Tom Waits

Actor, Producer, Writer

Birthdate: Dec 7, 1949

Birthplace: Pomona, California, USA

Thomas Alan Waits was born in Pomona, California, to schoolteachers Alma Fern (Johnson) and Jesse Frank Waits. Described as one of the last beatniks of the contemporary music, Waits in fact has two separate careers. From 1973 (LP "Closing Time") to 1983 ("One From The Heart" soundtrack), he recorded nine LPs for Asylum Records, writing songs mainly in the manner of Tin Pan Alley, mixing them with jazz and blues. Extraordinarily, he never produced a hit, but he earned a cult following all over the world. In 1983 he signed with Island Records, and released a series of albums that stunned the music world. Beginning with "Swordfishtrombones", he introduced a whole new orchestration, which included some of the instruments invented by Harry Partch. He found a new ground for his innovations, searching in sound fields that never before were searched. This second part of his career coincided with his marriage to Kathleen Brennan, a former writer for Francis Ford Coppola (Zoetrope (1999)). His LPs "Rain Dogs" (1985), "Big Time" (soundtrack) and "The Black Rider" are today what Kurt Weill's music was once. "The Black Rider" brings music written for the show directed by Bob Wilson and staged in Germany.

Tom Waits Movies

actor

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Upcoming (2)

  • 2026 |

    Wild Horse Nine

  • 2026 |

    Wildwood

    asSterling Fox
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Previous (9)

  • 2025 |

    Father Mother Sister Brother

    asFather
  • 2024 |

    Candy Mountain

    asAl Silk
  • 2024 |

    The Absence of Eden

    asHunley
  • 2022 |

    Twixt

    asNarrator
  • 2021 |

    Licorice Pizza

    asRex Blau
  • 2019 |

    The Dead Don’t Die

    asHermit Bob
  • 2018 |

    The Old Man & the Gun

    asWaller
  • 2017 |

    Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story

    asSelf
  • 1983 |

    The Outsiders

    asBuck Merrill

director

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Previous (1)

  • 2017 |

    One Week and a Day

    asDirector

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