Director

David Lynch

Directing

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Directed credits

Prolific

Very extensive directing filmography.

TMDB popularity

3.0

Moderate attention

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Directed movies: 52Directed series: 3All crew credits: 100

TMDB ID: 5602

IMDb ID: nm0000186

Known for: Directing

Born: January 20, 1946

Died: January 16, 2025

Age: 78

Place of birth: Missoula, Montana, USA

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1953 - 2026

Years active: 74

Average TMDB rating: 6.49

Wikidata: Q2071

Also known as

David Keith Lynch • DKL

Frequent jobs

Director (52)Director of Photography (3)Executive Producer (10)Writer (9)Music (5)Thanks (5)Producer (3)In Memory Of (2)Camera Operator (1)Cinematography (1)

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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.

Photos

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Directed Movies

Movies directed by David Lynch.

Waiting for Mr. Lynch

Director

2018 Movie

WHAT DID JACK DO?

Director

2017 Movie

Fire (Pożar)

Director

2015 Movie

Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces

Director

2014 Movie

Duran Duran: Unstaged

Director

2014 Movie

Idem Paris

Director

2013 Movie

Memory Film

Director

2012 Movie

20 Little Films

Director

2012 Movie

Interpol: I Touch a Red Button

Director

2011 Movie

42 One Dream Rush

Director

2010 Movie

Early Experiments

Director of Photography

2008 Movie

Hollyshorts Greeting

Director

2008 Movie

Ballerina

Director

2007 Movie

To Each His Own Cinema

Director

2007 Movie

Out Yonder — Chicken

Director

2007 Movie

More Things That Happened

Director

2007 Movie

Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com

Director

2007 Movie

Inland Empire

Director of Photography

2006 Movie

Bug Crawls

Director

2004 Movie

Intervalometer Experiments

Director

2004 Movie

Boat

Director

2003 Movie

Lamp

Director of Photography

2003 Movie

Out Yonder — Teeth

Director

2003 Movie

Industrial Soundscape

Director

2002 Movie

Directed Series

Series directed by David Lynch.

Rabbits

Director • 8 eps

2002 Series

On the Air

Director • 1 eps

1992 Series

Mulholland Dr.

Director • 1 eps

Series

Top Rated Movies

Highest rated movies linked with David Lynch.

Twin Peaks

Director

1989 Movie

The Elephant Man

Director

1980 Movie

Mulholland Drive

Director

2001 Movie

The Straight Story

Director

1999 Movie

Blue Velvet

Director

1986 Movie

Lost Highway

Sound Designer

1997 Movie

The Fabelmans

as John Ford

2022 Movie

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Director

1992 Movie

Eraserhead

Production Design

1977 Movie

Lucky

as Howard

2017 Movie