided to make a children’s movie called the ‘Fruitcake’ and planned on starring Johnny Knoxville along with Parker Posey in it. He had to put it on hold for he did not have enough funds to make it as it was estimated to cost 5 million American dollars. Therefore, he sold the idea to an independent film making company and made money out of it. But the film could never materialize as the company got shut down.

In 2009, Waters exhibited his photo-based artwork and installations called ‘Rear Projection’ at the Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and also at the Gagosian Gallery in LA. He has been doing such fine art work since 90s and exhibits his work internationally. His famous comical art work called ‘Rush’ was exhibited in 2009.

Waters has been working on one of his quirky projects and he completed it in the recent years. He was on a hitchhiking journey through United States from Baltimore to San Francisco. He has planned to use his experience as material for his new book. The working title of this book is ‘Carsick’. On his hitchhiking journey he was picked up by famous people like Maryland Councilman Brett Bidle, indie rock, Here We Go Magic, etc.

Personal Life & Legacy

Waters is quite open about his sexuality. He is a homosexual and has never shied away from publically accepting it. Although, not much is known about his partners but he is quite openly gay. He is also an active supporter of the gay rights and gay pride.

Trivia

Waters has always been attracted to the grotesque and dark. The earliest dark memories that he has got is of a blood stained car seat that he saw in a yard sale and contemplated about horrid car accidents.

He says that he thinks dark but he does not live it. He claims himself and his life to be very different from his cinema.

This film director, comedian and art collector subscribes to 80 magazines monthly.

He has a collection of over 80,000 books.

His ‘Hairspray’ has been converted into a musical Broadway and it was re-made in 2007 with John Travolta starring in it. ‘Cry Baby’ has also been turned into a musical Broadway.

He has been creatively inspired by people like: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Federico Fellini, William Castle, Ingmar Bergman, etc. He has also been greatly inspired by the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

// Famous Comedians

Meghan Rienks

Meghan Rienks

Check out all that you wanted to know about Meghan Rienks, the famous American YouTuber & vlogger; her birthday, her family and personal life, her boyfriends, fun trivia facts and more.

Desmond English

Desmond English

Check out all that you wanted to know about Desmond English, the famous YouTuber and Viner; his birthday, his family and personal life, his wife, fun trivia facts and more.

Meital Dohan

Meital Dohan

Meital Dohan is an award-winning Israeli theater, film, and television actress, comedian and singer. Check out this biography to know about her birthday, childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about her.

John Waters biography timelines

  • // 22nd Apr 1946
    John Waters was born on 22 April 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland to Patricia Ann and John Samuel Waters. His father was into manufacturing of fire-protection equipments and theirs was an upper-middle class family. He grew up in Lutherville, a suburban area of Baltimore. The family belonged to Roman Catholic belief. He went to Calvert Hall College High School and graduated from Boy’s Latin School, Maryland. From the very young age Waters was drawn towards movies.
  • // 1966
    The first ever proper short film that Waters made is called ‘Hag in a Black Leather Jacket’ and it was screened only once in a coffee shop known as ‘Beatnik Coffee House’ but in his later years he exhibited the movie for a travelling photography exhibition. In 1966, Waters went to the New York University but his heart was not into it. According to him the kind of art and creativity he was into was completely opposite to what they preferred at the NYU. Not many days after joining the university, Waters and his friends were expelled as they were caught smoking marijuana on the NYU grounds.
  • // 1973
    Waters first formal success came with ‘Pink Flamingos’ in 1973. The movie is said to have stretched the peripheries of propriety and had extreme characterization. It contained inflated situations, very far off reality and the dialogues of the movie were also hyperbolic. This was the basic trend of all of his movies. There is a particular climax scene at the end of the movie which is infamous for its main lead, Divine, eating dog feces.
  • // 1981 To 2000
    In 1981, Waters made a move from bizarre creativity to more of controlled and mainstream cinema. His first mainstream film called ‘Polyester’ was released in the same year, which starred Divine and Tab Hunter in it. After ‘Polyester’, Waters came up with many mainstream movies like: ‘Hairspray (1988)’, ‘Cry-Baby (1990)’, ‘Serial Mom (1994)’, ‘Pecker (1998)’ and ‘Cecil B. Demented (2000)’. Although these movies complied with the basics of the commercial cinema, they still had Waters’ patent creative strangeness to them.
  • // 2004 To 2007
    In 2004, Waters released his conflict-ridden creative work called ‘A Dirty Shame’, starring Johnny Knoxville. In the same year, he appeared in a cameo in ‘Jackass Number Two’ and in ‘Seed of Chucky’ in which his character was called ‘Pete Peters’. In 2007, he hosted an American dramatization of marriages that ended in murder on the Court TV, called ‘Til Death Do Us Part’.
  • // 2007
    His ‘Hairspray’ has been converted into a musical Broadway and it was re-made in 2007 with John Travolta starring in it. ‘Cry Baby’ has also been turned into a musical Broadway.
  • // 2008
    In 2008, he decided to make a children’s movie called the ‘Fruitcake’ and planned on starring Johnny Knoxville along with Parker Posey in it. He had to put it on hold for he did not have enough funds to make it as it was estimated to cost 5 million American dollars. Therefore, he sold the idea to an independent film making company and made money out of it. But the film could never materialize as the company got shut down.
  • // 2009
    In 2009, Waters exhibited his photo-based artwork and installations called ‘Rear Projection’ at the Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and also at the Gagosian Gallery in LA. He has been doing such fine art work since 90s and exhibits his work internationally. His famous comical art work called ‘Rush’ was exhibited in 2009.

// Famous Film & Theater Personalities

Jacob Elordi

Jacob Elordi

Jacob Elordi is an Australian actor. Let’s take a look at his childhood, family, personal life, career, etc.

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller is an American actor and screenwriter who achieved recognition for his role in the TV series ‘Prison Break’.

Skai Jackson

Skai Jackson

Skai Jackson is an American child actress with huge fan following. Find more about her family & personal life, relationships, facts and more.

Shemar Moore

Shemar Moore

Shemar Moore is a model turned actor best known for his role in the television series ‘The Young and the Restless’. This biography of Shemar Moore provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.

Riele Downs

Riele Downs

Riele Downs is a Canadian-American actress & Musical.ly star. Let’s take a look at her family and personal life including age, birthday, net worth, boyfriends and fun facts.

Jacob Tremblay

Jacob Tremblay

Jacob Tremblay is a Canadian child actor. Let’s have a look at his family & personal life including age, birthday, relationships, net worth and fun facts.

John Waters's FAQ

  • What is John Waters birthday?

    John Waters was born at 1946-04-22

  • Where is John Waters's birth place?

    John Waters was born in Baltimore

  • What is John Waters nationalities?

    John Waters's nationalities is American

  • Who is John Waters spouses?

    John Waters's spouses is Zoe Burton

  • Who is John Waters siblings?

    John Waters's siblings is Kathy Waters, Steve Waters, Trish Waters

  • What was John Waters universities?

    John Waters studied at New York University, Calvert Hall College High School, New York University, Boys' Latin School of Maryland

  • What was John Waters notable alumnis?

    John Waters's notable alumnis is New York University

  • How tall is John Waters?

    John Waters's height is 188

  • Who is John Waters's father?

    John Waters's father is John Waters Sr

  • Who is John Waters's mother?

    John Waters's mother is Pat Waters

  • What is John Waters's sun sign?

    John Waters is Taurus

  • How famous is John Waters?

    John Waters is famouse as Film Director, Comedian, Art Collector