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

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, Wendy MacLeod, and got a manuscript copy by saying he was a film producer. 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.

Career

He directed the comedy films Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Mr. Popper's Penguins, and Vampire Academy. 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, Bad Santa 2, Magic Camp, He's All That, and more. He was attached to direct a movie called Minimum Wage written by Scott Atkinson and Tegan West.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorExecutive Producer
1997The House of YesYesNo
2001Head over HeelsYesNo
2003Freaky FridayYesNo
2004Mean GirlsYesNo
2005Sorry, HatersNoYes
Just Like HeavenYesNo
2008The Spiderwick ChroniclesYesNo
2009Ghosts of Girlfriends PastYesYes
2011Mr. Popper's PenguinsYesYes
2014Vampire AcademyYesNo
2016Bad Santa 2YesYes
2020Magic CampYesNo
2021He's All ThatYesNo
2024Mother of the BrideYesTBA
2025La Dolce VillaYesNo
2026HersheyYesNo
TBAHarvest MoonYesNo

Producer

Television

TV movies

YearTitleDirectorExecutive Producer
2002Warning: Parental AdvisoryYesNo
2009Eva AdamsYesYes
2015Salem RogersYesNo
Cheerleader Death SquadYesNo
2018#'FashionvictimYesYes

TV series

YearTitleDirectorExecutive produceryNotes
2012Made in JerseyYesYes2 episodes
2013Witches of East EndYesYes1 episode
2019Looking for AlaskaNoYesMiniseries

External links