Demme was best known for his big screen work such as Silence and Philadelphia. The filmmaker also brought his talents to smaller projects like Rachel Getting Married and the Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense. 

The director worked with Denzel Washington several times, in the aforementioned and groundbreaking 2004 Aids discrimination legal drama, Philadelphia (which won Tom Hanks an Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role) and in the 2004 updated remake of the classic conspiracy the Manchurian Candidate.

His latest work can be seen on the small screen in the series Shots Fired, currently airing on Fox.