Cast
David Lynch
Directing
Cast
David Lynch
Known for
Directing
Born
1946-01-20
From
Missoula, Montana, USA
Died
2025-01-16
Also known as David Keith Lynch, DKL
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.
★6.2
MOVIE1984
Dune
as Spice Miner (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1980
The Elephant Man
as Man in the Bowler Hat in the Mob Chasing Merrick (uncredited)
MOVIE2017
Plankton Salesmen
as Self (archive footage)
★7.4
MOVIE1992
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
as Gordon Cole
★7.6
MOVIE2022
The Fabelmans
as John Ford
★7.0
MOVIE2006
Inland Empire
as Bucky J, the gaffer (voice)
★7.5
MOVIE2018
Why Are We Creative?
as Self
★7.3
MOVIE2017
Lucky
as Howard
MOVIE2010
David Lynch in Oslo
as Self
MOVIE2017
David Lynch: Insight
as Self
★6.5
MOVIE2017
The Black Ghiandola
as Man In Black
★7.3
MOVIE2012
Side by Side
as Self
★7.2
MOVIE2014
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
as Gordon Cole
★7.0
MOVIE2017
David Lynch: The Art Life
as Self
★5.7
MOVIE2009
La Traversée du désir
as Self
★6.5
MOVIE2002
Heart of the Festival
as Self (archive footage)
MOVIE2007
Lynch 2
as Self
★6.5
MOVIE2024
Beatles '64
as Self
★7.9
MOVIE2002
I Don't Know Jack
as Self
★2.0
MOVIE2021
Morceaux de Cannes
MOVIE2026
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
as Self
★7.3
MOVIE1990
Hollywood Mavericks
as Self
★5.7
MOVIE1995
Nadja
as Morgue Receptionist
★6.9
MOVIE2019
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
as Self
MOVIE2010
Brunes et Blondes
as Self
★7.1
MOVIE2002
Mysteries of Love
as Self (archive footage)
★6.3
MOVIE1995
Lumière & Company
as Self
★5.0
MOVIE2017
Girlfriend's Day
as Narrator (voice)
★8.0
MOVIE2017
Bad Binoculars
as Self
★6.9
MOVIE2016
Blue Velvet Revisited
as Self
MOVIE2016
Night Flight: Born Again
as Self
★7.3
MOVIE2008
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
as Self
★8.0
MOVIE2015
Rammstein in Amerika
as Self
★2.0
MOVIE1993
Made in the USA
as Self
MOVIE2026
Eyes Behind the Lens
as Voice (Uncredited, Archive)
★8.2
MOVIE2013
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
as Self
★7.0
MOVIE2016
Along for the Ride
as Self
★6.5
MOVIE2013
What Is Cinema?
as Self
★7.6
MOVIE1988
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
as Self - Audience Member
MOVIE2025
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
★6.0
MOVIE2015
Brand: A Second Coming
as Self
★5.1
MOVIE1974
The Amputee
as The Nurse
MOVIE2004
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
★6.0
MOVIE2017
The Polish Accountant
as Self
★5.6
MOVIE1980
Heart Beat
as Painter (uncredited)
★7.3
MOVIE2001
Eraserhead Stories
as Self
★6.1
MOVIE2009
Great Directors
as Self
★5.8
MOVIE2002
The Short Films of David Lynch
as Self
★6.0
MOVIE2017
A Pot of Boiling Oil
as Self
★8.2
MOVIE1988
No Frank in Lumberton
as Self
★5.5
MOVIE2007
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
as himself
★4.3
MOVIE2016
The Reality of Truth
as Self
★5.7
MOVIE2007
Lynch (one)
as Self
MOVIE2013
Professor Goudet's Lessons
as Self
★5.4
MOVIE2003
Boat
as The Man
★6.9
MOVIE2007
A Slice of Lynch
as Self
★6.3
MOVIE2017
WHAT DID JACK DO?
