Tom Waits
Born: December 7 1949
Where: Pomona, California, USA
The highlight of the beatnik singer-songwriter's impressive acting career was an Oscar for best ensemble cast in Robert Altman's Short Cuts.
Other high profile big screen appearances include The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, Ironweed and Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Men.
The gravel-voiced singer has also provided songs for movies including Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, Twelve Monkeys, Dead Man Walking and Fight Club.
A product of Scottish, Irish and Norwegian stock, Waits kicked off his music career while working as a doorman and living in his car.
Originally dabbling in jazz and blues, his first album Closing Time would set the trend for this style until the groundbreaking Swordfishtrombones.
Relying on eclectic orchestration, he leapt from being a cult figure to serious player while also taking time out to appear on the big screen.
He made his film debut in Sylvester Stallone's Paradise Alley in 1978 and was nominated for a best original song score for Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart.
Waits subsequently appeared in the Coppola movies The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Other appearances include Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, the drama Candy Mountain, Earl Piggot in Short Cuts and Dr A Heller in Mystery Men.
He has also supplied songs for the blockbuster movies Hellboy and Shrek 2.
Recent work includes a vignette opposite fellow rocker Iggy Pop in Jim Jarmush's patchy Coffee and Cigarettes.
