
Acting
Born April 21, 1963 · El Paso, Texas, USA
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.

Everybody Wants to Be Gen X
2025

Cockroach
2025

Reclaim the Flag
2025

Lisbon
2025

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

Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
2023

I Am More
2022

Impresario
2022

John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One
2021

Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies
2020

Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020

The Spark: The Origins of Pride
2019

How to Talk to Girls at Parties
2017

My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
2016

Larry Kramer In Love & Anger
2015

Danny Says
2015

The Hooping Life
2014

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

Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus'
2007

Shortbus
2006

Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig
2006

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006

Apparition of the Eternal Church
2006

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

Totally Gay!
2003

Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family
2003