Tom Waits
Born
December 7, 1949 (75 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Pomona, California, USA
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.
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Known For
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
Self
2024
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
Self
2022
Licorice Pizza
Rex Blau
2021
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
Self
2017
The Laughing Heart
Narrator
2013
Seven Psychopaths
Zachariah Rigby
2012
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Narrator
2012
Twixt
Narrator (voice)
2011
The Book of Eli
Engineer
2010
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Devil
2009
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
Self
2009
Tom Waits: Under Review
Self
2008
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
Self
2008
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Kneller
2007
Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight
Self
2006
![Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/lxpmTfyfn20JnsbJmjfUKlT7ugU.jpg){kind=small}
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
Self
2006
The Tiger and the Snow
Self / Sè stesso
2005
Domino
Wanderer
2005
Coffee and Cigarettes
Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
2004
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
Self
1999
Mystery Men
Doc Heller
1999
Short Cuts
Earl Piggot
1993
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Wolf
1991
Until the End of the World
Singer in Bar
1991
Queens Logic
Monte
1991
The Two Jakes
Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
1990
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
Zack (Archive footage)
1990
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Silva
1989
Cold Feet
Kenny
1989
Big Time
Self
1988
Candy Mountain
Al Silk
1988
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Self - Organ/Guitar
1988
Ironweed
Rudy
1987
Down by Law
Zack
1986
Rumble Fish
Benny
1983
The Outsiders
Buck Merrill
1983
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
Self
1980
Tom Waits - One Star Shining : The First Decade
Self
Paradise Alley
Mumbles
1978
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
Self
1978
Wildwood
(voice)
Star.Wav
The Caller
Father Mother Sister Brother
Father
2025
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
2025
The Absence of Eden
Hunley
2024
This Is Sparklehorse
Self
2022
Ultra City Smiths
The Narrator (voice) · (6 episodes)
2021
Motherless Brooklyn
News Stand Owner (uncredited)
2019
The Dead Don't Die
Hermit Bob
2019
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
2018
The Old Man & the Gun
Waller
2018
The Moon’s Milk
Captain Millipede (voice)
2018
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
Self
2017
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Self
2015
The Monster of Nix
Virgil (Voice)
2011
Bukowski: Born Into This
Self
2003
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
Self
1999
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
Narrator (voice)
1997
Coffee and Cigarettes III
Tom
1997
The Daily Show
Self · (1 episode)
1996
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Musical Guest · (1 episode)
1993
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Self
1993
Bram Stoker's Dracula
R.M. Renfield
1992
Fishing with John
Self · (1 episode)
1991
The Fisher King
Disabled Vet (uncredited)
1991
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Self
1990
The Simpsons
Lloyd (voice) · (1 episode)
1989
Mystery Train
Radio DJ (voice)
1989
Greasy Lake
Narrator
1988
Temptation
1987
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
Himself
1986
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
Self
1985
The Cotton Club
Irving Stark
1984
The Stone Boy
Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
1984
Poetry in Motion
Self
1982
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
Self
1982
One from the Heart
Trumpet player (uncredited)
1981
Wolfen
Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
1981
Tom Waits for No One
Self
1979
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
Self
1977
Wild Horse Nine
Tom Waits - Elephant Beer Blues - Songs After Closing Time
Self
1976
Saturday Night Live
Self - Musical Guest · (1 episode)
1975
Austin City Limits
Self · (2 episodes)
1975
Rockpalast
(1 episode)
1974
The Mike Douglas Show
Self · (1 episode)
1961