Waters is a cult American director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and actor. Since his childhood, he has been obsessed with violence and bloody scenes. In love with moving pictures, he began to make his own films in 8mm and 16mm format without any interest in aquiring a formal film education. With a good sense of marketing, he advertised his films on leaflets and organized projections, slowly collecting his audience and future collaborators (the so-called Dreamlanders group, consisting of amateur actors Divine, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce) for his independently produced films. After his first short feature films Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964), Roman Candles (1966) and Eat Your Makeup (1968), he made his feature film debut with Mondo Trasho (1969). It was followed by Multiple Maniacs (1970); the cult underground film Pink Flamingos (1972), which was his first film in color; Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977) and Polyester (1981), the last film of his early, more controversial phase. His next, more mainstream film was Hairspray (1988). All of his films featured the Dreamland crew, but in this later phase, he started to cast more famous actors such as Johnny Depp, Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff. These films are Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. DeMented (2000) and currently his latest film A Dirty Shame (2004).