Biography
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 producti...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Reclaim the Flag
2025
as Self
An examination of how the American flag can be reclaimed as a symbol of unity for all Americans, with a focus on the LGBTQ community.
Lisbon
2025
A broke queer man agrees to an intimate meeting with an older man for cash, only to be confronted with an unexpected and harrowing request that forces...
Paying for It
2025
Executive Producer
In the late '90s, Chester and Sonny are a long-term, committed, romantic couple. When Sonny wants to redefine their relationship, Chester, a painfully...
xXPonyBoyDerekXx
2023
Executive Producer
xXPonyBoyDerekXx is a project by the New York City-based producing practice Arterial Projects. it follows an 18-year-old OnlyFans creator and was exec...
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
2023
as Self
A musical documentary celebrating the life and work of glam rock pioneer Marc Bolan, combined with a behind-the-scenes look at the tribute album of th...
Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
2023
as Self (interview)
Over the years, Nicole Kidman, Oscar and two-time Emmy Award winner, became both a pop culture icon & a complex dramatic actress. Her career is a uniq...
Impresario
2022
With vintage footage, interviews, and Marc Huestis' own energy and humor at the center, Impresario is an homage to a San Francisco icon and one of the...
John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One
2021
as John Cameron Mitchell
Far from Earth, tensions escalate between a feuding astronaut couple (Gnosis and ZanFagna). A video transmission from John Cameron Mitchell pushes the...
John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask: Nation of One
2021
Writer, Musician, Vocals
Far from Earth, tensions escalate between a feuding astronaut couple (Gnosis and ZanFagna). A video transmission from John Cameron Mitchell pushes the...
Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies
2020
as Self
The definitive documentary on the history of nudity in feature films from the early silent days to the present, studying the changes in morality that ...
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp
2020
as Self
The final volume of Time Warp digs deep into what makes us laugh over and over again as we reveal the greatest cult comedies and campy classics of all...
The Spark: The Origins of Pride
2019
as Self
A story of the LGBT struggle from the 1960s to the present, after the Stonewall riot sparked the militant action in New York that was to spread around...
Broadway: The Next Generation
2017
as Self
A look at the past, present and future of the Great White Way.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
2017
as Punk (uncredited)
In 1970s London, a teenage outsider named Enn falls in love with a rebellious alien girl named Zan, who has come to Earth for a party. Together, they ...
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
2017
Director, Screenplay, Producer
In 1970s London, a teenage outsider named Enn falls in love with a rebellious alien girl named Zan, who has come to Earth for a party. Together, they ...
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
2016
as Brent Daniels (voice)
Dash and his best friend Assaf are preparing for another year at Tides High School muckraking on behalf of their widely-distributed but little-read sc...
Larry Kramer In Love & Anger
2015
as Himself
From the onset of the AIDS epidemic, author Larry Kramer emerged as a fiery activist, an Old Testament-style prophet full of righteous fury who denoun...
Danny Says
2015
as Self
DANNY SAYS is a documentary unveiling the amazing journey of Danny Fields. Fields has played a pivotal role in music and culture with seminal acts inc...
The Hooping Life
2014
as Himself
Learn the origins and rise of modern day hula-hooping through eight extraordinary stories of hoop devotees who have embraced it as an art form, a teac...
Interior. Leather Bar.
2013
Story Consultant
Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine the lost 40 minutes from "Cruising" as a starting point to a broader exploration of sexual and c...
Agent Provocateur: Control Yourself
2013
Director
The backstage of a random music video (soundtrack. the Motels' 1979 pop music hit 1979 "Total Control")
Sigur Rós: Valtari Film Experiment
2013
Director
Sigur Rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from...
Seraph
2013
Writer, Producer
A boy's childhood scars his life.
Rabbit Hole
2010
Director
Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
Lady Grey London
2010
Writer, Director
Starring Marion Cotillard as Lady Grey, a burlesque artist with magical healing powers, the unshakable Sir Ian Mckellan as her crippled fan and Russel...
