David Lynch filmography

David Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor. Known for his surrealist films, he developed his own cinematic style which has been dubbed "Lynchian"^[1] and is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound design. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements to his films have earned them the reputation that they "disturb, offend or mystify" their audiences.^[2]

Lynch at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival

Lynch's oeuvre includes short and feature-length films, music videos, documentaries and television episodes, while his involvement in these ranged from direction, production, and screenwriting to acting and sound design. Lynch's first project was the 1967 short Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times), an animated film which blended elements of sculpture and painting into its animation.^[3]

His first feature-length project, 1977's Eraserhead, became a cult film and launched his commercial career.^[4] It also marked his first collaboration with Jack Nance, who would appear in many more of Lynch's productions until the death of the actor in 1996.^[5] Lynch's other feature films include the critically successful The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001), all of which went on to earn Academy Award nominations,^[6][7][8] and the commercial flop Dune.^[9]

Lynch also branched out into television, and later, internet-based series. His first foray into series was Twin Peaks, a joint venture with Mark Frost which became a cult success,^[10] leading to Lynch and Frost working together on a number of other projects, including On the Air^[11] and American Chronicles.^[12]

In 2002 Lynch began producing two series of short films released through his official website: the Flash-animated DumbLand^[13] and Rabbits.^[14] Having begun acting in his 1972 short The Amputee,^[15] Lynch went on to appear on screen in Twin Peaks,^[16] Zelly and Me, and Dune.^[17] From 2010 to 2013, Lynch appeared in a recurring voice role in the animated series The Cleveland Show.^[18] He was a supporting actor in the 2017 John Carroll Lynch film Lucky.

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Sound Designer	Notes	Ref.
1977	Eraserhead	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Also editor, composer, art director, and special effects	[17]
1980	The Elephant Man	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Also musical director, co-written with Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren
1984	Dune	Yes	Yes	No	No
1986	Blue Velvet	Yes	Yes	No	No
1990	Wild at Heart	Yes	Yes	No	No
1992	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Yes	Yes	Executive	Yes	Co-written with Robert Engels
1997	Lost Highway	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Co-written with Barry Gifford
1999	The Straight Story	Yes	No	No	Yes
2001	Mulholland Drive	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2006	Inland Empire	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor, cinematographer and part of construction team

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Actor	Notes	Ref(s)
1967	Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Also animator	[17][19]
1968	Absurd Encounter with Fear	Yes	Yes	No	No		[20]
	Fictitious Anacin Commercial	Yes	Yes	No	No		[20]
	Sailing with Bushnell Keeler	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[21]
	The Alphabet	Yes	Yes	No	No	Also editor, cinematographer, animator and sound	[17][19]
	Early Experiments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	16mm, from Lime Green DVD Set	[22]
1970	The Grandmother	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Also cinematographer, animator and sound effects	[17]
1974	The Amputee	Yes	No	No	Yes	Role: Unable and scared nurse	[15][17]
1988	The Cowboy and the Frenchman	Yes	Yes	No	No		[17]
1995	Premonition Following an Evil Deed	Yes	No	No	No		[17]
2001	Sunset #1	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Head with Hammer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[23]
	Where Are the Bananas?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Combined with Darkened Room on the DVD release but originally a separate video.
	You're Not Supposed to Be Here	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Pierre and Sonny Jim	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[24]
	Steam Chain/Factory Mask	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[25]
	Bees #1	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Posted to YouTube in 2020 with alternate title, "Ball of Bees #1."	[26]
	Dead Mouse with Ants	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[27]
2002	Coyote #1	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[28]
	Steps	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Laura Palmer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[29]
	The Pig Walks	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[30]
	The Short Films of David Lynch Easter Egg	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	BlueBob Egg	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[31]
	Lunch with Lynch Contest Announcement	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Bees #2	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Coyote #2	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Kitchen Window	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Lunch with Lynch Contest Drawing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Darkened Room	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Also animator	[32][33]
	Industrial Soundscape	Yes	No	No	No		[34]
	The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[35]
	Bees #3	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2003	Water Circus	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Bees #4	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Dining Room Window	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Interior Dining Room	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Lamp	Yes	No	No	Yes	Role: Himself	[34]
	Boat	Yes	No	No	No	Also editor	[36]
2004	Agave	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Painted Lady	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Bug Crawls	Yes	No	No	No		[34]
2005	Scene from a David Lynch DV Project	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	For Avid promotional film	[37][38]
2007	Intervalometer Experiments	Yes	No	No	No	Collection of Sunset #1, Steps, and Interior Dining Room.	[34]
	Absurda	Yes	Yes	No	No		[39][36]
	More Things That Happened	Yes	Yes	No	No	Also editor	[40]
	Ballerina	Yes	No	No	No		[40]
	David Lynch Cooks Quinoa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[41]
2010	Dream #7	Yes	No	No	No	Posted to YouTube in 2020 with the alternate title, The Mystery of the Seeing Hand.	[42]
	Lady Blue Shanghai	Yes	Yes	No	No	Also editor and composer	[43]
2011	The 3 Rs	Yes	Yes	No	No	Also editor and cinematographer	[44]
2012	Memory Film	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	For Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon	[45]
2013	Idem Paris	Yes	No	No	No		[46]
2015	Fire (Pożar)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[47]
2017	What Did Jack Do?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Also editor Role: Detective	[48]
2018	This Video of David Lynch Is Not What It Seems	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	For Omaze
	Ant Head	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[49]
	Waiting for Mr. Lynch	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	For LEFFEST
2020	The Story of a Small Bug	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Role: Narrator at beginning Also editor	[50]
	The Adventures of Alan R.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[51]
	The Spider and the Bee	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[52]
	How Was Your Day Honey?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		[53]
2024	We'll Deliver 'Em	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Role: Voice Actor
	The Moon's Glow	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Role: Voice Actor
	Will There Be Anything Else?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Role: Voice Actor