as Detective
★6.5
MOVIE1983
Destination Dune
as Self
★7.0
MOVIE2010
David Wants to Fly
as Self
MOVIE2022
This Is Sparklehorse
as Self
MOVIE2009
The Soul Detective
as Himself
★5.0
MOVIE2017
Tell It Martin
as Self
★7.9
MOVIE2008
Critic
as Self (voice)
★6.3
MOVIE2010
2012: Time for Change
as Self
★5.4
MOVIE2010
When Lynch Met Lucas
★7.2
MOVIE1997
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
as Self
★4.5
MOVIE2016
Shadows of Paradise
★7.0
MOVIE2016
On Meditation
as Self
★5.5
MOVIE2017
The Number of Completion
as Self
★6.2
MOVIE2017
Behind the Red Curtain
as Self
★7.2
MOVIE2014
Between Two Worlds
as Self
★5.8
MOVIE2007
Out Yonder — Chicken
★10.0
MOVIE2025
The Making Of A Mockumentary
as Himself (archive footage)
★6.2
MOVIE2002
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
★6.3
MOVIE2001
Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
as Self
★7.5
MOVIE2008
Hollyshorts Greeting
as Himself
★7.1
MOVIE2014
My Beautiful Broken Brain
as Self
★6.0
MOVIE2017
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
as Self
★5.4
MOVIE2014
It's a Beautiful World
as Self
★8.0
MOVIE2017
Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon
as Self
★5.5
MOVIE1996
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
as Self
★6.2
MOVIE1999
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
as Self
★5.0
MOVIE2017
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
as Self
★6.6
MOVIE2017
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
as Self
★5.6
MOVIE1967
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
★6.5
MOVIE2020
Meeting the Beatles in India
as Self
MOVIE2017
Two Blue Balls
as Self
★8.8
MOVIE2016
The Music of David Lynch
as Self
★8.3
MOVIE2017
Rocksteppy
as Himself
MOVIE2017
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
as Self
★6.7
MOVIE2004
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
as Self
★7.7
MOVIE2003
Does That Hurt You?
as Self
★6.7
MOVIE2003
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
as Self
★7.0
MOVIE2017
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
as Self
★6.9
MOVIE2013
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
as Self
★4.0
MOVIE2021
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
as Self (voice) (archive footage)
★6.8
MOVIE2023
Lynch/Oz
as Self (archival footage)
MOVIE2005
David Lynch: 1985
as Self
MOVIE1987
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
as Himself
MOVIE1991
Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper
as Self
★7.1
MOVIE2017
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
as Self
★7.5
MOVIE1990
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
as Self
MOVIE2021
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
as Self
★8.3
MOVIE2004
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
as Self
★6.0
MOVIE2007
The Sound of Lynch
★5.8
MOVIE1988
Zelly & Me
as Willie
★6.3
MOVIE2006
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
as Self
★6.1
MOVIE2021
Moby Doc
as Self
★6.2
MOVIE2003
Out Yonder — Teeth
★6.4
MOVIE2008
Early Experiments
MOVIE2026
What Would David Lynch Do?
as Self (Archived Footage)
MOVIE2020
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
as himself
★9.3
MOVIE1989
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
as Self
★7.2
MOVIE1994
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
as Himself
★6.0
MOVIE2014
The 8th Floor
as Self
★5.8
MOVIE2012
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
as Self
MOVIE1998
The A-Z of Separating People from their Money
as Self
MOVIE2009
The Way of Samodelkin
as Stranger in a dream
★8.0
MOVIE2003
Return to Mulholland Drive
as Self
MOVIE2018
Curtains Up
★7.7
MOVIE2009
Red Fish
as O Sábio
★6.0
MOVIE2014
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
as Self
MOVIE2011
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
as Himself
★5.6
MOVIE2012
Memory Film
MOVIE2021
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
as David Lynch
MOVIE2007
Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.
as Himself
★3.4
MOVIE2002
BlueBob Egg
as Billy Groper
MOVIE2025
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
as Self (archive footage)
MOVIE2019
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
as Himself
★6.2
MOVIE2002
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
★7.7
MOVIE2019
The Original Image - David Lynch
★6.3
MOVIE2008
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
as Self
★4.8
MOVIE2003
Lamp
as Self