An accomplished director and producer of music videos, Byrne moved into feature filmmaking with the quirky, well-received (but partially-realized) "True Stories" (1986), a quizzical look at the mythical town of Virgil, TX. Literally wearing many hats for his post modern romp, he not only directed, but co-wrote (with Beth Henley and Stephen Tobolowsky) and composed its score, as well as peered out from underneath a Texas-size topper as the comically-detached narrator. Byrne's "Ila Aiye/The Hours of Life" (1989), a documentary exploring the Yoruban dance-music rituals of Brazilians whose ancestors came to South America as slaves, debuted as the opening program of the six-part PBS TV series "Alive From Off Center". He also co-directed (with David Wild) the "Between the Teeth" (1994) documentary featuring his 10 Car Pile-Up band and served as executive producer for "Umbabarauma" (1989), an animated short running a little over five minutes.

Byrne earned his first feature credit as songwriter and performer for "Times Square" (1980) and since then has made musical contributions to the movies of many distinguished directors (Scorsese, Paul Mazursky, Oliver Stone, among others). Working with no one more frequently than Demme ("Something Wild" 1986, "Married to the Mob" 1988, "Cousin Bobby" 1992 and "Philadelphia" 1993), who also directed Byrne in his TV acting debut, "A Family Tree" (1987), part of the PBS series "Trying Times". He shared an Oscar with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su for the lushly romantic score of Bernardo Bertolucci's epic "The Last Emperor" (1987). Byrne collaborated with the innovative Brian Eno on the album "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (1981) and composed music for Twyla Tharp's dance piece "The Catherine Wheel" and for several projects with the playwright Robert Wilson. He has also exhibited his photography around the world, and his illustrations have adorned the cover of TIME magazine.