Television

Twin Peaks earned several nominations at the 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards (Lynch pictured at the ceremony).

Lynch worked with Naomi Watts on several projects, including Rabbits and Mulholland Drive.

Year	Title	Creator	Executive Producer	Director	Writer	Notes	Ref(s)
1990–1991	Twin Peaks	Yes	Yes	6 episodes	4 episodes	Co-created with Mark Frost	[17]
1992	On the Air	Yes	Yes	1 episode	2 episodes		[54]
1993	Hotel Room	Yes	Yes	2 episodes	No	Also sound designer, Co-created with Monty Montgomery	[54]
2017	Twin Peaks: The Return	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also sound designer and additional editor, Co-created with Mark Frost	[17]

Web series

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Creator	Ref(s)
2002	DumbLand	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[33]
	Rabbits	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[33]
	Cannes Diary	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2002-2007	Out Yonder	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[34]
2005–2009 2020–2022	Weather Reports	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2020–2022	What is David Working on Today?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Today's Number Is...	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[34]

Music videos

Year	Song	Musician	Ref(s)
1990	"Wicked Game"	Chris Isaak	[55]
1992	"A Real Indication"	Thought Gang	[56]
1995	"Longing"	X Japan	[55][57]
1999	"Thank You, Judge"	BlueBob	[58]
2009	"Shot in the Back of the Head"	Moby	[59]
2010	"I Touch a Red Button Man"	Interpol	[60][61]
	"Lion of Panjshir"	Ariana Delwari	[62]
2012	"Crazy Clown Time"	David Lynch	[63]
2013	"Came Back Haunted"	Nine Inch Nails	[64]
2020	"I Have a Radio"	David Lynch	[65]
2021	"I Am the Shaman"	Donovan	[66]
	"Gimme Some a That"		[67]
2024	"Sublime Eternal Love"	Chrystabell & David Lynch
	"The Answers to the Questions"

