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.
133 movies · 18 shows
Eyes Behind the Lens
2026·0.0
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
2026·0.0
What Would David Lynch Do?
2026·0.0
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
2025·0.0
The Making Of A Mockumentary
2025·10.0
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
2025·0.0
Beatles '64
2024·6.5
Lynch/Oz
2023·6.8
The Fabelmans
2022·7.6
This Is Sparklehorse
2022·0.0
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
2021·4.0
Morceaux de Cannes
2021·2.0
Moby Doc
2021·6.1
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
2021·0.0
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
2021·0.0
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
2020·0.0
Meeting the Beatles in India
2020·6.5
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
2019·6.9
The Original Image - David Lynch
2019·7.7
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
2019·0.0
Curtains Up
2018·0.0
Why Are We Creative?
2018·7.5
Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon
2017·8.0
The Polish Accountant
2017·6.0
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
2017·5.0
The Number of Completion
2017·5.5
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
2017·0.0
Tell It Martin
2017·5.0
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
2017·6.6
A Pot of Boiling Oil
2017·6.0
Two Blue Balls
2017·0.0
Behind the Red Curtain
2017·6.2
Bad Binoculars
2017·8.0
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
2017·6.0
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
2017·7.1
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
2017·7.0
WHAT DID JACK DO?
2017·6.3
Plankton Salesmen
2017·0.0
Lucky
2017·7.3
The Black Ghiandola
2017·6.5
David Lynch: The Art Life
2017·7.0
David Lynch: Insight
2017·0.0
Girlfriend's Day
2017·5.0
Rocksteppy
2017·8.3
Along for the Ride
2016·7.0
Shadows of Paradise
2016·4.5
Blue Velvet Revisited
2016·6.9
On Meditation
2016·7.0
The Reality of Truth
2016·4.3
Night Flight: Born Again
2016·0.0
The Music of David Lynch
2016·8.8
Rammstein in Amerika
2015·8.0
Brand: A Second Coming
2015·6.0
My Beautiful Broken Brain
2014·7.1
Between Two Worlds
2014·7.2
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
2014·7.2
The 8th Floor
2014·6.0
It's a Beautiful World
2014·5.4
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
2014·6.0
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
2013·6.9
What Is Cinema?
2013·6.5
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
2013·8.2
Professor Goudet's Lessons
2013·0.0
Memory Film
2012·5.6
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
2012·5.8
Side by Side
2012·7.3
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
2011·0.0
David Lynch in Oslo
2010·0.0
2012: Time for Change
2010·6.3
Brunes et Blondes
2010·0.0
David Wants to Fly
2010·7.0
When Lynch Met Lucas
2010·5.4
Red Fish
2009·7.7
The Way of Samodelkin
2009·0.0
Great Directors
2009·6.1
La Traversée du désir
2009·5.7
The Soul Detective
2009·0.0
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
2008·6.1
Early Experiments
2008·6.4
Hollyshorts Greeting
2008·7.5
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
2008·7.3
Critic
2008·7.9
The Sound of Lynch
2007·6.0
A Slice of Lynch
2007·6.9
Lynch (one)
2007·5.7
Out Yonder — Chicken
2007·5.8
Lynch 2
2007·0.0
Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.
2007·0.0
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
2007·5.5
Inland Empire
2006·7.0
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
2006·6.3
David Lynch: 1985
2005·0.0
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
2004·0.0
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
2004·8.3
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
2004·6.7
Boat
2003·5.4
Does That Hurt You?
2003·7.7
Lamp
2003·4.8
Return to Mulholland Drive
2003·8.0
Out Yonder — Teeth
2003·6.2
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
2003·6.7
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
2002·6.2
The Short Films of David Lynch
2002·5.5
Heart of the Festival
2002·6.5
I Don't Know Jack
2002·7.9
BlueBob Egg
2002·3.4
Mysteries of Love
2002·7.1
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
2002·6.2
Eraserhead Stories
2001·7.3
Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
2001·6.3
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
1999·6.2
The A-Z of Separating People from their Money
1998·0.0
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
1997·7.2
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996·5.5
Lumière & Company
1995·6.3
Nadja
1995·5.7
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
1994·7.2
Made in the USA
1993·2.0
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
1992·7.4
Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper
1991·0.0
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
1990·7.5
Hollywood Mavericks
1990·7.3
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
1989·9.3
Zelly & Me
1988·5.8
No Frank in Lumberton
1988·8.2
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
1988·7.6
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
1987·0.0
Dune
1984·6.2
Destination Dune
1983·6.5
The Elephant Man
1980·8.0
Heart Beat
1980·5.6
The Amputee
1974·5.1
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
1967·5.6