David Keith Lynch (photo ©Kargaltsev Sasha) was born on January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana, USA.

Since he was a boy, David Lynch wanted to become an artist but his efforts initially got focused on painting. He attended classes at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. and later the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for a year. After a trip to Europe, in 1966 he moved to Philadelphia, where he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There he began experimenting with short films and “Six Figures Getting Sick” won a competition that led him to devote more time to films.

In the subsequent years, David Lynch shot several short films and medium-length films until in 1971 he moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Film Institute Conservatory. With several efforts, he started shooting his first feature film, “Eraserhead”, finishing it only in 1977 because of the financial problems he faced. The film picked up a certain celebrity in some underground circuits and then become a cult.

The great success for David Lynch came with the movie “The Elephant Man” in 1980, based on a true story. The film was acclaimed by critics and audiences also receiving 8 Oscar nominations.

Subsequently, David Lynch agreed to adapt the novel “Dune” for cinema but the result was a film three and a half hours long, and the production cut over an hour. The result was a fiasco and the director’s disavowal. The novel is practically impossible to adapt to a single movie and the director had focused on some elements but the issues around the production worsened the situation.

Despite the bad experience, David Lynch worked again with producer Dino de Laurentiis shooting the movie “Blue Velvet” (1986). This time the movie was successful and led to the start of a collaboration with composer Angelo Badalamenti, who in later years created the music for other Lynch movies.

In the late ’80s, David Lynch became interested in television creating the show “Twin Peaks”, of which also directed various episodes. The first season was a great success but the ABC demanded the secret behind Laura Palmer’s murder to be revealed. The audience collapsed and the second season was interrupted. Lynch produced the prequel “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” (1992) but was unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, David Lynch had already directed his efforts toward other productions, especially the movie “Wild at Heart” (1990), the winner of the Palme d’Or for best film at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival.

After some other experiences in television, David Lynch returned to the movies and noir atmosphere closer to his tastes with “Lost Highway” (1997), writing the screenplay with Barry Gifford and directing it. It was another failure but again the movie became a cult.

In later years, David Lynch alternated between cinema, television, and even the web with the movie “The Straight Story” (1999), “Mulholland Dr.” (2001), which was supposed to be the pilot episode of a TV show but became a movie and short films released on the web. The movie “Inland Empire” (2005) was presented at the Venice International Film Festival, where Lynch was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

David Lynch’s latest project, announced in 2014, is a new season of “Twin Peaks”, which is scheduled to be broadcast in 2016. Some production differences convinced him to abandon the project but in 2015 he announced his return to work at the show.

David Lynch is acclaimed by his fans even for projects that are not successful. This is due to the intensity he puts into them: the images are often raw and typically evocative with elements strongly dreamlike that leave a strong emotional mark that can’t leave us indifferent.

Edit. David Lynch passed away on January 15, 2025. His health declined in recent years due to serious emphysema caused by smoking.