David Lynch

David Lynch
Born Missoula, Montana. Eagle Scout.

Most know David Lynch as one of cinema’s most original talents, but he is also a prolific visual and musical artist whose boundless creativity spills over into the realms of painting, photography, songwriting and more.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1970 to study filmmaking at the AFI Center for Advanced Film Studies. During his time there, Lynch began working on what would become his first feature, Eraserhead. Lynch has since received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for his films The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Dr. (2001) as well as the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Wild At Heart, a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival for and France's Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film for The Elephant Man and Mulholland Dr.

His work as a painter provides a deeper understanding of his vision and also reveals a vital source of inspiration for his instantly recognizable filmmaking aesthetic. A major retrospective of Lynch’s artwork — called “The Air Is on Fire” — was displayed in Paris at the Fondation Cartier in 2007. Last year, an extensive collection of his drawings, paintings and photographs was featured in the book Dark Splendor.

With two of his most recent endeavors, Lynch explores more of his “hidden” talents.
In October, he will help launch Club Silencio, a Parisian nightclub named for the club featured in his psychological thriller Mulholland Drive. He not only designed the club’s interior, but also much of its furniture.

The second project, Crazy Clown Time, marks Lynch’s solo debut as a musical artist. Due out November 8, the album’s 14 original songs were written, performed and produced by Lynch, who is a self-taught “non-musician.”

He launched the David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and Peace in 2005. A longtime practitioner of transcendental meditation, Lynch established the group to promote the technique among at-risk populations.