David Lynch

This article is about the American director. For other people named David Lynch, see David Lynch (disambiguation).

David Lynch
Lynch in 2017 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lynch in 2017
Born
David Keith Lynch

(1946-01-20) January 20, 1946 (age 78)
Missoula, Montana, U.S.
Other namesJudas Booth
EducationPennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • painter
  • visual artist
  • musician
  • author
  • actor[1]
Years active1967–present
Notable work
StyleNonlinear, psychological thriller, neo-noir, surrealist, psychological horror, black humor, psychological drama, experimental
Spouses
  • Peggy Lentz
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1968; div. 1974)​
  • Mary Fisk
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1977; div. 1987)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2006; div. 2007)​
  • Emily Stofle
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2009; sep. 2023)​
Partner(s)
Children4, including Jennifer
AwardsFull list
Signature
David Lynch
A 2007 photograph of David Lynch This article is part of
a series about
David Lynch

David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor. He has received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. Lynch has received numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019.[2] 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 film-maker of the current era."[3]

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).[4] He directed the romantic crime drama Wild at Heart (1990), which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He is also known for directing 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 the limited series Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).[5] As an actor, he portrayed Gordon Cole in the Twin Peaks projects, had a guest role as the head of CBS in the FX series Louie (2012), and portrayed John Ford in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022).

Lynch's other artistic endeavors include his work as a musician, encompassing the studio albums BlueBOB (2001), Crazy Clown Time (2011), and The Big Dream (2013), as well as painting[6] and photography.[7] He has written the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006), and Room to Dream (2018).[8] 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.[9][10]

  1. ^ Murphy, J. Kim (February 4, 2022). "David Lynch Joins Cast of Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans' (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  2. ^ "David Lynch Gave the Shortest Oscar Acceptance Speech". Vanity Fair. October 28, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  3. ^ "40 best directors". The Guardian Online. London. 2007. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  4. ^ charitybuzz (2012). "Have 3-Time Academy Award-Nominated Filmmaker David Lynch Review Your Screenplay in LA". charitybuzz. Charitybuzz Inc. Archived from the original on August 31, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  5. ^ Jackson, Matthew (June 19, 2018). "DAVID LYNCH EXPLAINS WHY HE LEFT AND THEN RETURNED TO THE TWIN PEAKS REVIVAL". SYFY Wire. SyFy. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  6. ^ Wolf, Shira (April 23, 2020). "The Other David Lynch – The Paintings of Contemporary Cinema's Master of Surrealism". Artland Magazine. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  7. ^ Far Out Staff (June 9, 2019). "The mysterious world of David Lynch's photographs of old factories". Far Out Magazine. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  8. ^ "David Lynch's Books". Maharishi International University. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  9. ^ "How the David Lynch Foundation helps people who have experienced homelessness". The Big Issue. July 3, 2019. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  10. ^ Hoffman, Claire (February 22, 2013). "David Lynch Is Back … as a Guru of Transcendental Meditation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2020.