
John Cameron Mitchell
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.
63 acting credits · 7 directing credits
Acting · 63

Law & Order
1990

Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014

MacGyver
1985

The Good Fight
2017

The Equalizer
1985

The Twilight Zone
1985

The Sandman
2022

Yellowjackets
2021

Girls
2012

Mozart in the Jungle
2014

Freddy's Nightmares
1988

Vinyl
2016

Shortbus
2006

Indie Sex
2007

City on Fire
2023

Joe vs Carole
2022

Shrill
2019

How to Talk to Girls at Parties
2017

Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies
2020

Dr. Jackie
2022

Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time
2020

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2001
Party Girl
1996

The House of Venus Show
2005

Girl 6
1996

Daybreak
1993

Broadway: The Next Generation
—

My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
2016

Band of the Hand
1986

Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
2023

One More Saturday Night
1986

AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
2023

Book of Love
1990

Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020

Totally Gay!
2003

The Dreamer of Oz
1990

Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus'
2007

Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig
2003

The Spark: The Origins of Pride
2019

The Roommate
1984

A Friendship in Vienna
1988

The Stepford Children
1987

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
1998
Misplaced
1989

Danny Says
2015

Ron Forever
—

David Searching
1997

Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig
2006

The Hooping Life
2014

Larry Kramer In Love & Anger
2015

Heaven Above Rowen
—
I Remember
1999

Reclaim the Flag
2025

Cockroach
2025

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
2007

Apparition of the Eternal Church
2006

Impresario
2022

Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family
2003

Everybody Wants to Be Gen X
2025

John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One
2021

Lisbon
2025

I Am More
2022



