David Lynch
Biography
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Lynch received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. In his 58-year career, he was awarded numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important filmmaker of the current era." Lynch studied painting before he began making short films in the late 1960s. His first feature-length film was the independent surrealist film Eraserhead (1977), which saw success as a midnight movie. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980) and the mystery films Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). His romantic crime drama Wild at Heart (1990) won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the space opera adaptation Dune (1984), the surrealist neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), the biographical drama The Straight Story (1999), and the experimental film Inland Empire (2006). Lynch and Mark Frost created the ABC series Twin Peaks (1990–91), for which Lynch was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Lynch co-wrote and directed its film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and its limited series revival (2017). He has also worked as an actor, including his portrayals of FBI agent Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks and director John Ford in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), as well as guest roles in TV series such as The Cleveland Show (2010–13), Louie (2012), and Robot Chicken (2020, 2022). Lynch's other artistic endeavours included his work as a musician, encompassing the studio albums BlueBOB (2001), Crazy Clown Time (2011), and The Big Dream (2013), as well as painting and photography. He has written the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006), and Room to Dream (2018). He has directed several music videos for artists such as Chris Isaak, X Japan, Moby, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails, and Donovan, and commercials for Calvin Klein, Dior, L'Oreal, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and the New York City Department of Sanitation. A practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (TM), he founded the David Lynch Foundation, which seeks to fund the teaching of TM in schools and has since widened its scope to other at-risk populations, including the homeless, veterans, and refugees.
Movies (126)
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
2026
What Would David Lynch Do?
2026
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
2025
The Making Of A Mockumentary
2025
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
2025
Beatles '64
2024
Lynch/Oz
2023
The Fabelmans
2022
This Is Sparklehorse
2022
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
2021
Morceaux de Cannes
2021
Moby Doc
2021
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
2021
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
2021
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
2020
Meeting the Beatles in India
2020
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
2019
The Original Image - David Lynch
2019
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
2019
Curtains Up
2018
Why Are We Creative?
2018
Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon
2017
The Polish Accountant
2017
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
2017
The Number of Completion
2017
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
2017
Tell It Martin
2017
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
2017
A Pot of Boiling Oil
2017
Two Blue Balls
2017
Behind the Red Curtain
2017
Bad Binoculars
2017
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
2017
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
2017
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
2017
WHAT DID JACK DO?
2017
Plankton Salesmen
2017
Lucky
2017
The Black Ghiandola
2017
David Lynch: The Art Life
2017
Girlfriend's Day
2017
Rocksteppy
2017
Along for the Ride
2016
Shadows of Paradise
2016
Blue Velvet Revisited
2016
On Meditation
2016
The Reality of Truth
2016
Night Flight: Born Again
2016
The Music of David Lynch
2016
Rammstein in Amerika
2015
Brand: A Second Coming
2015
My Beautiful Broken Brain
2014
Between Two Worlds
2014
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
2014
The 8th Floor
2014
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
2014
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
2013
What Is Cinema?
2013
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
2013
Professor Goudet's Lessons
2013
Memory Film
2012
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
2012
Side by Side
2012
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
2011
2012: Time for Change
2010
Brunes et Blondes
2010
David Wants to Fly
2010
Red Fish
2009
The Way of Samodelkin
2009
Great Directors
2009
La Traversée du désir
2009
The Soul Detective
2009
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
2008
Early Experiments
2008
Hollyshorts Greeting
2008
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
2008
Critic
2008
The Sound of Lynch
2007
A Slice of Lynch
2007
Lynch (one)
2007
Out Yonder — Chicken
2007
Lynch 2
2007
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
2007
Inland Empire
2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006
David Lynch: 1985
2005
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
2004
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
2004
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
2004
Boat
2003
Does That Hurt You?
2003
Lamp
2003
Return to Mulholland Drive
2003
Out Yonder — Teeth
2003
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
2003
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
2002
The Short Films of David Lynch
2002
Heart of the Festival
2002
I Don't Know Jack
2002
BlueBob Egg
2002
Mysteries of Love
2002
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
2002
Eraserhead Stories
2001
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
1999
The A-Z of Separating People from their Money
1998
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
1997
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996
Lumière & Company
1995
Nadja
1995
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
1994
Made in the USA
1993
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
1992
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
1990
Hollywood Mavericks
1990
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
1989
Zelly & Me
1988
No Frank in Lumberton
1988
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
1988
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
1987
Dune
1984
Destination Dune
1983
The Elephant Man
1980
Heart Beat
1980
The Amputee
1974
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
1967
A Fall from Grace
TV Shows (18)
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
2026
This Is Pop
2021
The Nineties
2017
Louie
2010
The Cleveland Show
2009
The Cleveland Show
2009
Legends
2006
Robot Chicken
2005
Leçon de Cinéma
2004
Un film et son époque
2003
DumbLand
2001
Family Guy
1999
Family Guy
1999
Scene by Scene
1997
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
Twin Peaks
1990
Cinéma, de notre temps
1989
The Oscars
1953