page_title: John Waters
section_title: Move toward the mainstream
hierarchical_section_title: John Waters / Career / Move toward the mainstream
caption_attribution_description: English: John Waters signing the jean jacket sleeve of a fan at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, 1990.
context_page_description: John Samuel Waters Jr. is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. Born and raised in Baltimore, Waters rose to prominence in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos, and Female Trouble. He wrote and directed the 1988 comedy film Hairspray, which became an international success and turned into a hit Broadway musical, which has remained in almost continuous production. Waters has written and directed other successful films, including Polyester, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, and Cecil B. Demented.
  As an actor, Waters has appeared in films such as Sweet and Lowdown, Seed of Chucky, Excision, and Suburban Gothic. More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show, This Filthy World. Waters has often worked with actor Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders.
  In addition to filmmaking and acting, Waters also works as a visual artist and across different mediums such as installations, photography, and sculpture. In 2015, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for the spoken word version of his book Carsick, and again in 2020 for his book Mr. Know-It-All.
context_section_description: Waters' 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter. Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, and Cecil B. Demented still retain his trademark inventiveness. The film Hairspray, the last movie he produced, was turned into a hit Broadway musical that swept the 2003 Tony Awards, and a film adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007, to positive reviews and commercial success. Cry-Baby, itself a musical, was also converted into a Broadway musical.
  In 2004, the NC-17-rated A Dirty Shame marked a return to his earlier, more controversial work of the 1970s. As of 2019, it is the most recent film Waters directed.
  In 2007, Waters became the host ("The Groom Reaper") of 'Til Death Do Us Part, a program on America's Court TV network.
  In 2008, Waters was planning to make a children's Christmas film called Fruitcake starring Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey. Filming was planned for November 2008, but it was shelved in January 2009. In 2010, Waters told the Chicago Tribune that "Independent films that cost $5 million are very hard to get made. I sold the idea, got a development deal, got paid a great salary to write it—and now the company is no longer around, which is the case with many independent film companies these days."
  Waters has often created characters with alliterated names for his films including Corny Collins, Cuddles Kovinsky, Donald and Donna Dasher, Dawn Davenport, Fat Fuck Frank, Francine Fishpaw, Link Larkin, Motormouth Maybelle, Mole McHenry, Penny and Prudy Pingleton, Ramona Ricketts, Sandy Sandstone, Sylvia Stickles, Todd Tomorrow, Tracy Turnblad, Ursula Udders, Wade Walker, and Wanda Woodward.
caption: John Waters signing a fan's jean jacket sleeve at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, 1990.
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