Tom Waits
Acting
Born: December 7, 1949 (age 76) · Pomona, California, USA
Highest Rated
Biography
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Known for
The Simpsons
1989
The Book of Eli
2010
Bram Stoker's Dracula
1992
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
2018
Seven Psychopaths
2012
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
2009
The Dead Don't Die
2019
Licorice Pizza
2021
Motherless Brooklyn
2019
The Outsiders
1983
The Old Man & the Gun
2018
The Fisher King
1991
Photos (3)
Movies (43)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
Bram Stoker's Dracula
R.M. Renfield
The Book of Eli
Engineer
The Outsiders
Buck Merrill
Licorice Pizza
Rex Blau
Seven Psychopaths
Zachariah Rigby
The Dead Don't Die
Hermit Bob
Father Mother Sister Brother
Father
Rumble Fish
Benny
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Devil
Motherless Brooklyn
News Stand Owner (uncredited)
Mystery Train
Radio DJ (voice)
Mystery Men
Doc Heller
Domino
Wanderer
The Cotton Club
Irving Stark
Coffee and Cigarettes
Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
The Fisher King
Disabled Vet (uncredited)
The Old Man & the Gun
Waller
Twixt
Narrator (voice)
Until the End of the World
Singer in Bar
The Two Jakes
Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
Short Cuts
Earl Piggot
Down by Law
Zack
Paradise Alley
Mumbles
One from the Heart
Trumpet player (uncredited)
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
(archive footage)
Wolfen
Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Kneller
Ironweed
Rudy
Queens Logic
Monte
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Wolf
The Stone Boy
Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Silva
Candy Mountain
Al Silk
Cold Feet
Kenny
Greasy Lake
Narrator
Coffee and Cigarettes III
Tom
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Narrator
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
Narrator (voice)
The Monster of Nix
Virgil (Voice)
Star.Wav
The Caller
The Moon’s Milk
Captain Millipede (voice)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
TV Shows (3)
Self / Appearances (30)
The Daily Show
Self · 1 eps
Saturday Night Live
Self - Musical Guest · 1 eps
The Mike Douglas Show
Self · 1 eps
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Musical Guest · 1 eps
Austin City Limits
Self · 2 eps
Fishing with John
Self · 1 eps
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Self - Organ/Guitar
The Tiger and the Snow
Self / Sè stesso
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Self
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
Self
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Self
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Self
Tom Waits: Big Time
Self
The Black Rider
Himself
Bukowski: Born Into This
Self
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
Self
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
Self
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
Self
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
Self
This Is Sparklehorse
Self
Poetry in Motion
Self
The Last Ride
Self
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
Himself
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
Self
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
Self
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
Self
![Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Fw342%2FlxpmTfyfn20JnsbJmjfUKlT7ugU.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
Self
Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Self
Tom Waits: No Visitors After Midnight
Self
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
Self
Upcoming (3)
Writing (2)
Other Crew (19)
Roofman
Thanks
Night on Earth
Original Music Composer
Night on Earth
Songs
Down by Law
Songs
One from the Heart
Original Music Composer
One from the Heart
Songs
Streetwise
Music
Rita Ritter
Original Music Composer
Miral
Songs
Tom Waits: Big Time
Original Music Composer
Tom Waits: Big Time
Lighting Design
The Black Rider
Original Music Composer
Bunny
Music
Bunny
Music Producer
Bunny
Songs
La fine della notte
Songs
To Live and to Die in Samarkand
Sound
The Fallen
Music
La première journée de Nicolas
Music