Todd Haynes
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.
Photos
Movies (57)
Por siempre Barbara
2026 · Self (archive footage)
All We Do Is Watch Movies
2026 · Self
Earthlings
2025 · Executive Producer
Secretos de un escándalo
2023 · Director
Art-House America: Austin Film Society
2023 · Self
Image Book
2023 · Director
Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair
2022 · Self
Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020
2021 · Thanks
The Velvet Underground
2021 · Writer, Director, Producer
Dark Waters: The Cost of Being a Hero
2019 · Self
El precio de la verdad
2019 · Director
La música del terremoto
2019 · Thanks
At the Video Store
2019 · Self
El Museo de las Maravillas
2017 · Director
Ciertas mujeres
2016 · Executive Producer
Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible
2016 · Self
Carol
2015 · Director
Still Alice
2014 · Thanks
Night Moves
2014 · Executive Producer
Six by Sondheim
2013 · Director
Buoy
2013 · Executive Producer
Meek's Cutoff
2011 · Executive Producer
Great Directors
2009 · Self
Wendy and Lucy
2008 · Executive Producer
I'm Not There
2007 · Director, Screenplay, Story
Notes on the Death of Kodachrome
2007 · Self
Infinite Pleasure: Todd Haynes on Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir
2006 · Interviewee
Maternal Overdrive
2006 · Self
Quinceañera
2006 · Executive Producer
Old Joy
2006 · Executive Producer
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006 · Self
Eine Zärtlichkeit wie bei Sirk - Todd Haynes über Fassbinder und das Melodram
2006 · Self
Far from Heaven: "Making of"
2003
Far from Heaven
2002 · Director, Writer
Madame Satã
2002 · Thanks
Velvet Goldmine
1998 · Director, Screenplay, Story
Office Killer
1997 · Co-Writer
Safe
1995 · Director, Writer
At Sundance
1995 · Self
Totally F***ed Up
1994 · Thanks
Dottie Gets Spanked
1993 · Writer, Director
Swoon
1992 · Phrenology Head
Goo
1991 · Director
Poison
1991 · Director, Writer, Editor
Anemone Me
1990 · Producer
La Divina
1989 · Co-Producer, Assistant Director
He Was Once
1989 · Randy, Producer, Production Manager
Natural History
1989 · Child, Producer
Muddy Hands
1988 · Producer
Cause and Effect
1988 · Producer, Assistant Director
American Lunch
1988 · Producer
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
1987 · Todd Donovan, Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
Tommy's
1985 · Producer
Assassins: A Film Concerning Rimbaud
1985 · Director
A Man in Your Room
1984 · Producer
The Suicide
1978 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
De Noche
· Director, Writer
