# Harry Waters Jr.

Harry Tunney Waters Jr. (born April 13, 1953) is an American actor, singer, and theatre director, best known for his portrayal of Marvin Berry in Back to the Future (1985) and Back to the Future Part II (1989). His renditions of "Night Train" and "Earth Angel" are two of the ten tracks on the gold record winning soundtrack album Back to the Future: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack. He created the role of Belize in the first production of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes in 1991.

## Career

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and growing up in Denver, Colorado, Waters attended Princeton University and received his MFA in Directing from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He worked as an actor in New York City on and off Broadway for more than a decade as well as at theaters around the country. Venues include the Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks, and the San Jose Repertory Theatre.
He was a member of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop in Harlem, which has developed the work of new, African American playwrights, directors, designers, and actors since 1973.
In 1985, he was cast as Marvin Berry (a fictional cousin of Chuck Berry) in Back to the Future, a role reprised in Back to the Future Part II in 1989.
In 1991, he created the role of Belize in the first production of Angels in America.
He was a cast member of the 1992 Disney show Adventures in Wonderland portraying Tweedle Dee, based on the Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
He has worked in collaboration with novelist/playwright Jewelle Gomez on a play about James Baldwin, titled Waiting for Giovanni which was produced for the 2011-12 (San Francisco) New Conservatory Theater season. The project's development was sponsored by Intersection for the Arts.
Waters has taught acting, script development and has directed numerous productions around the country. He is currently a tenured professor in the Theatre Department at Macalester College. As he approaches retirement, he was appointed as the Associate Dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship. Waters is an Honorary Member of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most Prestigious Academic Honor Society.

## Filmography

| Production | Type | Year | Role | Notes |
| Hotline | TV movie | 1982 | Rick Hernandez | |
| Laverne & Shirley | TV Series | 1983 | Lamar | Season 8 Episode 16 Short on Time |
| Cagney & Lacey | TV Series | 1983 | Jimmy | Season 2 Episode 18 Chop Shop |
| Trapper John, M.D. | TV Series | 1984-1985 | Landis | Dark Side of the Loon S6 Ep9 Love Thy Neighbor S6 Ep14 |
| Back to the Future | Movie | 1985 | Marvin Berry | |
| Matt Houston | TV Series | 1985 | Guard | Season 3 Episode 16 The Honeymoon Murders |
| News at Eleven | TV movie | 1986 | Stage Manager | |
| What a Country! | TV sitcom | 1986-1987 | Robert Muboto | |
| 227 | TV series | 1986-1989 | Policeman / Perrier / Richard | Play It Again, Stan S4 Ep11 Redecorating Blues S1 Ep18 |
| The $25,000 Pyramid | TV series | 1987 | Himself | Celebrity Contestant in episodes that aired August 10, 1987 to August 14, 1987 & November 9, 1987 to November 13, 1987 |
| What's Happening Now!! | TV sitcom | 1988 | Jerry | Happy Face S3 Ep17 |
| Back to the Future Part II | Movie | 1989 | Marvin Berry | |
| Amen | TV series | 1989 | Director | The Psychic: Part 2 S3 Ep15 |
| Faith | Movie | 1990 | Lester | |
| Death Warrant | Movie | 1990 | Jersey | |
| Adventures in Wonderland | TV series | 1992-1994 | Tweedle Dee | |
| Big Bully | Movie | 1996 | Alan | |
| Boys Life 2 | Movie | 1997 | Tony's Date | (segment "Nunzio's Second Cousin") |
| Expedition: Back to the Future | TV series | 2021 | Marvin Berry | |