John Cameron Mitchell
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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
Credits
Shortbus (2006)
as Sextra (one of the participants in the orgy sequence)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
as Hedwig
Girl 6 (1996)
as Rob
Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (2020)
as Self
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017)
as Punk (uncredited)
Daybreak (1993)
as Lennie
Broadway: The Next Generation (—)
as Self
Larry Kramer In Love & Anger (2015)
as Himself
Band of the Hand (1986)
as J.L.
Book of Love (1990)
as Floyd
Totally Gay! (2003)
as Self
I Remember (1999)
as Joe
AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex (2023)
as Self
Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus' (2007)
as Himself
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006)
as Self
Danny Says (2015)
as Self
The Dreamer of Oz (1990)
as Albert
Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open (2023)
as Self (interview)
Ron Forever (—)
as Ron
The Stepford Children (1987)
as Kenny
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (2016)
as Brent Daniels (voice)
The Roommate (1984)
as Calvin Fitch
The Spark: The Origins of Pride (2019)
as Self
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp (2020)
as Self
Cockroach (2026)
as James
Reclaim the Flag (2025)
as Self
Everybody Wants to Be Gen X (2025)
as Self
One More Saturday Night (1986)
as Teenager #2
Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig (2006)
as Self
Misplaced (1989)
as Jacek
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998)
as Hedwig Robinson/Tommy Gnosis
Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig (2003)
as Self
A Friendship in Vienna (1988)
as Tommi Lowberg
The Hooping Life (2014)
as Himself
Apparition of the Eternal Church (2006)
as Self
David Searching (1997)
as Man with Fruit
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (2007)
as Himself
Heaven Above Rowen (—)
as Promise (voice)
Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family (2003)
as Self (uncredited)
I Am More (2022)
Actor
Impresario (2022)
Actor
Lisbon (2025)
Actor
John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One (2021)
as John Cameron Mitchell