FILM DIRECTOR

David Lynch

1946 - 2025

Photo of David Lynch

Icon of person David Lynch

David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 15, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, his films are often characterized by a distinctive surrealist sensibility that gave rise to the adjective Lynchian. In a career spanning more than five decades, he received numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, and Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement posthumously in 2025. Lynch studied painting and made short films before making his first feature, the independent body horror film Eraserhead (1977), which found success as a midnight movie. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 85 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 75 in 2024). David Lynch is the 5th most popular film director (up from 41st in 2024), the 70th most popular biography from United States (up from 247th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular American Film Director.

David Lynch is most famous for his surrealist and often nightmarish films, such as Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of David Lynch by language

Loading...

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, David Lynch ranks 5 out of 2,041. Before him are Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki, and Akira Kurosawa. After him are Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Sergei Eisenstein, Roman Polanski, and D. W. Griffith.

Most Popular Film Directors in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1946, David Lynch ranks 10. Before him are Freddie Mercury, Cher, George W. Bush, Hassanal Bolkiah, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and Bill Clinton. After him are Sonia Gandhi, Marina Abramović, Isaias Afwerki, Patti Smith, Alan Rickman, and Marianne Faithfull. Among people deceased in 2025, David Lynch ranks 3. Before him are Pope Francis, and James Watson. After him are José Mujica, Gene Hackman, Claudia Cardinale, Mario Vargas Llosa, Marianne Faithfull, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Boris Spassky, Robert Redford, and Richard Chamberlain.

Others Born in 1946

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 2025

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United States

Among people born in United States, David Lynch ranks 70 out of 20,380. Before him are Marlon Brando (1924), Toni Morrison (1931), George R. R. Martin (1948), Bob Dylan (1941), Richard Nixon (1913), and Bill Gates (1955). After him are Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927), George H. W. Bush (1924), Henry Ford (1863), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890), Danny DeVito (1944), and James Stewart (1908).

Others born in United States

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among FILM DIRECTORS In United States

Among film directors born in United States, David Lynch ranks 3. Before him are Steven Spielberg (1946), and Martin Scorsese (1942). After him are Stanley Kubrick (1928), D. W. Griffith (1875), Woody Allen (1935), Francis Ford Coppola (1939), Cecil B. DeMille (1881), George Lucas (1944), Michael Mann (1943), Quentin Tarantino (1963), and John Ford (1894).

American born Film Directors

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous