John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
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). He wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was an international success and was adapted into a hit Broadway musical. He has written and directed other films, including 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), Seed of Chucky (2004), 'Til Death Do Us Part (2007), Excision (2012), and Suburban Gothic (2014). More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show This Filthy World. He often worked with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders.Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations, photography, and sculpture. In 2016, he received an honorary degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art. 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.