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Tom Waits
Actor, Composer, Writer, Additional CreditsBorn December 7, 1949 (76 years)
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.
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.
Movies & Shows on Plex
Known For
Tom Waits Filmography
| 2026 | Wildwood · as (voice) |
| 2025 | Father Mother Sister Brother · as Father |
| 2023 | The Absence of Eden · as Hunley |
| 2021 | Licorice Pizza · as Rex Blau |
| 2021 | Ultra City Smiths (TV Series) · as The Narrator (voice) |
| 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 | The Old Man & the Gun · as Waller |
| 2016 | Citizen · as Cesar |
| 2012 | Seven Psychopaths · as Zachariah Rigby |
| 2012 | Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen · as (archive Footage) |
| 2011 | |
| 2011 | The Monster of Nix · as Virgil (voice) |
| 2010 | The Book of Eli · as Engineer |
| 2009 | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus · as Devil |
| 2006 | Wristcutters: A Love Story · as Kneller |
| 2005 | Domino · as Wanderer |
| 2003 | Coffee and Cigarettes · as Tom (segment "somewhere In California") |
| 1999 | Mystery Men · as Doc Heller |
| 1997 | Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight · as Narrator (voice) |
| 1993 | Short Cuts · as Earl Piggot |
| 1993 | Coffee and Cigarettes III · as Tom |
| 1992 | Bram Stoker's Dracula · as R.m. Renfield |
| 1991 | At Play in the Fields of the Lord · as Wolf |
| 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 (TV Series) · as Lloyd (voice) |
| 1989 | Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale · as Silva |
| 1989 | Mystery Train · as Radio Dj (voice) |
| 1989 | |
| 1987 | Candy Mountain · as Al Silk |
| 1987 | Ironweed · as Rudy |
| 1986 | Down by Law · as Zack |
| 1984 | The Cotton Club · as Irving Stark |
| 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 | Rockpalast (TV Series) |
| 1998 | |
| 1991 | Night on Earth · as Original Music Composer |
| 1990 | The Black Rider · as Original Music 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 |
| 1988 |
| 2010 | |
| 1990 | The Black Rider · as By |
| 1986 | Down by Law · as Songs |