Todd Haynes
Born: 1961-01-02 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Known For: Directing
Biography
Todd Haynes (/heɪnz/; born January 2, 1961; Los Angeles) is an American filmmaker. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles. Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), which chronicles singer Karen Carpenter's life and death, using Barbie dolls as actors. Superstar became a cult classic. Haynes's feature directorial debut, Poison (1991), a provocative exploration of AIDS-era queer perceptions and subversions, established him as a figure of a new transgressive cinema. Poison won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and is regarded as a seminal work of New Queer Cinema. Haynes received further acclaim for his second feature film, Safe (1995), a symbolic portrait of a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity. Safe was later voted the best film of the 1990s by The Village Voice Film Poll. His next feature, Velvet Goldmine (1998), is a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era. The film received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Haynes gained acclaim and a measure of mainstream success with Far from Heaven (2002) earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He continued to direct critically lauded films such as I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017) and Dark Waters (2019). He directed his first feature-length documentary, The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes directed and co-wrote the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011) for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Filmography
2026
- Barbara Forever as Self (archive footage)
2025
- Earthlings ... (Executive Producer)
2023
- Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
- May December ... (Director)
- Art-House America: Austin Film Society as Self
- Image Book ... (Director)
2022
2021
- The Velvet Underground ... (Writer)
- Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020 ... (Thanks)
2019
- Dark Waters ... (Director)
- Earthquake Bird ... (Thanks)
- Dark Waters: The Cost of Being a Hero as Self
- At the Video Store as Self
2017
- Marcians as Self - Interviewee
- Wonderstruck ... (Director)
2016
- Certain Women ... (Executive Producer)
- Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible as Self
2015
- Carol ... (Director)
2014
- Still Alice ... (Thanks)
- Night Moves ... (Executive Producer)
2013
- Six by Sondheim ... (Director)
- Buoy ... (Executive Producer)
2011
- Enlightened ... (Director)
- Mildred Pierce ... (Executive Producer)
- Meek's Cutoff ... (Executive Producer)
2009
- Great Directors as Self
2008
- Wendy and Lucy ... (Executive Producer)
2007
- I'm Not There ... (Director)
- Notes on the Death of Kodachrome as Self
2006
- Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema as Self
- Old Joy ... (Executive Producer)
- Quinceañera ... (Executive Producer)
- Infinite Pleasure: Todd Haynes on Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir as Interviewee
- Eine Zärtlichkeit wie bei Sirk - Todd Haynes über Fassbinder und das Melodram as Self
- Maternal Overdrive as Self
2002
- Far from Heaven ... (Director)
- Madame Satã ... (Thanks)
1998
- SexTV
- Velvet Goldmine ... (Director)
1997
- Office Killer ... (Co-Writer)
1995
- Safe ... (Writer)
- At Sundance as Self
1994
- Totally F***ed Up ... (Thanks)
1993
- Dottie Gets Spanked ... (Writer)
1992
- Swoon as Phrenology Head
1990
- Anemone Me ... (Producer)
1989
- He Was Once as Randy
- Natural History as Child
- La Divina ... (Co-Producer)
1988
- Cause and Effect ... (Producer)
- Muddy Hands ... (Producer)
- American Lunch ... (Producer)
1987
- Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story as Todd Donovan
1985
- Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud
- Tommy's ... (Producer)
1984
- A Man in Your Room ... (Producer)
1978
- The Suicide ... (Director)