Mark Waters

Waters was raised in South Bend, Indiana. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania in theatre arts before studying at the American Film Institute. When studying at Penn, he saw The House of Yes and saw things in the play that he felt he could make cinematic. He contacted the author of the play, Wendy MacLeod, and got a manuscript copy by saying he was a film producer.^[1] He worked as a stage actor and director in Philadelphia and San Francisco before his work with AFI, where he graduated in 1994. He made a number of short films.^[2]

Waters began his filmmaking career following his graduation from the American Film Institute in 1994. He made his feature directorial debut with the independent dark comedy The House of Yes (1997), an adaptation of Wendy MacLeod's play of the same name. Starring Parker Posey, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered critical recognition. Following this, he directed the romantic comedy Head Over Heels (2001) and the television film Warning: Parental Advisory (2002).

Waters achieved significant commercial success directing mainstream studio comedies. He directed the Walt Disney Pictures remake Freaky Friday (2003), starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, which was a major box-office hit.^[3] He reunited with Lohan for the hit teen comedy Mean Girls (2004), written by Tina Fey, which became highly influential in popular culture.^[4] Continuing his work in the genre, Waters directed the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven (2005) and the family fantasy adventure The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008).^[5]

In the late 2000s and 2010s, Waters continued to helm a variety of features, including the romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009),^[6] the family comedy Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) starring Jim Carrey,^[7] and the fantasy adaptation Vampire Academy (2014).^[8] He also directed the dark comedy sequel Bad Santa 2 (2016), the Disney+ family film Magic Camp (2020), and the teen romantic comedy He's All That (2021).^[9]

Additionally, Waters was previously attached to direct the feature film Minimum Wage, written by Scott Atkinson and Tegan West.^[10] Beyond directing, he has also worked as a producer on films such as (500) Days of Summer (2009).