David Lynch

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.

Known For

Family Guy

Family Guy

Twin Peaks

Robot Chicken

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show

The Oscars

All Movies (133)

• I Know Catherine, the Log Lady2026 · as Self
• What Would David Lynch Do?2026 · as Self (Archived Footage)
• The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld2025
• The Making Of A Mockumentary2025 · as Himself (archive footage)
• David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange2025 · as Self (archive footage)
• Beatles '642024 · as Self
• Lynch/Oz2023 · as Self (archival footage)
• The Fabelmans2022 · as John Ford
• This Is Sparklehorse2022 · as Self
• The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune2021 · as Self (voice) (archive footage)
• Morceaux de Cannes2021
• Moby Doc2021 · as Self
• Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House2021 · as Self
• David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything2021 · as David Lynch
• David Lynch: The Virtual Life2020 · as himself
• Meeting the Beatles in India2020 · as Self
• Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound2019 · as Self
• The Original Image - David Lynch2019
• David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film2019 · as Himself
• Curtains Up2018
• Why Are We Creative?2018 · as Self
• Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon2017 · as Self
• Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers2017 · as Self
• Tell It Martin2017 · as Self
• The Polish Accountant2017 · as Self
• The Number of Completion2017 · as Self
• See You on the Other Side Dear Friend2017 · as Self
• Bad Binoculars2017 · as Self
• Two Blue Balls2017 · as Self
• I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun2017 · as Self
• Behind the Red Curtain2017 · as Self
• A Pot of Boiling Oil2017 · as Self
• A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth2017 · as Self
• The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair2017 · as Self
• A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks2017 · as Self
• WHAT DID JACK DO?2017 · as Detective
• Plankton Salesmen2017 · as Self (archive footage)
• Lucky2017 · as Howard
• The Black Ghiandola2017 · as Man In Black
• David Lynch: The Art Life2017 · as Self
• David Lynch: Insight2017 · as Self
• Girlfriend's Day2017 · as Narrator (voice)
• Rocksteppy2017 · as Himself
• Along for the Ride2016 · as Self
• Shadows of Paradise2016
• Blue Velvet Revisited2016 · as Self
• On Meditation2016 · as Self
• The Reality of Truth2016 · as Self
• Night Flight: Born Again2016 · as Self
• The Music of David Lynch2016 · as Self
• Rammstein in Amerika2015 · as Self
• Brand: A Second Coming2015 · as Self
• My Beautiful Broken Brain2014 · as Self
• Between Two Worlds2014 · as Self
• Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces2014 · as Gordon Cole
• The 8th Floor2014 · as Self
• It's a Beautiful World2014 · as Self
• Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love2014 · as Self
• Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction2013 · as Self
• What Is Cinema?2013 · as Self
• Mel Brooks: Make a Noise2013 · as Self
• Professor Goudet's Lessons2013 · as Self
• Memory Film2012
• Meditation, Creativity, Peace2012 · as Self
• Side by Side2012 · as Self
• Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten2011 · as Himself
• David Lynch in Oslo2010 · as Self
• 2012: Time for Change2010 · as Self
• Brunes et Blondes2010 · as Self
• David Wants to Fly2010 · as Self
• When Lynch Met Lucas2010
• Red Fish2009 · as O Sábio
• The Way of Samodelkin2009 · as Stranger in a dream
• Great Directors2009 · as Self
• La Traversée du désir2009 · as Self
• The Soul Detective2009 · as Himself
• Early Experiments2008
• Hollyshorts Greeting2008 · as Himself
• Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 20082008 · as Self
• Elvis | Viva Las Vegas2008 · as Self
• Critic2008 · as Self (voice)
• The Sound of Lynch2007
• A Slice of Lynch2007 · as Self
• Lynch (one)2007 · as Self
• Out Yonder — Chicken2007
• Lynch 22007 · as Self
• Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.2007 · as Himself
• Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com2007 · as himself
• Inland Empire2006 · as Bucky J, the gaffer (voice)
• Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream2006 · as Self
• David Lynch: 19852005 · as Self
• Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart2004
• Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments2004 · as Self
• The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’2004 · as Self
• Boat2003 · as The Man
• Does That Hurt You?2003 · as Self
• Lamp2003 · as Self
• Return to Mulholland Drive2003 · as Self
• Out Yonder — Teeth2003
• Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)2003 · as Self
• The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed2002
• The Short Films of David Lynch2002 · as Self
• Heart of the Festival2002 · as Self (archive footage)
• I Don't Know Jack2002 · as Self
• BlueBob Egg2002 · as Billy Groper
• Mysteries of Love2002 · as Self (archive footage)
• Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy2002
• Eraserhead Stories2001 · as Self
• Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul2001 · as Self
• In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story1999 · as Self
• The A-Z of Separating People from their Money1998 · as Self
• Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch1997 · as Self
• The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money1996 · as Self
• Lumière & Company1995 · as Self
• Nadja1995 · as Morgue Receptionist
• Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff1994 · as Himself
• Made in the USA1993 · as Self
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me1992 · as Gordon Cole
• Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper1991 · as Self
• Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch1990 · as Self
• Hollywood Mavericks1990 · as Self
• David Lynch: Don't Look at Me1989 · as Self
• Zelly & Me1988 · as Willie
• No Frank in Lumberton1988 · as Self
• Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night1988 · as Self - Audience Member
• Ruth, Roses, and Revolver1987 · as Himself
• Dune1984 · as Spice Miner (uncredited)
• Destination Dune1983 · as Self
• The Elephant Man1980 · as Man in the Bowler Hat in the Mob Chasing Merrick (uncredited)
• Heart Beat1980 · as Painter (uncredited)
• The Amputee1974 · as The Nurse
• Sailing with Bushnell Keeler1967
• A Fall from Grace— · as William Tabb

All TV Shows (19)

• Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!2026 · as Self - Filmmaker
• This Is Pop2021 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Nineties2017 · as Self (archive footage)
• Louie2010 · as Jack Dall
• The Cleveland Show2009
• The Cleveland Show2009 · as Gus (voice)
• Legends2006 · as Self
• Robot Chicken2005 · as Mad Scientist (voice)
• Leçon de Cinéma2004 · as Self
• Un film et son époque2003 · as Self
• DumbLand2001 · as Randy / Wife / Sparky (voice)
• Family Guy1999 · as Gus (voice)
• Family Guy1999 · as David Lynch (voice)
• Independent Focus1998 · as Self
• Scene by Scene1997 · as Self
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno1992 · as Self
• Twin Peaks1990 · as Gordon Cole
• Cinéma, de notre temps1989 · as David Lynch
• The Oscars1953 · as Self