caption website children birth_place name parents birth_date residence image article_title birth_name partner
lynch in 2009 davidlynch.com davidlynch.com 4 missoula , montana , us david lynch donald walton lynch edwina -lrb- née sundholm -rrb- 1946 1 20 yes los angeles , california david lynch -lrb- cropped edit -rrb- . jpg david lynch
 david keith lynch isabella rossellini -lrb- 1986 1991 -rrb-
david lynch

david keith lynch -lrb- born january 20 , 1946 -rrb- is an american film director , television director , visual artist , musician , actor , and author .
known for his surrealist films , he has developed a unique cinematic style .
the surreal and , in many cases , violent elements contained within his films have been known to `` disturb , offend or mystify '' audiences .
born to a middle-class family in missoula , montana , lynch spent his childhood traveling around the united states , before going on to study painting at the pennsylvania academy of fine arts in philadelphia , where he first made the transition to producing short films .
he moved to los angeles , where he produced his first motion picture , the surrealist horror film `` eraserhead '' -lrb- 1977 -rrb- .
after `` eraserhead '' became a cult classic on the midnight movie circuit , lynch was employed to direct a biographical film about a deformed man , joseph merrick , titled `` the elephant man '' -lrb- 1980 -rrb- , from which he gained mainstream success .
he was then employed by the de laurentiis entertainment group , and proceeded to make two films : the science-fiction epic `` dune '' -lrb- 1984 -rrb- , which proved to be a critical and commercial failure , and then a neo-noir crime film , `` blue velvet '' -lrb- 1986 -rrb- , which was critically acclaimed .
next , lynch created his own television series with mark frost , the popular murder mystery `` twin peaks '' -lrb- 1990 -- 1991 ; 2017 -rrb- : he also created a cinematic prequel , '' '' -lrb- 1992 -rrb- ; a road movie , `` wild at heart '' -lrb- 1990 -rrb- ; and a family film , `` the straight story '' -lrb- 1999 -rrb- ; in the same period .
turning further towards surrealist filmmaking , three of his subsequent films operated on `` dream logic '' , non-linear narrative structures : the psychological thriller `` lost highway '' -lrb- 1997 -rrb- , the neo-noir mystery film `` mulholland drive '' -lrb- 2001 -rrb- and the mystery film `` inland empire '' -lrb- 2006 -rrb- .
meanwhile , lynch embraced the internet as a medium , producing several web-based shows , such as the animated `` dumbland '' -lrb- 2002 -rrb- and the surreal sitcom `` rabbits '' -lrb- 2002 -rrb- .
lynch has received three academy award nominations for best director and a nomination for best screenplay .
he has won france 's césar award for best foreign film twice , as well as the palme d'or at the cannes film festival and a golden lion award for lifetime achievement at the venice film festival .
the french government awarded him the legion of honor , the country 's top civilian honor , as a `` chevalier '' in 2002 and then an `` officier '' in 2007 , while that same year , `` the guardian '' described lynch as `` the most important director of this era '' .
allmovie called him `` the renaissance man of modern american filmmaking '' , while the success of his films has led to him being labelled `` the first popular surrealist . ''
