Mark Waters

For other people named Mark Waters, see Mark Waters (disambiguation).

Mark Stephen Waters (born June 30, 1964) is an American director.

Mark Waters
Born	Mark Stephen Waters (1964-06-30) June 30, 1964 (age 60) Wyandotte, Michigan, U.S.
Alma mater	AFI Conservatory
Occupations	Director producer
Years active	1997–present
Notable work	Freaky Friday Mean Girls Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Mr. Popper's Penguins Vampire Academy
Children	2
Relatives	Daniel Waters (brother)

Early life

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 in 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]

Career

He directed the comedy films Freaky Friday,^[3] Mean Girls,^[4] Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,^[5] Mr. Popper's Penguins,^[6] and Vampire Academy.^[7] The first movie he directed was the independent hit The House of Yes starring Parker Posey. Other movies he directed include Head Over Heels, The Spiderwick Chronicles^[8], Bad Santa 2, Magic Camp, He's All That^[9], and more. He was attached to direct a movie called Minimum Wage written by Scott Atkinson and Tegan West.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer
1997	The House of Yes[a]	Yes	No
2001	Head over Heels	Yes	No
2003	Freaky Friday	Yes	No
2004	Mean Girls	Yes	No
2005	Sorry, Haters	No	Yes
	Just Like Heaven	Yes	No
2008	The Spiderwick Chronicles	Yes	No
2009	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	Yes	Yes
2011	Mr. Popper's Penguins	Yes	Yes
2014	Vampire Academy	Yes	No
2016	Bad Santa 2	Yes	Yes
2020	Magic Camp	Yes	No
2021	He's All That	Yes	No
2024	Mother of the Bride	Yes	No
2025	La Dolce Villa	Yes	No
2026	a biopic about Hershey [11][12]	Yes	TBA
TBA	Harvest Moon	Yes	No

1. Also credited as writer

Producer

• 500 Days of Summer (2009)
• Harvest Moon (TBA)

Television

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer
2002	Warning: Parental Advisory	Yes	No
2009	Eva Adams	Yes	Yes
2015	Salem Rogers	Yes	No
	Cheerleader Death Squad	Yes	No
2018	#'Fashionvictim	Yes	Yes

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Executive producer	Notes
2012	Made in Jersey	Yes	Yes	2 episodes
2013	Witches of East End	Yes	Yes	1 episode
2019	Looking for Alaska	No	Yes	Miniseries