David Lynch Net Worth

What Is David Lynch's Net Worth?

David Lynch is an American film and television director who has a net worth of $70 million. David Lynch is best known for surrealist films such as "Mulholland Drive," "Wild at Heart," and "Eraserhead." Lynch's creativity, dream imagery, and meticulous sound design have even coined a term among critics described as "Lynchian" for similar works.

Early Life

David Lynch was born David Keith Lynch on January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana. Lynch's father, Donald Walton Lynch (1915–2007), worked as a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). His mother, Edwina "Sunny" Lynch (née Sundholm; 1919–2004), worked as an English tutor.

Lynch earned early distinction among his peers as an Eagle Scout, which gave him the opportunity to take part in the inauguration ceremony for President John F. Kennedy, an event that took place on David's 15th birthday.

Film Career

Lynch moved with his wife and daughter to Los Angeles in 1971, at which point he attended the AFI Conservatory to study cinema and filmmaking. He has described AFI as "completely chaotic and disorganized, which was great … you quickly learned that if you were going to get something done, you would have to do it yourself. They wanted to let people do their thing."

This provided fertile ground for Lynch to build his skill set as an original mind and filmmaker. He began writing a script for a proposed work called "Gardenback," a film that was inspired by a painting he had done. In this original venture, Lynch would gain support from a number of mentors at the AFI Conservatory, all of whom encouraged him to write a longer version of the script. David added more dialogue with more than a little reluctance. The committee-style filmmaking going on at AFI left a sour taste in Lynch's mouth. Fed up with the Conservatory, he subsequently left school. AFI dean Frank Daniel later urged David to reconsider his decision, holding onto the belief that Lynch was indeed one of AFI's top students. David returned to the school on the sole condition that he could create a project that would have less interference. Lynch would respond with "Eraserhead."

"Eraserhead" was initially planned to be only 42 minutes in length but ended up running 89 minutes. Lynch's script itself is only 21 pages in length. Filming began on May 29, 1972, and the movie was shot at night in abandoned locations that allowed Lynch pure autonomy. The AFI later awarded David a $10,000 grant for "Eraserhead." The film was finally finished in 1976, premiered at Cannes, and received mixed reviews. However, Stanley Kubrick raved about the film, calling it one of his favorites.

Lynch has had an amazingly eclectic career in film and cinema and has produced a number of short films after initially studying painting in Philadelphia.

Although Lynch is markedly known for his unique and surreal film style, he's also helmed far more orthodox film projects such as "The Straight Story," which was a more approachable and, therefore, popular film he made in collaboration with Disney.

He later directed such films as 1980's "The Elephant Man" and started gaining popularity. Lynch made the film "Dune" in 1984 and "Blue Velvet" in 1986. In a switch to television, he and Mark Frost created the murder mystery show "Twin Peaks" in 1990, which has since become a cult classic. Lynch then went on to release the films "Lost Highway," "Mulholland Drive," and "Inland Empire."

Lynch's films would gain mixed success, which inspired him to take to the internet to start producing web-based series, including "Rabbits" and "Dumbland." As a result of his work, he has been recognized with three Academy Award nominations in the Best Director category. Lynch has been awarded a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for lifetime achievement. He was also awarded by the French government with the Legion of Honor, which is the country's top civilian honor. Lynch has directed music videos for Chris Isaak, Moby, and Nine Inch Nails. On October 6, 2014, David made a confirmation via Twitter that he and Mark Frost were working on a nine-episode revival season of "Twin Peaks." "Twin Peaks: The Return" (also known as "Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series") consists of 18 episodes and premiered on Showtime on May 21, 2017.

Personal Life

Lynch has released six studio albums, a newspaper cartoon, and a book titled "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity," which stresses meditation as a proponent of the creative process.

Lynch is an avid practitioner of transcendental meditation. He also has a personal website where he submits material to paying members, posts short videos, and offers up his absurdist series "Dumbland," as well as interviews and other content. The site also features his daily weather report, where David famously gives a description of the weather in Los Angeles

Lynch is a coffee enthusiast, creating his own line of special organic coffee roasts and blends. His coffee is available for purchase on his website. Whole Foods also carries the "David Lynch Signature Cup" coffee line. Lynch's own self-deprecating tagline for his coffee brand is "It's all in the beans … and I'm just full of beans," which is also a quote made by Justin Theroux's character in "Inland Empire."