List of accolades received by David Lynch

David Lynch (1946–2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor. Known for his surrealist films, he developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian",^[1] and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound design. Over his career he won the Honorary Academy Award, two prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in addition to nominations for two BAFTA Awards, nine Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Award

Wins

Award

Wins

Wins25

Nominations48

Quick facts Awards and nominations, Award ...

David Lynch awards and nominations

Lynch at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival
Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations Academy Awards 0 4 British Academy Film Awards 0 2 Emmy Awards 0 9 Golden Globe Awards 0 4 Screen Actors Guild Awards 0 1
Totals[a]
Wins	25
Nominations	48
Note [a] Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

Close

Lynch's oeuvre encompasses work in both cinema and television. He received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on the biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980), for which he was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the neo-noir Blue Velvet (1986), and his surrealist thriller Mulholland Drive (2001). He won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or for his romance film Wild at Heart (1990). He also directed the space opera Dune (1984), the surrealist crime drama Lost Highway (1997), the drama The Straight Story (1999), and the experimental thriller Inland Empire (2006).

Lynch whilst his television debut, with the ABC mystery-horror series Twin Peaks (1990–1991) which earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for its first season alongside a win for Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.^[2] He was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Lynch made a prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and revival series Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). Indeed, the surreal and in many cases violent elements to his films have earned them the reputation that they "disturb, offend or mystify" their audiences.^[3]

In the course of his career, Lynch has received multiple awards and nominations. Amongst these are three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He received the Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2019. Lynch has twice won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film, as well as the Palme d'Or and Best Director Prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.

The French government has awarded him the Legion of Honour, the country's top civilian distinction, honoring him first as a Chevalier in 2002 and then as an Officier in 2009; Lynch was also awarded the key to the city of Bydgoszcz, Poland. In 2017, Lynch was awarded The Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony for outstanding contributions to American culture.^[4]