General articles: Arts and culture
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W. F. Hermans
W. F. Hermans (Willem Frederik Hermans, 1921–1995) was a Dutch writer and physical geographer, one of the "de Grote Drie" of postwar Dutch literature with Harry Mulisch and Gerard Reve.
W. G. Sebald
W. G. Sebald (Winfried Georg Sebald, 1944–2001), German writer and UEA professor in Norwich, author of The Emigrants, The Rings of Saturn, and Austerlitz; hybrid photo-text prose on memory, exile, and the Holocaust, written in German.
W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden (1907–1973), English-born poet and librettist of the Auden Generation, emigrated to America, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Anxiety, and pioneered modern diction in English verse.
W. Heath Robinson
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944), English illustrator and cartoonist famed for absurdly elaborate contraption drawings; his surname entered the English language by 1912 and named a Bletchley Park codebreaking machine.
W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell (Walter Kamau Bell, born 1973) is an American sociopolitical stand-up comedian, TV host, and documentary director, host of Totally Biased and CNN's Emmy-winning United Shades of America, Peabody winner for We Need to Talk About Cosby.
W. Morgan Sheppard
W. Morgan Sheppard (William Morgan Sheppard, 1932-2019), British character actor, RSC Associate Artist for 12 years, father of Mark Sheppard; known for Blank Reg in Max Headroom, four Star Trek roles, and Old Canton Delaware in Doctor Who.
W. O. Mitchell
W. O. Mitchell, full name William Ormond Mitchell, was a Canadian novelist and broadcaster best known for Who Has Seen the Wind (1947) and Jake and the Kid.
W. Peter Iliff
W. Peter Iliff (born 1957) is an American screenwriter known for Point Break (1991), Patriot Games, and Varsity Blues; sole WGA screenplay credit on Point Break despite James Cameron's 2025 claim; directed Rites of Passage (2012).
W. R. Burnett
W. R. Burnett (William Riley Burnett, 1899-1982), American crime novelist and screenwriter, author of Little Caesar, High Sierra, and The Asphalt Jungle; 36 novels, 60 screenwriting credits, MWA Grand Master.
W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert (William Schwenck Gilbert, 1836–1911), English dramatist, librettist, and Bab Ballads poet, wrote the words for fourteen Savoy comic operas with composer Arthur Sullivan, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado; knighted 1907.
W. S. Merwin
W. S. Merwin (William Stanley Merwin, 1927–2019), American poet, translator, and environmentalist; two-time Pulitzer winner (The Carrier of Ladders, The Shadow of Sirius), 2005 National Book Award for Migration, U.S. Poet Laureate 2010–2011, known for unpunctuated verse and Maui palm-forest restoration.
W. S. Rendra
W. S. Rendra, born Willibrodus Surendra Broto (1935–2009), was an Indonesian poet and playwright who rose to fame in the 1950s and led Bengkel Teater, helping bring modern Indonesian theater to maturity.
W. S. Van Dyke
W. S. Van Dyke (Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke II, 1889–1943), American MGM film director nicknamed One-Take Woody; directed The Thin Man, Tarzan the Ape Man, San Francisco, and Trader Horn; two Best Director Oscar nominations.
W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), British playwright, novelist, and short-story writer; author of Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, and The Razor's Edge; four plays ran simultaneously in the West End in 1908; bequeathed copyrights to the Royal Literary Fund.
W. W. Jacobs
W. W. Jacobs (William Wymark Jacobs, 1863-1943), English short-story writer of Wapping dockside humor, author of Many Cargoes and the horror classic The Monkey's Paw (1902).
W.A.S.P. (band)
W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, led by sole constant member Blackie Lawless. Known for shock rock, the PMRC Filthy Fifteen single Animal, gold albums W.A.S.P. and The Last Command, and the rock opera The Crimson Idol.
W.D. Gaster
W.D. Gaster (W.D. ガスター) is a hidden Undertale character, the Royal Scientist before Alphys who built the CORE and was shattered across time and space, known through fun value events, Wingdings text, and Deltarune allusions.
W.E.
W.E. (2011) is Madonna's second feature film, co-written with Alek Keshishian, a dual-narrative romantic drama about Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII and a 1998 New Yorker obsessed with them; it premiered at Venice, grossed $582.1K, and won a Golden Globe for its song "Masterpiece".
W.i.S.H.
W.i.S.H. ("World Inka Stage Hai") is an Indian I-pop girl group formed in 2024 by producer Mikey McCleary with Sony Music India: Ri, Sim, Zo, and Suchi, debuting with "Lazeez" as India's first girl group in 22 years since Viva.
W.I.T.C.H.
W.I.T.C.H. is an Italian Disney comic magazine (2001–2012, 139 issues) created by Elisabetta Gnone with Barbucci and Canepa, following five girls, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin, in euromanga style.
W.I.T.C.H. (TV series)
W.I.T.C.H. is an animated series adapted from an Italian Disney comic magazine. It ran for two seasons, following five teenage Guardians defending their world from Prince Phobos.
W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings
W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings is a 1975 American comedy film starring Burt Reynolds as W.W. Bright, a crook robbing gas stations in the 1950s South.
w/ Bob & David
w/ Bob & David: 2015 Netflix sketch comedy by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, reuniting the Mr. Show team; four half-hour episodes plus a making-of special, Metascore 76.
W1A (TV series)
W1A is a BBC Two mockumentary sitcom (2014–2020, 14 episodes plus a Zoom special) by John Morton, satirizing BBC management through Hugh Bonneville's Head of Values Ian Fletcher, with Jessica Hynes and narrator David Tennant.
Waad
Waad (وعد) is a Saudi singer, real name Hanan Bakr Younis, who began her career in 1999 and records in Gulf, Egyptian, Lebanese, and Iraqi dialects.
Waajeed
Waajeed, born Robert O'Bryant, is a Detroit producer and DJ who rose with hip-hop group Slum Village, co-founded Platinum Pied Pipers, and founded the Bling47 label.
Waar
Waar (وار) is a 2013 Pakistani action thriller depicting the country's fight against terrorism, directed by Bilal Lashari and starring Shaan Shahid; it became the highest-grossing Pakistani film at the time.
Waaris (1988 film)
Waaris (Waris), 1988 Hindi drama directed by Ravindra Peepat, adapted from Sohan Singh Hans's Punjabi novel Kaare Hatthi; a land-inheritance feud starring Smita Patil, Raj Babbar, Amrish Puri; Patil's lines dubbed by Rekha after her death.
Waaris (वारिस) (2016 TV series)
Waaris (वारिस) is an Indian Hindi-language social drama that aired on And TV from May 2016 to December 2017, starring Arti Singh, Farnaz Shetty, and Neel Motwani.
Wable
Wable (와블) is a South Korean female ballad duo of sisters Lee Kirim and Lee Pureum, first seen on Superstar K 5 in 2013 and officially debuted in 2016.