Top 10 Kyle MacLachlan Movie & TV Roles, According To IMDb

Kyle MacLachlan has starred and appeared in several films and television series throughout his successful career. He is most known for his multiple appearances in the Twin Peaks franchise as main character Dale Cooper and has frequently collaborated with writer and director David Lynch.

MacLachlan has a long and quirky filmography of intriguing work from Twin Peaks to Blue Velvet to more accessible mainstream work in comedies like How I Met Your Mother and Inside Out showing his range as an actor.

10 The Doors (1991) – 7.2

The Doors is a biographical film about the real-life band of the same name. The film mostly focuses on the lead singer and frontman Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer) in his personal life and within the band. The film shows Morrison’s early life, the formation of the band, his romantic relationships, his recreational drug use, alcoholism, and his obsession with death. Kyle MacLachlan portrays The Doors’ co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

9 Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) – 7.3

Mao’s Last Dancer portrays the life of professional dancer Li Cunxin who started training as a ballet dancer when he was young and living through Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. The film follows his life from his initial acceptance into the dance academy, his strict training, and his Chinese citizenship revoked when he chooses to live and marry in America. He’s helped by Charles Foster, a prominent immigration lawyer, who helps him stay in America and is portrayed by MacLachlan.

8 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) – 7.3

Kyle MacLachlan reprises his role as FBI Agent Dale Cooper for a film continuation of the 1990s television show. The film acts as a prequel to the original Twin Peaks that follows Laura Palmer before her death that called Cooper to the small baffling town to solve her murder.

Agent Cooper and the FBI look for an agent who has recently disappeared while Laura Palmer is shown getting into increasingly dangerous situations which will eventually lead to her death.

7 Blue Velvet (1986) – 7.7

Blue Velvet from David Lynch follows a college student (MacLachlan) home from school who gets tied up in an increasingly dangerous and confusing plot after he finds a severed ear. He and a detective’s daughter (Laura Dern) team up to try to solve the mystery and are pulled into a psychotic man’s (Dennis Hopper) depraved sexual hold over a lounge singer (Isabella Rossellini).

6 Portlandia (2011–2018) – 8.3

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein started Portlandia as a series filled with hilarious skits that pokes fun at the weird and quirky Pacific Northwest culture found in Portland, Oregon. The two characters interact with eccentric townspeople in every episode including a series of recurring characters like Kyle MacLachlan’s Mr. Mayor, the mayor of the town.

5 Inside Out (2015) – 8.1

Inside Out is a Pixar animated film that follows a young girl’s inner emotions as she struggles to adjust to her new life after a move across the U.S. Inside Out has a great balance of serious and hilarious moments as the young girl Riley’s emotions of joy, sadness, disgust, anger, and fear try to help her as she has a hard time at her new school and making friends while also dealing with the emotions of growing up. MacLachlan voices Riley’s father throughout the film.

4 How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014) – 8.3

Kyle MacLachlan guest-starred multiple times on How I Met Your Mother as a lovable character who hilariously terrifies the main characters when they first meet him. MacLachlan portrays the eccentric George Van Smoot who prefers that everyone calls him The Captain. He’s a generally nice person, but he can suddenly shift into what the group of friends sees and hilariously mistakes as ominous threats.

3 Twin Peaks (2017) – 8.5

Kyle MacLachlan returns to Twin Peaks as Agent Dale Cooper in a continuation of the original television series. The third season returns to Twin Peaks and catches up on characters almost thirty years after the first two seasons aired. The series tries to recapture the same odd feeling the original achieved and adds new characters to the ongoing story as well.

2 Twin Peaks (1990–1991) – 8.8

The original television series of Twin Peaks sees David Lynch’s characters have increasingly odd interactions after the tragic death of Laura Palmer. Kyle MacLachlan portrays the main character, Dale Cooper, who is brought in from out of town to solve her murder.

Cooper is just as eccentric as the rest of the town and the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer, and the numerous secrets of Twin Peaks, are slowly revealed throughout the dramatic show.

1 Gravity Falls (2012–2016) – 8.9

Gravity Falls was a well-received show about a weird and supernatural town that two twins, Dipper and Mable, stay in for the summer with their Great Uncle Stan and try to solve the town’s mysteries. Gravity Falls had a fun and quirky cast of characters living in a town that was pretty similar to the town and characters in Twin Peaks. Kyle MacLachlan had a small role as voicing the bus driver in the series.

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