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
2007
as Himself
This documentary explores the life of jazz singer Anita O'Day. As a child, Anita had a tonsillectomy, during which her uvula was accidentally removed....
Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus'
2007
as Himself
A look at the unusual process used in the making of the film Shortbus (2006) featuring interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips from the featur...
Shortbus
2006
as Sextra (one of the participants in the orgy sequence)
In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an undergro...
Shortbus
2006
Screenplay, Director, Producer
In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an undergro...
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006
as Self
A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback M...
Apparition of the Eternal Church
2006
as Self
The movie captures the responses of 31 authors, musicians, filmmakers and dancers to Olivier Messiaen's monumental organ work "Apparition of the Etern...
Tarnation
2003
Executive Producer
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, ...
Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig
2003
as Self
Documentary about the creation of the stage musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and its subsequent film adaptation.
Totally Gay!
2003
as Self
Totally Gay! is a 2003 television special on VH1 that discusses gay pop culture in the United States. The content of the show includes the hottest sit...
Lance Loud!: A Death in An American Family
2003
as Self (uncredited)
Eldest son Lance, of the Loud family profiled on PBS in 1973, became the first openly gay man on television and a gay icon for his generation. When La...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2001
as Hedwig
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an 'internati...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2001
Director, Screenplay, Musical
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an 'internati...
I Remember
1999
as Joe
Set and shot chronologically in natural light over one hour at dusk, I REMEMBER materialized out of this sense of intangible loss and a desire to hold...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
1998
as Hedwig Robinson/Tommy Gnosis
The audience is watching genderqueer rock singer Hedwig Robinson's musical act as she follows rockstar Tommy Gnosis' (much more successful) tour aroun...
David Searching
1997
as Man with Fruit
The story of a young gay man's search to find himself. David is a young, gay aspiring documentary filmmaker and takes his first tentative steps toward...
Girl 6
1996
as Rob
A struggling actress in New York City takes a job as a phone sex operator.
Daybreak
1993
as Lennie
When a substantial portion of the nation's populace falls victim to a deadly plague, the tyrannical government quarantines them in camps, offering no ...
The Dreamer of Oz
1990
as Albert
The film is the biography of Frank Baum, the children's book author and creator of the fantasy world Oz.
Book of Love
1990
as Floyd
John Twiller takes down his high school yearbook and begins to reminiscence about that time he first moved into the neighborhood in 1956. His teenage ...
Misplaced
1989
as Jacek
The story of a strong-minded Polish mother, Halina Nowak who desperately wants her talented son, Jacek to have a life in the free world.
A Friendship in Vienna
1988
as Tommi Lowberg
Inge Dournenvald and Lise Mueller are best friends in pre-WW2 Austria, despite the fact that Inge is Jewish and Lise is the daughter of a Nazi sympath...
The Stepford Children
1987
as Kenny
Steven and Laura Harding, along with their kids David and Mary, have moved to the quiet community of Stepford. Steven joins the men's club, which is s...
One More Saturday Night
1986
as Teenager #2
The problems faced by both teenagers and adults in a small Minnesota town who are trying to get dates for a Saturday night.
Band of the Hand
1986
as J.L.
An Indian Vietnam veteran trains five street punks in the Everglades to fight vice in Miami.
The Roommate
1984
as Calvin Fitch
Set in 1952, this tells of two young men who are polar opposites being assigned to the same dorm room at Northwestern University.
Heaven Above Rowen
N/A
as Promise (voice)
The mental unraveling of Rowen, a religious leader faced with questions of identity and meaning as a prophesied revelation approaches.
Ron Forever
N/A
as Ron
One arrest away from foster care, a ten-year-old with mental superpowers must choose to repeat her mom's path of self-destruction or channel her traum...
Untitled Candy Darling Biopic
N/A
Executive Producer
Candy’s rise from childhood in Long Island beauty pageantry to her years alongside Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis as a member of the East Village ex...