Whatever Happened to ‘Wayne’s World’ Director Penelope Spheeris?

Penelope Spheeris directing Dana Carvey on the set of WAYNE'S WORLD, 1992 — Everett Collection

What To Know

Penelope Spheeris is a pioneering filmmaker known for her influential punk documentaries, especially The Decline of Western Civilization series, and for directing the hit comedy Wayne’s World.
Despite her success with major ’90s comedies, Spheeris faced industry typecasting and ultimately chose to leave Hollywood after her last film in 2011.
In recent years, Spheeris has shifted her focus to restoring and renovating houses, finding fulfillment in her new career outside of filmmaking.

Director Penelope Spheeris has the unusual pedigree of being both a punk icon and one of the biggest comedy directors of the ’90s. Best known for directing 1992’s Wayne’s World, Spheeris first made a name for herself by directing the groundbreaking 1981 punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, as well as its two sequels. The director, who turns 80 birthday on December 2, 2025, also helmed some major ’90s comedies, including the big screen adaptations of Little Rascals and Beverly Hillbillies, and the Chris Farley-David Spade comedy Black Sheep. But despite having so much iconic work under her belt, the director made her final film in 2011. However, unlike many others, Spheeris didn’t fade away from Hollywood — she chose to leave, to pursue another career.

Who is Penelope Spheeris?

THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, director Penelope Spheeris, on-set, 1985

©New World Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Spheeris was born in New Orleans and grew up traveling from town to town with her father’s carnival. Later, after her father was tragically killed, her family settled in California, where she eventually made her way to UCLA’s film program. Her early life was chaotic and often difficult, but she has said those tough moments helped her to survive and keep going no matter what.

By the early 1980s, she began capturing the world that existed beneath the surface of Los Angeles. The Decline of Western Civilization dropped audiences right into the punk scene. She followed it with a second film about the metal scene in 1988 and a third in 1998. To this day, those documentaries established Spheeris as a filmmaker unafraid to get close to her subjects. The films also inspired her in her personal life later on to become a foster mom and advocate for homeless youth.

HALF THE PICTURE, Penelope Spheeris, 2018

Gravitas Ventures/Everett Collection

After years of documentaries, commercials and music videos, she was offered Wayne’s World, the film that changed her career overnight. The movie became a huge hit, earning more than $180 million worldwide and instantly turning Spheeris into one of the few women directing major studio comedies in the early ’90s. But that success also came with a downside. She has said in interviews that after the movie became a blockbuster, studios began seeing her as only a comedy director, which made it harder for her to pursue the more personal or dramatic stories she hoped to tell. She wanted to direct Wayne’s World 2, but the job went to someone else.

Throughout the decade, she kept working, directing The Little Rascals, Black Sheep and Senseless, along with assorted TV projects. Her last narrative film credit came in 2011. After that, she realized that Hollywood might not be for her anymore, and she decided to step away quietly.

Where is Penelope Spheeris now?

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In a 2019 interview with the AV Club, per People, Spheeris said that when she was finishing the 1998 movie Senseless, her final major directing project, she thought “‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to work in this movie business anymore.’ And as a matter of fact, that was that.”

She went on to add of her experience, “I just feel like I went through too much pain. I really did enjoy my life, being in the movie business. I don’t need them. I really don’t. Especially now, what am I going to do? Work for a year on a movie and make $50,000? They can blow me! That’s a quote. You can print that.”

Spheeris also discovered that she has a passion for restoring and renovating properties and has been doing so in recent years. A 2018 profile of Spheeris in MUBI Notebook revealed that after her paydays for her big Hollywood films, she “invested her money in two things: her family and real estate. In 2018, Spheeris owns six houses across the span of Los Angeles, most of which she rents out and for which she serves as landlord.”