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David Lynch

David Lynch

Director · 1946 – 2025 · Missoula, Montana, USA

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.

Movies23

  • Movie6.2

    Dune

    1984 · 3.5K votes

  • Movie7.6

    The Fabelmans

    2022 · 2.9K votes

  • Movie8.1

    The Elephant Man

    1980 · 4.1K votes

  • Movie7.4
  • Movie7.0

    Inland Empire

    2006 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie6.6

    Beatles '64

    2024 · 54 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Lucky

    2017 · 665 votes

  • Movie7.0

    David Lynch: The Art Life

    2017 · 225 votes

  • Movie7.2
  • Movie6.9
  • Movie5.7

    Nadja

    1995 · 62 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The Black Ghiandola

    2017 · 17 votes

  • Movie7.7
  • Movie7.3

    Elvis | Viva Las Vegas

    2008 · 3 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Side by Side

    2012 · 318 votes

  • Movie5.0

    Girlfriend's Day

    2017 · 173 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Hollywood Mavericks

    1990 · 3 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie6.3

    Lumière et Compagnie

    Lumière & Company

    1995 · 73 votes

  • Movie7.2
  • Movie7.5

    Why Are We Creative?

    2018 · 20 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Heart Beat

    1980 · 22 votes

  • Movie2.0

    Morceaux de Cannes

    2021 · 1 votes

Series17

  • TV7.4

    Family Guy

    1999 · 5.1K votes

  • TV5.4
  • TV8.3

    Twin Peaks

    1990 · 2.7K votes

  • TV7.6

    Robot Chicken

    2005 · 592 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV5.9

    The Cleveland Show

    2009 · 477 votes

  • TV5.1

    Film '72

    1971 · 8 votes

  • TV7.8

    Louie

    2010 · 595 votes

  • TV5.0

    Legends

    2006 · 1 votes

  • TV7.0

    Leçon de Cinéma

    2004 · 1 votes

  • TV7.8
  • TV5.9

    This Is Pop

    2021 · 23 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Nineties

    2017 · 23 votes

  • TV6.0

    Scene by Scene

    1997 · 3 votes

  • TV8.3

    Independent Focus

    1998 · 3 votes

  • TV6.3

    DumbLand

    2001 · 68 votes

  • TV4.7