Tom Waits Photo

Tom Waits

Acting

11.3 Popularity Dec 07, 1949 (75 years old) 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 gr...

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.

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Filmography 112

2025
2025
The Last Ride Movie

as Self

2025
Human Nature in Eleven Parts Movie

as Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)

2024
The Absence of Eden Movie

as Hunley

2022
2021
Licorice Pizza Movie

as Rex Blau

2021
Ultra City Smiths TV

as The Narrator (voice)

2019
Motherless Brooklyn Movie

as News Stand Owner (uncredited)

2019
The Dead Don't Die Movie

as Hermit Bob

2018
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Movie

as Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")

2018
The Old Man & the Gun Movie

as Waller

2018
The Moon’s Milk Movie

as Captain Millipede (voice)

2013
The Laughing Heart Movie

as Narrator

2012
Seven Psychopaths Movie

as Zachariah Rigby

Photos 1

Tom Waits Photo

Personal Details

Known For Acting
Gender Male
Birthday December 07, 1949 (75 years old)
Place of Birth Pomona, California, USA
Also Known As Thomas Alan Waits, 汤姆·威兹
Years Active 1961 - 2025
Popularity 11.3
Career Stats
112 Total Credits
78 Movie Roles
9 TV Roles
1 Photos