Acting
Apr 20, 1963
El Paso, Texas, USA
John Cameron Mitchell
Acting
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.
Feature Films (44)
An Indian Vietnam veteran trains five street punks in the Everglades to fight vice in Miami.
Band of the Hand
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an 'internationally ignored' but divinely talented rock diva, inhabiting a 'beautiful gender of one'.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The problems faced by both teenagers and adults in a small Minnesota town who are trying to get dates for a Saturday night.
One More Saturday Night
John Twiller takes down his high school yearbook and begins to reminiscence about that time he first moved into the neighborhood in 1956. His teenage self, Jack is obsessed with Lily one of the more popular girls around. The sole obstacle is Angelo, her bullying boyfriend. With the help of his pals Crutch, Floyd, and Spider, he makes every attempt possible to change her mind.
Book of Love
The complex and revolutionary music and lyrics of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, the glam rock powerhouse behind “Bang a Gong (Get it On)” and other iconic songs. Featuring archival performances and interviews with Elton John, Ringo Starr, and David Bowie, plus filmed musical interpretations by artists such as Nick Cave, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, U2, and Father John Misty.
AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
Television & Series (23)
He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's brakes... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part genius. And all hero.
MacGyver
The evil, sinister killer of the "Nightmare On Elm Street" movies, Freddy Krueger, hosts this show, where each week, he shows us a tale of evil and death about the lives of people who live in Springwood.
Freddy's Nightmares
When Carole Baskin, a big cat enthusiast, learns that when fellow exotic animal lover Joe "Exotic" Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit, she sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy.
Joe vs Carole
At night Mary is a party girl and by day she works at the New York Public Library with her godmother.
Party Girl
Failed actress Jackie Beat has finally become a psychotherapist. Using role-playing, primal scream therapy, ink-blot tests and even puppets, she is helping her funny, famous and fabulous "friends" navigate the rocky road of mental health.
