Tom Waits

Attore, Compositore, Sceneggiatore

7 dicembre 1949 (76 anni)
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.

Film e Serie su Plex

  • Coffee and Cigarettes
    Coffee and Cigarettes2003
  • Wristcutters - Una storia d'amore
    Wristcutters - Una storia d'amore2006
  • Daunbailò
    Daunbailò1986
  • Cotton Club
    Cotton Club1984
  • Twixt
    Twixt2011
  • Miral
    Miral2010
  • Cold Feet - Piedi freddi
    Cold Feet - Piedi freddi1989
  • Ultra City Smiths
    Ultra City Smiths1 stagione

Famoso per

  • Daunbailò
    Daunbailò1986
  • Codice Genesi
    Codice Genesi2010
  • Licorice Pizza
    Licorice Pizza2021
  • Dracula di Bram Stoker
    Dracula di Bram Stoker1992
  • I morti non muoiono
    I morti non muoiono2019
  • America oggi
    America oggi1993
  • Father Mother Sister Brother
    Father Mother Sister Brother2025
  • Old Man & the Gun
    Old Man & the Gun2018
  • Un sogno lungo un giorno
    Un sogno lungo un giorno1982
  • Coffee and Cigarettes
    Coffee and Cigarettes2003
  • Wristcutters - Una storia d'amore
    Wristcutters - Una storia d'amore2006
  • Coffee and Cigarettes III
    Coffee and Cigarettes III1993
  • Ironweed
    Ironweed1987
  • Big Time
    Big Time1988
  • Giocando nei campi del Signore
    Giocando nei campi del Signore1991
  • Sognando Manhattan
    Sognando Manhattan1991
  • A Brief History of John Baldessari
    A Brief History of John Baldessari2012
  • Cold Feet - Piedi freddi
    Cold Feet - Piedi freddi1989
  • The Absence of Eden
    The Absence of Eden2024
  • Candy Mountain
    Candy Mountain1988

Filmografia

2026
2026
Wildwood · as (voice)
2025
2023
The Absence of Eden · as Hunley
2021
Licorice Pizza · as Rex Blau
2021
Ultra City Smiths · as The Narrator (voice)Su Plex
2019
Motherless Brooklyn · as News Stand Owner (uncredited)
2019
The Dead Don't Die · as Hermit Bob
2018
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs · as Prospector (segment "all Gold Canyon")
2018
2016
Citizen · as Cesar
2012
Seven Psychopaths · as Zachariah Rigby
2012
2012
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen · as (archive Footage)
2011
Twixt · as Narrator (voice)Su Plex
2011
The Monster of Nix · as Virgil (voice)
2010
The Book of Eli · as Engineer
2009
2006
Wristcutters: A Love Story · as KnellerSu Plex
2005
Domino · as Wanderer
2003
Coffee and Cigarettes · as Tom (segment "somewhere In California")Su Plex
1999
Mystery Men · as Doc Heller
1997
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight · as Narrator (voice)
1993
Short Cuts · as Earl Piggot
1993
1992
Bram Stoker's Dracula · as R.m. Renfield
1991
1991
The Fisher King · as Disabled Vet (uncredited)
1991
Until the End of the World · as Singer In Bar
1991
Queens Logic · as Monte
1990
The Two Jakes · as Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
1989
The Simpsons · as Lloyd (voice)
1989
1989
Mystery Train · as Radio Dj (voice)
1989
Cold Feet · as KennySu Plex
1987
Candy Mountain · as Al Silk
1987
Ironweed · as Rudy
1986
Down by Law · as ZackSu Plex
1984
The Cotton Club · as Irving StarkSu Plex
1984
The Stone Boy · as Petrified Man At Carnival (uncredited)
1983
Rumble Fish · as Benny
1983
The Outsiders · as Buck Merrill
1981
One from the Heart · as Trumpet Player (uncredited)
1981
Wolfen · as Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
1978
Paradise Alley · as Mumbles
1974

2022
2022
2017
2017
2016
2015
2015
2010
2009
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon · as Self - Musical Guest
2009
2008
2006
Absolute Wilson · as Self
2005
The Tiger and the Snow · as Self / Sè Stesso
2005
2003
1999
1999
1996
The Daily Show · as Self
1996
VH1 Storytellers · as Self
1993
Late Night with Conan O'Brien · as Self - Musical Guest
1993
1992
1992
1991
1990
1988
1988
Big Time · as Self
1985
1984
Streetwise · as Self
1982
Poetry in Motion · as Self
1982
1982
1978
America 2Night · as Self - Guest
1978
1977
Fernwood 2Night · as Self
1975
Saturday Night Live · as Self - Musical Guest
1975
1974
Dinah! · as Self
1971
1961

1998
1991
Night on Earth · as Original Music Composer
1990
The Black Rider · as Original Music Composer
1990
Albert på Andy's · as Composer
1988
Big Time · as Original Music Composer
1984
1984
Rita Ritter · as Original Music Composer
1981
One from the Heart · as Original Music Composer

2010
Miral · as SongsSu Plex
1990
1986
Down by Law · as SongsSu Plex