John Waters

Early life Waters was born on 8 December 1948 in London, England. He grew up in Teddington.

Career Music He first faced a live audience as a singer and bass guitar player with 1960s London-based blues band The Riots before travelling to Australia, initially for an extended working holiday and then eventually settling there permanently.

Since 1992 Waters has performed with a one-man show Looking Through a Glass Onion co-written with Stewart D'Arrietta, a tribute to John Lennon featuring Lennon's music, words and images. In addition to many Australian tours of the show he also played six months in the West End, London. In 2014 he played 120 performances at the Union Square Theatre in Manhattan.

Waters has released of CDs including The Story of Pilliga Pete and Clarrie the Cocky (2010), a family story and music CD written and narrated by Waters, Brel (2010) a live album sung in French and a tribute to the Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, the double live album, John Waters Looking Through A Glass Onion (2011) and his debut originals album Cloudland (2011).

Theatre

He appeared in a production of Hair in 1969/1971, Godspell and Dracula.

He was in the original Australian production of They're Playing Our Song, which opened on 23 August 1980 at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. It starred Waters and Jacki Weaver, with Rhonda Burchmore as one of the Inner Voices. An Australian cast recording of the show was later released by Festival Records.

Waters appeared as Pontius Pilate in the concert version of Tim Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar with John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens and Angry Anderson in 1992

In 2008, he played The Narrator in Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show at Star City Casino, Sydney.

In 2006–2007. Waters toured Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand in a critically acclaimed role alongside Brett Tucker in The Woman in Black.

In 2010 he starred in the Melbourne Theatre Company's production of The Swimming Club, a play by Australian author Hannie Rayson.

In 2017, Waters played Ulysses in Music Theatre Melbourne's concert production of Paris. He had previously played the role of Agamemnon on the musical's original concept album released in 1990.

In 2024 Waters starred in a new Australian tour of The Woman in Black as Arthur Kipps.

Television Many Australians still remember Waters best from his nearly 20-year stint on the Australian children's series Play School, appearing from 1972 until 1991. During his tenure with Play School, he narrated various children's video trailers for ABC-TV.

Among his best known television roles is that of the brooding Sergeant Robert McKellar in the 1974–76 television series Rush (revoiced and parodied by The D-Generation as The Olden Days on their comedy program The Late Show). Waters also appeared in the 1983 Australian miniseries All the Rivers Run as Brenton Edwards.

Waters joined the cast of All Saints in June 2006 as Mike Vlasek, the new head of surgery. He remained with the show until its cancellation in late 2009.

In 2012, Waters starred in the ABC TV mini-series The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, adapted from the novel by English writer Fergus Hume. He appeared on the Logie-award-winning television series Offspring, which completed filming its third season in 2013 and was renewed for a further two seasons.

In 2018, Waters had a recurring role, as lawyer Travis James, on the ABC TV Series Mystery Road.

Films Waters played Capt. Alfred Taylor in the 1980 film Breaker Morant which starred British actor Edward Woodward as Harry "Breaker" Morant.

In 1982, Waters appeared in the World War II film Attack Force Z alongside Mel Gibson, John Phillip Law and Sam Neill.

In 2013, Waters starred in a local regional film production created by Luis Bayonas, called Adios.

In 1990, film critic David Stratton, referring to the films, wrote that in his opinion Waters "has been in more bad films than most other actors around".

Other work He has starred in many television advertisements for various companies including Cinzano, Bird's Eye, Bankers Trust, MBF Health Fund, Sudafed, Uncle Tobys, Qantas, Telstra, MLC, Arnotts and Toyota Hybrid Camry. He has narrated programs such as Mind Games: Real Life Adventures, Nostradamus and Triple Zero Heroes and All Together Now.

Awards In 1975, Waters won the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent at the Logie Awards for his role in Division 4.

In 1988, he won the AFI Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role as character Tom Garfield in the Frank Howson-written film Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

He has been nominated for several other awards, including Best Lead Actor (in 1978 for Weekend of Shadows) and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (in 2006 for All Saints) at the AFI Awards, and for Most Popular Actor in a Telemovie or Mini-Series (in 1992 for Which Way Home) at the Logie Awards.

ARIA Music Awards The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the Australian Recording Industry Association. They commenced in 1987. 1994 Looking Through a Glass Onion Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album

Personal life Waters' first marriage was to actress Jenny Cullen; they had two children

His second marriage was to actress Sally Conabere. They had no children.

His third marriage, to Zoe Burton, was in January 2002; they live in the Southern Highlands, NSW, with their three children.

Children's music Waters supports DUETS 2012, a concert to assist The Australian Children's Music Foundation (ACMF) (founded by fellow Play School presenter Don Spencer) and Carols in the Domain 2012. He is an ambassador for The Australian Children's Music Foundation.

Filmography Film

Television Theatre source:AusStage ( Title Year Role Playwright Hair 1969/1971 Actor - as Claude James Rado, Gerome Ragni Big Brother Dragon 1971 as Actor Michael Boddy There Is Nothing More Wonderful than a Glorious Sunset 1971 as Actor Michael Boddy Lasseter 1971 as Actor Reg Livermore Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris 1972 as Performer Eric Blau Godspell 1972 as Actor Stephen Schwartz Two Gentlemen of Veronica 1973 as Actor - as Proteus William Shakespeare Caesar and Cleopatra 1977 Apollodorus George Bernard Shaw Dracula 1978/1979 Count Dracula Robert Helpmann They're Playing Our Song 1980/1981 Vernon Gersch Neil Simon Children of a Lesser God 1984 as Actor Mark Medoff My Fair Lady 1988 Henry Higgins George Bernard Shaw The Hunting of the Snark 1990 as Actor Lewis Carroll Gershwin - The Musical 1990 George Gershwin Gregory Flood - Roslyn Flood A Little Night Music 1990 as Actor Hugh Wheeler Love Letters 1992 as Actor A.R. Gurney Looking Through a Glass Onion 1992-1994 as Performer John Waters - devisor Jesus Christ Superstar 1992 Actor and Singer Pontius Pilate Reunion 1995 as Actor John Waters - Writer/Director An Ideal Husband 1998 Sir Robert Chiltern Oscar Wilde The Sound of Music 2000 as Captain von Trapp The Graduate 2001 Mr. Robinson Charles Webb Oliver! 2002 as Performer Lionel Bart Influence 2005 as Actor David Williamson Let It Be 2006 as Singer The Woman in Black 2006 as Actor Stephen Malatratt The White Album Concert 2007 as Singer The Rocky Horror Show 2008 Narator Richard O'Brian Tell me on a Sunday 2008 Voice-over ArtistThe Swimming Club 2010 as Actor Hannie Rayson Looking Through a Glass Onion/Lennon:Looking Through a Glass Onion 2010-2017 as Performer John Waters - creator/devisor The Addams Family 2017 as Gomez Addams Talk 2017 as Actor Johnathon Biggins Paris 2017 as Actor David McKay Bloom 2025 Doug Waitress 2026 Joe Jessie Nelson Fiddler on the Roof 2026 Lazar Wolf