Known For
Acting
Born
Apr 21, 1963
Place of Birth
El Paso, Texas, USA
Credits
73 titles
John Cameron Mitchell
Biography
American writer, director, actor. Mitchell, the son of a U.S. Army general and a Scottish mother, grew up on various army bases, including Berlin; later the family lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he attended a Catholic school. Since the mid-1980s, he has worked as a theatre actor and director in New York City and played small roles in television and film productions. Among other things, he directed a play by Tennessee Williams. From 1991, he appeared in the original Broadway production of Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's musical adaptation of The Secret Garden, which won several Tony Awards. In the early 1990s, together with musician Stephen Trask, he developed the character of Hedwig, a transgender rock musician who grew up in East Berlin, for performances in the New York drag bar Squeezebox. This led to the successful Off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 1998, which won two Obie Awards, and three years later to the film version of the musical, again with himself in the title role. The film premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Director's and Audience Awards, and the play won the 2001 Lambda Literary Award. At the 2002 Chlotrudis Awards, he won the prize for best leading actor. At the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in 2001, the film was shown in the ‘PANORAMA’ section and won the Teddy Award. In 2003, he produced the film Tarnation by Jonathan Caouette, which was honoured as best documentary film by the US National Society of Film Critics, among others. In 2004, Mitchell shot the music video for the Scissor Sisters' single Filthy/Gorgeous with stars from the New York drag scene. The clip was not shown on American MTV due to its explicit sexual depictions.
Known For
Filmography
Cockroach
James
Everybody Wants to Be Gen X
Self
Reclaim the Flag
Self
Lisbon
Paying for It
Executive Producer
AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
Self
Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
Self (interview)
City on Fire
Amory
Dr. Jackie
John Cameron Mitchell
The Sandman
Hal Carter
I Am More
Impresario
Joe vs Carole
Joe 'Exotic' Schreibvogel
Yellowjackets
Caligula
John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One
John Cameron Mitchell
Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies
Self
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
Self
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
Self
The Spark: The Origins of Pride
Self
Shrill
Gabe
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
Punk (uncredited)
GLOW
Director
The Good Fight
Felix Staples
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
Brent Daniels (voice)
Vinyl
Andy Warhol
Larry Kramer In Love & Anger
Himself
Danny Says
Self
The Hooping Life
Himself
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self - Guest
Mozart in the Jungle
Egon
Interior. Leather Bar.
Story Consultant
Sigur Rós: Valtari Film Experiment
Director
Seraph
Writer
Girls
David Pressler-Goings
Rabbit Hole
Director
Nurse Jackie
Director
Indie Sex
Self
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
Himself
Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus'
Himself
Shortbus
Sextra (one of the participants in the orgy sequence)
Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig
Self
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Self
Apparition of the Eternal Church
Self
The House of Venus Show
Self
Tarnation
Executive Producer
Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig
Self
Totally Gay!
Self
Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family
Self (uncredited)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig
I Remember
Joe