Commercials

Year	Commercial Title	Subject	Ref(s)
1988	"F. Scott Fitzgerald", "Ernest Hemingway", "D.H. Lawrence", "Flaubert"	Obsession by Calvin Klein	[68][69]
1991	"Mystery of G", "Cherry Pie", "Lost", "The Rescue"	Georgia Coffee	[68][69]
	"We Care About New York"	New York City Department of Sanitation	[68][69][70]
	—	Dangerous by Michael Jackson	[71]
1992	"Who Is Gio?"	Gio by Armani	[68][69]
	"Opium"	Opium by Yves Saint Laurent	[68][69]
1993	—	Alka-Seltzer Plus	[68][69]
	"Tresor"	Lancôme Tresor	[69][72]
	—	Barilla Pasta	[68][69]
	"Revealed"	American Cancer Society	[69][70][72]
	"The Instinct of Life"	Background by Jil Sander	[69][72]
	"The Wall"	Adidas	[73]
1994	"Sun Moon Stars"	Sun Moon Stars by Lagerfield	[68][69]
1997	"Dead Leaves", "Aunt Droid", "Nuclear Winter", "Rocket"	Sci-Fi Channel	[69][72]
	—	Clearblue Easy	[68][69]
	"Mountain Man"	Honda	[74]
1998	"Parisienne People"	Parisienne	[69][72]
1999	"Opium"	Opium by Yves Saint Laurent
2000	"Welcome to the Third Place"	PlayStation 2	[68][69]
	"Un matin partout dans le monde"	JCDecaux	[72]
2002	"Do you speak Micra?"	Nissan Micra	[68][69]
	"Bucking Bronco"	Citroën	[75]
2004	"Fahrenheit"	Dior	[76]
	"Preference"	L'Oreal	[77]
2007	"Gucci"	Gucci	[78]
2008	"Revital Granas"	Shiseido	[79]
2011	"Doll Head"	David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee	[80]
2012	"Oh Yeah"		[81]
2014	—	Louboutin Rouge	[82]

Concert film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Himself	Notes	Ref(s)
1990	Industrial Symphony No. 1	Yes	Yes	No	Also composer	[17]
2014	Duran Duran: Unstaged	Yes	No	Yes		[83]

Other works

Acting roles

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1980	Heart Beat	Painter		[84]
	The Elephant Man	Man in Bowler Hat in Mob Chasing Merrick	Uncredited extra
1984	Dune	Spice Worker	Uncredited cameo	[85]
1988	Zelly and Me	Willie		[17]
1992	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Gordon Cole		[17]
1994	Nadja	Morgue Receptionist	Cameo	[17]
1997	Lost Highway	Morgue Attendant	Deleted scene
2006	Inland Empire	Bucky J	Uncredited voice	[86]
2017	Girlfriend's Day	Narrator	Voice	[87]
	Lucky	Howard		[88]
2022	The Fabelmans	John Ford

Short film

Year	Title	Notes	Ref(s)
2009	Soul Detective	Detective	[89][90]
2017	The Black Ghiandola	Man in Black	[91]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1990–1991	Twin Peaks	Gordon Cole	6 episodes	[17]
2002	DumbLand	All characters	Voice; 8 episodes	[33]
2010–2013	The Cleveland Show	Gus the Bartender	Voice; 20 episodes	[18]
2010, 2016	Family Guy	Gus the Bartender / Himself	Voice; episodes: "The Splendid Source" and "How the Griffin Stole Christmas"	[92][93]
2012	Louie	Jack Dall	Episodes: "Late Show - Part 2 & 3"	[94][95]
2017	Twin Peaks: The Return	Gordon Cole	11 episodes	[17]
2020, 2022	Robot Chicken	Mad Scientist	Voice; episodes: "Endgame" and “May Cause Season 11 to End”	[96]

Documentary films

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Himself	Ref(s)
1989	David Lynch: Don't Look at Me			Yes
1990	Hollywood Mavericks			Yes	[17]
	Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only			Yes
1994	Crumb		Presenter		[17]
1997	Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch			Yes	[17]
2001	I Don't Know Jack			Yes	[17]
	Eraserhead Stories	Yes		Yes	[17]
2004	Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments			Yes	[17]
2005	Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream			Yes	[17]
2007	Lynch			Yes	[17]
2008	School of Thought			Yes	[97]
	Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan			Yes	[17]
2009	Transcendendo Lynch			Yes	[17]
	Great Directors			Yes	[17]
2010	2012: Time for Change			Yes	[32]
2011	Meditation Creativity Peace			Yes	[17]
2012	Side by Side			Yes	[17]
	Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction			Yes
2014	It's a Beautiful World			Yes
2016	My Beautiful Broken Brain			Yes	[98]
	David Lynch: The Art Life			Yes	[99][100][101]
	Shadows of Paradise			Yes
2021	Moby Doc			Yes	[102]
2024	Beatles '64			Yes
2025	I Know Catherine, the Log Lady			Yes	[103]

Executive producer

Year	Title	Ref(s)
1991	The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez	[17]
1994	Nadja	[17]
2008	Surveillance	[17]
2009	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done	[17]
2022	The Other Me	[104]
TBA	The Happy Worker	[105]

See also

• David Lynch's unrealized projects
• List of accolades received by David Lynch