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. Ha…
Directed
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Carol (2015) — Director
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Dark Waters (2019) — Director
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May December (2023) — Director
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I'm Not There (2007) — Director
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Far from Heaven (2002) — Director
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Velvet Goldmine (1998) — Director
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Wonderstruck (2017) — Director
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Safe (1995) — Director
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Mildred Pierce (2011) — Director
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The Velvet Underground (2021) — Director
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Enlightened (2011) — Director
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Poison (1991) — Director
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Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987) — Director
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Six by Sondheim (2013) — Director
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Dottie Gets Spanked (1993) — Director
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Goo (1991) — Director
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The Suicide (1978) — Director
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Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud (1985) — Director
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Image Book (2023) — Director
- De Noche — Director
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Sonic Youth: Corporate Ghost (The Videos: 1990-2002) (2004) — Director
Also appeared in
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Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987) — Todd Donovan
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Swoon (1992) — Phrenology Head
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Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006) — Self
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Great Directors (2009) — Self
- Dark Waters: The Cost of Being a Hero (2019) — Self
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Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter (2023) — Self
- He Was Once (1989) — Randy
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At Sundance (1995) — Self
- SexTV (1998)
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Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud (1985)
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Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair (2022) — Self
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Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible (2016) — Self
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At the Video Store (2019) — Self
- Notes on the Death of Kodachrome (2007) — Self
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Eine Zärtlichkeit wie bei Sirk - Todd Haynes über Fassbinder und das Melodram (2006) — Self
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Infinite Pleasure: Todd Haynes on Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir (2006) — Interviewee
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Natural History (1989) — Child
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Art-House America: Austin Film Society (2023) — Self
- Maternal Overdrive (2006) — Self
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Barbara Forever (2026) — Self (archive footage)
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All We Do Is Watch Movies (2026) — Self
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Marcians (2017) — Self - Interviewee