David Lynch
Directing • Born 1946-01-20 – Died 2025-01-16
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.
Filmography
148 credits
David Lynch: 1985
Movie • 2005
Self
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Movie • 1988
Self - Audience Member
Zelly & Me
Movie • 1988
Willie
I Don't Know Jack
Movie • 2002
Self
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Movie • 1997
Self
Destination Dune
Movie • 1983
Self
The Amputee
Movie • 1974
The Nurse
The Fabelmans
Movie • 2022
John Ford
Inland Empire
Movie • 2006
Bucky J
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
Movie • 1994
Himself
Side by Side
Movie • 2012
Self
Mysteries of Love
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage)
The Way of Samodelkin
Movie • 2009
Stranger in a dream
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Movie • 2013
Self
Nadja
Movie • 1995
Morgue Receptionist
Curtains Up
Movie • 2018
Eraserhead Stories
Movie • 2001
Self
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
Movie • 2004
Self
Night Flight: Born Again
Movie • 2016
Self
BlueBob Egg
Movie • 2002
Billy Groper
Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon
Movie • 2017
Self
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
Movie • 2014
Gordon Cole
Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper
Movie • 1991
Self
Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.
Movie • 2007
Himself
The Soul Detective
Movie • 2009
Himself
Boat
Movie • 2003
The Man
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
Movie • 2003
Self
Brand: A Second Coming
Movie • 2015
Self
Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
Movie • 2001
Self
It's a Beautiful World
Movie • 2014
Self
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
Movie • 1967
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
Movie • 2004
Self
No Frank in Lumberton
Movie • 1988
Self
Made in the USA
Movie • 1993
Self
The Elephant Man
Movie • 1980
Man in the Bowler Hat in the Mob Chasing Merrick (uncredited)
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
Movie • 2002
This Is Sparklehorse
Movie • 2022
Self
What Is Cinema?
Movie • 2013
Self
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
Movie • 1990
Self
My Beautiful Broken Brain
Movie • 2014
Self
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
Movie • 2007
himself
Lucky
Movie • 2017
Howard
David Lynch: The Art Life
Movie • 2017
Self
Blue Velvet Revisited
Movie • 2016
Self
Shadows of Paradise
Movie • 2016
On Meditation
Movie • 2016
Self
Heart Beat
Movie • 1980
Painter (uncredited)
The Music of David Lynch
Movie • 2016
Self
Great Directors
Movie • 2009
Self
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
Movie • 1996
Self
A Slice of Lynch
Movie • 2007
Self
The Sound of Lynch
Movie • 2007
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Movie • 1992
Gordon Cole
Lynch (one)
Movie • 2007
Self
Lynch 2
Movie • 2007
Self
The Black Ghiandola
Movie • 2017
Man In Black
2012: Time for Change
Movie • 2010
Self
David Wants to Fly
Movie • 2010
Self
Lamp
Movie • 2003
Self
La Traversée du désir
Movie • 2009
Self
Rocksteppy
Movie • 2017
Himself
Along for the Ride
Movie • 2016
Self
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
Movie • 2026
Self
WHAT DID JACK DO?
Movie • 2017
Detective
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
Movie • 2008
Self
Early Experiments
Movie • 2008
Out Yonder — Chicken
Movie • 2007
Out Yonder — Teeth
Movie • 2003
Hollyshorts Greeting
Movie • 2008
Himself
Dune
Movie • 1984
Spice Miner (uncredited)
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Movie • 2006
Self
The 8th Floor
Movie • 2014
Self
Between Two Worlds
Movie • 2014
Self
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
Movie • 2012
Self
Girlfriend's Day
Movie • 2017
Narrator (voice)
Memory Film
Movie • 2012
Red Fish
Movie • 2009
O Sábio
Hollywood Mavericks
Movie • 1990
Self
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Movie • 2013
Self
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
Movie • 2008
Self
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Movie • 2019
Self
Critic
Movie • 2008
Self (voice)
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
Movie • 1989
Self
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
Movie • 1987
Himself
The Reality of Truth
Movie • 2016
Self
The A-Z of Separating People from their Money
Movie • 1998
Self
Professor Goudet's Lessons
Movie • 2013
Self
When Lynch Met Lucas
Movie • 2010
Rammstein in Amerika
Movie • 2015
Self
Does That Hurt You?
Movie • 2003
Self
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
Movie • 2011
Himself
Brunes et Blondes
Movie • 2010
Self
Meeting the Beatles in India
Movie • 2020
Self
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
Movie • 1999
Self
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
Movie • 2002
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
Movie • 2021
Self
The Original Image - David Lynch
Movie • 2019
Moby Doc
Movie • 2021
Self
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
Movie • 2014
Self
The Polish Accountant
Movie • 2017
Self
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
Movie • 2017
Self
The Number of Completion
Movie • 2017
Self
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
Movie • 2017
Self
Tell It Martin
Movie • 2017
Self
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
Movie • 2017
Self
A Pot of Boiling Oil
Movie • 2017
Self
Two Blue Balls
Movie • 2017
Self
Behind the Red Curtain
Movie • 2017
Self
Bad Binoculars
Movie • 2017
Self
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
Movie • 2017
Self
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
Movie • 2017
Self
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
Movie • 2017
Self
A Fall from Grace
Movie
William Tabb
Beatles '64
Movie • 2024
Self
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
Movie • 2021
Self (voice) (archive footage)
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
Movie • 2019
Himself
Return to Mulholland Drive
Movie • 2003
Self
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
Movie • 2004
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
Movie • 2025
Self (archive footage)
The Making Of A Mockumentary
Movie • 2025
Himself (archive footage)
Why Are We Creative?
Movie • 2018
Self
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
Movie • 2020
himself
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
Movie • 2025
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
Movie • 2021
David Lynch
Plankton Salesmen
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
Lynch/Oz
Movie • 2023
self (archival footage)
The Short Films of David Lynch
Movie • 2002
Self
Lumière & Company
Movie • 1995
Self
Heart of the Festival
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage)
Family Guy
TV • 1999
Gus (voice)
Un film et son époque
TV • 2003
Self
The Cleveland Show
TV • 2009
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
This Is Pop
TV • 2021
Self (archive footage)
Louie
TV • 2010
Jack Dall
Family Guy
TV • 1999
David Lynch (voice)
Independent Focus
TV • 1998
Self
Twin Peaks
TV • 1990
Gordon Cole
The Nineties
TV • 2017
Self (archive footage)
Leçon de Cinéma
TV • 2004
Self
Scene by Scene
TV • 1997
Self
Robot Chicken
TV • 2005
Mad Scientist (voice)
DumbLand
TV • 2001
Randy / Wife / Sparky (voice)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Self
Legends
TV • 2006
Self
Cinéma, de notre temps
TV • 1989
David Lynch
The Cleveland Show
TV • 2009
Gus (voice)
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
TV • 2026
Self - Filmmaker