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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 7, 1949
Place of Birth
Pomona, California, USA
Also Known As
- Thomas Alan Waits
- 汤姆·威兹
Tom Waits
1.2 Popularity
Biography
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.
Known For
7.1
Father
Father Mother Sister Brother
2025
0.0
Self
The Last Ride
2025
0.0
Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
2025
5.1
Hunley
The Absence of Eden
2024
0.0
Self
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
2024
0.0
Self
This Is Sparklehorse
2022
0.0
Self
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
2022
7.0
Rex Blau
Licorice Pizza
2021
6.2
The Narrator (voice)
Ultra City Smiths
2021
6.7
News Stand Owner (uncredited)
Motherless Brooklyn
2019
Credits
Father Mother Sister Brother
as Father
2025
7.1
The Last Ride
as Self
2025
0.0
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
as Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
2025
0.0
The Absence of Eden
as Hunley
2024
5.1
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
as Self
2024
0.0
This Is Sparklehorse
as Self
2022
0.0
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
as Self
2022
0.0
Licorice Pizza
as Rex Blau
2021
7.0
Ultra City Smiths
as The Narrator (voice)
2021
6.2
Motherless Brooklyn
as News Stand Owner (uncredited)
2019
6.7
The Dead Don't Die
as Hermit Bob
2019
5.4
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
as Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
2018
7.1
The Old Man & the Gun
as Waller
2018
6.4
The Moon’s Milk
as Captain Millipede (voice)
2018
0.0
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
as Self
2017
0.0
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
as Self
2017
6.7
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
as Self
2015
6.7
🎬
The Laughing Heart
as Narrator
2013
4.0
Seven Psychopaths
as Zachariah Rigby
2012
6.8
A Brief History of John Baldessari
as Narrator
2012
5.3
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
as (archive footage)
2012
7.6
Twixt
as Narrator (voice)
2011
5.1
The Monster of Nix
as Virgil (Voice)
2011
7.0
The Book of Eli
as Engineer
2010
6.8
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
as Devil
2009
6.4
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
as Self
2009
3.8
🎬
Tom Waits: Under Review
as Self
2008
4.0
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
as Self
2008
6.8
Wristcutters: A Love Story
as Kneller
2007
6.9
Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight
as Self
2006
3.8
![Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w92/lxpmTfyfn20JnsbJmjfUKlT7ugU.jpg)
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
as Self
2006
3.8
Domino
as Wanderer
2005
5.9
The Tiger and the Snow
as Self / Sè stesso
2005
6.7
Coffee and Cigarettes
as Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
2004
6.9
Bukowski: Born Into This
as Self
2003
6.7
🎬
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
as Self
1999
3.8
Mystery Men
as Doc Heller
1999
5.8
🎬
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
as Self
1999
0.0
Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
as Self
1998
0.0
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
as Narrator (voice)
1997
7.2
Coffee and Cigarettes III
as Tom
1997
7.0
The Daily Show
as Self
1996
6.4
Short Cuts
as Earl Piggot
1993
7.2
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
as Self - Musical Guest
1993
7.2
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
as Self
1993
6.0
Bram Stoker's Dracula
as R.M. Renfield
1992
7.4
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
as Wolf
1991
6.4
Fishing with John
as Self
1991
7.5
The Fisher King
as Disabled Vet (uncredited)
1991
7.3
Until the End of the World
as Singer in Bar
1991
6.7
Queens Logic
as Monte
1991
5.8
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
as Self
1990
0.0
The Two Jakes
as Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
1990
6.0
🎬
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
as Zack (Archive footage)
1990
0.0
The Simpsons
as Lloyd (voice)
1989
8.0
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
as Silva
1989
7.5
Mystery Train
as Radio DJ (voice)
1989
7.3
Cold Feet
as Kenny
1989
3.8
Big Time
as Self
1988
7.3
Candy Mountain
as Al Silk
1988
5.8
Greasy Lake
as Narrator
1988
3.2
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
as Self - Organ/Guitar
1988
7.5
Ironweed
as Rudy
1987
6.3
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
as Himself
1986
0.0
Down by Law
as Zack
1986
7.3
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
as Self
1985
0.0
The Cotton Club
as Irving Stark
1984
6.5
The Stone Boy
as Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
1984
6.9
Rumble Fish
as Benny
1983
7.0
The Outsiders
as Buck Merrill
1983
7.2
Poetry in Motion
as Self
1982
7.0
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
as Self
1982
8.0
One from the Heart
as Trumpet player (uncredited)
1982
5.9
Wolfen
as Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
1981
5.9
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
as Self
1980
0.0
🎬
Tom Waits for No One
as Self
1979
4.3
Paradise Alley
as Mumbles
1978
5.8
🎬
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
as Self
1978
7.0
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
as Self
1977
0.0
🎬
Tom Waits - Elephant Beer Blues - Songs After Closing Time
as Self
1976
0.0
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Musical Guest
1975
7.0
Austin City Limits
as Self
1975
6.2
Rockpalast
1974
10.0
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
1961
5.4
Wild Horse Nine
N/A
0.0
Wildwood
as (voice)
N/A
0.0
Star.Wav
as The Caller
N/A
0.0
🎬
Tom Waits - One Star Shining : The First Decade
as Self
N/A
6.5