David Lynch

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.

Known For	Directing
Most Rating	5.2661
Birthday	1946-01-20
Place of Birth	Missoula, Montana, USA
Also Known As	David Keith Lynch, DKL,

David Lynch: 1985

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

Zelly & Me

I Don't Know Jack

Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch

Destination Dune

The Amputee

The Fabelmans

Inland Empire

Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff

Side by Side

Mysteries of Love

The Way of Samodelkin

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Nadja

Curtains Up

Eraserhead Stories

The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’

Night Flight: Born Again

BlueBob Egg

Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon

Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces

Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper

Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.

The Soul Detective

Boat

Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)

Brand: A Second Coming

Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul

It's a Beautiful World

Sailing with Bushnell Keeler

Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments

No Frank in Lumberton

Made in the USA

The Elephant Man

Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy

This Is Sparklehorse

What Is Cinema?

Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch

My Beautiful Broken Brain

Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com

Lucky

David Lynch: The Art Life

Blue Velvet Revisited

Shadows of Paradise

On Meditation

Heart Beat

The Music of David Lynch

Great Directors

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money

A Slice of Lynch

The Sound of Lynch

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Lynch (one)

Lynch 2

2012: Time for Change

The Black Ghiandola

David Wants to Fly

Lamp

La Traversée du désir

Rocksteppy

Along for the Ride

WHAT DID JACK DO?

I Know Catherine, the Log Lady

Out Yonder — Teeth

Out Yonder — Chicken

Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008

Hollyshorts Greeting

Early Experiments

Dune

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream

The 8th Floor

Between Two Worlds

Meditation, Creativity, Peace

Girlfriend's Day

Memory Film

Red Fish

Hollywood Mavericks

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise

Elvis | Viva Las Vegas