Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married, and fathered future director Jennifer Chambers Lynch shortly after he turned 21. That experience, plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area of Philadelphia, inspired Eraserhead, a film that he began in the early 1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasably weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz, it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch to make his first mainstream film (in an unlikely alliance with Mel Brooks), though The Elephant Man was shot through with his unique sensibility. Its enormous critical and commercial success led to Dune, a hugely expensive commercial disaster, but Lynch redeemed himself with Blue Velvet, his most personal and original work since his debut. He subsequently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival with the dark, violent road movie David Lynch's Wild at Heart, and achieved a huge cult following with his surreal TV series _"Twin Peaks" (1990)_ , which he adapted for the big screen, though his comedy series On the Air was less successful. He also draws comic strips and has devised multimedia stage events with regular composer Angelo Badalamenti. He had a much-publicised affair with Isabella Rossellini in the late 1980s.
The Alphabet (1968): $1,000

Ate lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Los Angeles, California, nearly every day for almost eight years in a row. Is an Eagle Scout. His grandfather was Finnish. Shares birthday (20th January) with Federico Fellini. Currently (2002) runs his own personally authorized Web site, www.davidlynch.com and has been rumored to appear in the chat area of the site under a more than obvious name. Personally approved DVD releases of his movies do not have any chapter stops. This is done because he believes that films are meant to be viewed from beginning to end. He is also an artist working in paint and such dynamic elements as live ants and rotting flesh. He also frequently designs and builds the furniture in his films. These can be seen in the documentary about him, Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch. Projects he has written but to date has not produced include "Ronnie Rocket," "Up at the Lake," and "One Saliva Bubble." Producer Dino De Laurentiis offered him the chance to direct "Hand-Carved Coffins" based on a Truman Capote work, but Lynch turned it down; to date the project has not been produced. His favorite band is Rammstein. Wrote the Gordon Cole character (from Twin Peaks) with himself in mind. After the financial disaster that was Dune, Lynch and Dino De Laurentiis were almost ready to part company but Lynch showed Dino the script for Blue Velvet, which he had been working on for some time, and the two combined talents to make the seminal 1986 classic. After George Lucas saw Eraserhead, he offered Lynch the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi but Lynch turned him down. Lynch felt the film would be more Lucas' vision than his own. Daughter, Director Jennifer Chambers Lynch (b. 1968), with first wife actress Peggy Lynch. Son, Austin Jack Lynch, with second wife Mary Fisk. Son, Riley Sweeney Lynch (b. 1992), with film editor Mary Sweeney (she later became his third wife). While in college, roomed with Peter Wolf, former lead singer with the J. Geils Band. Lynch kicked him out, however, because he thought Wolf was "too weird." His son, Austin Jack Lynch, appeared in an episode of Twin Peaks as Pierre Tremond, or the Creamed-Corn Kid. His nephew, Jonathan L. Lepell, played Pierre Tremond/Chalfont in the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Julee Cruise, who appears in Twin Peaks, is his musical protegée. Lynch wrote the lyrics on her first album, some of the lyrics of her second album, and occasionally plays an instrument on her recordings. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985," pp. 621-626 (as David K. Lynch). New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. Had his name removed as writer and director on the Director's extended cut of "Dune" which was first screened on television. These were replaced with the names Judas Booth and the name used by many a director who wish to be disassociated with a movie, Alan Smithee. Has cited Luis Buñuel, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski as some of his influences. In addition to excluding chapter breaks in his approved DVD releases of his movies, he hasn't recorded an audio commentary in any of his films. This is because he believes that films speak for themselves. Announced at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival that he has been shooting a feature length project on digital video called "Inland Empire" for over a year. He also announced that he was so impressed with digital that he was giving up directing on projects on film. He drew and wrote the comic strip, "The Angriest Dog in the World" that ran in the Los Angeles Reader newspaper throughout the 1980s. President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 Is famous (or infamous) for not saying anything on Eraserhead. He lets the viewers decide what it means. He was offered the chance to direct Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but he turned it down, saying that the script was funny, but it wasn't his thing. Was very good friends with Jack Nance. Is friends with Kyle MacLachlan. He was introduced to Isabella Rossellini at a restaurant by a mutual friend when he was in the process of casting Blue Velvet. Struck by her serene European beauty, he told her, "You could be Ingrid Bergman's daughter." 'You idiot,' my friend said to me," Lynch recalled, "'she is Ingrid Bergman's daughter!'" His grandmother was German. Though on the surface his alliance with Mel Brooks on _The Elephant Man (1980)_ would seem unlikely to many, a number of Lynch's films are interpreted as being satirical of traditional Hollywood clichés (_Mulholland Dr. (2001)_, _Wild at Heart (1990)_, _Blue Velvet (1986)_) albeit in a much darker and artistic way than in the films that made Brooks a success (_Young Frankenstein (1974)_, _Blazing Saddles (1974)_, etc.) Was engaged to Italian actress Isabella Rossellini from 1986 to 1990.