David William Duchovny is the uncommonly gifted actor who plays Agent Fox Mulder on Fox Network's "The X-Files" on Friday nights.
DAY-vid. Oh, you mean his *last* name? It's pronounced "doo-KUV-nee", and is derived from a Russian word meaning "spiritual". (We have this on the authority of a native speaker of Russian who generously photocopied a page out of his Russian-English dictionary to show the Russian spelling of his name.) David says he doesn't care how his name is pronounced so long as people get the meaning right.
David was born in New York City on August 7, 1960. His father is Amram Ducovny (yes, they spell their last names differently), a former publicist for the American Jewish Committee. Amram Ducovny has written an off-Broadway play, "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald", which ran in 1967 in New York. Amram Ducovny is also the author of several books: "The Wisdom of Spiro T. Agnew" and "David Ben-Gurion In His Own Words". David's Scottish-born mother Margaret, a homemaker for many years, taught grade school in Manhattan. His younger sister Laurie lives in New York and his older brother Daniel lives in Los Angeles.
He was educated at a private school in Manhattan (Collegiate Prep.), and then went to Princeton University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He holds a Master of Arts in English Literature degree from Yale University, and was working on his Ph.D. when he left Yale to pursue acting. He has been a teaching assistant, and his Ph.D. dissertation (never finished) was entitled "Magic and Technology in Contemporary Poetry and Prose". (He still thinks it is a good subject for research.)
6' tall, brown hair, hazel eyes. Mole on right cheek.
David has recently been married to actrees Tea Leoni, start of the TV sitcom "The Naked Truth".
David played basketball throughout his school career, and also played baseball at Princeton. He has appeared in MTV's "Rock n' Jock" charity baseball game (he singled to right field and was batted in by David Justice) and in a recent MTV charity basketball game. He played basketball for the camera in "Red Shoe Diaries". He keeps in shape with jogging and power workouts, and has been known to play raquetball with Chris Carter. His (in)famous swimsuit appearance in "The X-Files" episode "Duane Barry" indicates that he is an excellent swimmer. He also practices "power" (Ayangar?) Yoga, and is "mostly" vegetarian. He does *not* eat sunflower seeds constantly; that's a habit of Chris Carter's which was written into the character of Mulder. He also does not wear ties, so fans are discouraged from sending him either sunflower seeds or ties.
David enjoys acting for the theatre as well as film and television. He has described stage acting as "an hour and forty five minutes of pure bliss". He enjoys writing and has expressed regret for leaving LA, as he misses the live poetry readings he used to participate in. He says he still writes poetry, he just doesn't read it in public any more. In a CBC radio interview, Chris Carter revealed that David supplied part of the outline for an episode of "The X-Files" (a two-parter, "Colony" and "End Game") which aired in February, 1995. David admires the playwright/actor Sam Shepard. He has been quoted as saying that his favorite musician is Keith Richards, and was spotted in the audience at the last date on the Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge" tour.
A dog, Blue, (mixed breed) daughter of the dog featured in the first season episode, "Ice". According to David, Blue is a friendly, enthusiastic, affectionate animal. (He may also be owned by a white cat named Susan but we have not been able to confirm that.)
He has publicly stated several times that he does not believe in UFOs or Beastwomen from New Jersey. He does not dismiss the possibility of extraterrestrial life, but would like more proof. He claims that he may have seen a UFO while jogging on the beach in Ocean City, N.J., in 1982.
He began taking acting lessons from The Actor's Studio in order to improve his screenwriting abilities, and was cast in a few roles. His first film role was in a Lowenbrau commercial (which he says he got after *much* auditioning), was later tapped for Henry Jaglom's "New Year's Day", and never looked back. He moved to Hollywood in 1987, and apparently had a dry spell for about a year and a half. During that time, he jokes, he "leeched off people" while writing for magazines and working for a caterer. (No true actor gets through life without being a waiter at least once...) His work in films drew him to the attention of Randy Stone at Twentieth Century Fox, who recommended him to Chris Carter.
Charming, funny, and very smart. Although he grants few interviews and is rather cagey when he does, his associates describe him as "hilarious", "smart", and "a regular guy". One fellow actor described him as "humourous, witty, friendly, supportive, generous and very, very normal". David seems to be very surprised, not only by the success of "The X-Files" but by his own personal popularity (does the man not own a mirror?). Chris Carter, executive producer and creator of "The X-Files", has called him "frighteningly smart". Gillian Anderson has described him as "hysterically funny" and says he consults often with the show's writers, going over the scripts with the minute care of a former English teacher. One of the show's writers, Glen Morgan, also describes him as very intelligent and notes that much of Fox Mulder's humor is either ad-libbed by David or part of an in-joke between him and the writers. Other actors who have worked with him describe him as humble, professional, and hard-working. He also has a good memory and remembers names and faces well. In person he is soft-spoken, polite, and somewhat reserved.
By his own account David grew up as a "tight-assed", repressed student in a family struggling with divorce. He says he is grateful that acting freed him from a rather strait-laced emotional life. He appears to be something of a homebody: in almost every extended interview, he has complained about missing his home, his friends, and Perrey while he is in Vancouver. (And for a boy from New York City, he really gripes about the Canadian climate a lot!)
You can write him care of:
c/o The X-Files Production Office
Building 10
110-555 Brooks Bank Avenue
North Vancouver, BC
V7J 3S5
Canada
e-mail can go to him care of Fox Broadcasting at foxnet@delphi.com. Put "The X-Files" in the subject line to route it correctly.
Working Girl (1988) [Tess's Birthday Party Friend]
New Year's Day (1989) [William/Billy]
Twin Peaks (1990) [DEA Agent Dennis/Denise
Bryson, Ep. 13-15 2nd Ssn.]
Bad Influence (1990)
Julia Has Two Lovers (1991) [Daniel]
Denial (1991) [John] (aka Loon)
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) [Bruce]
Rapture, The (1991) [Randy]
Beethoven (1992) [Brad]
Baby Snatcher (1992)(TV) [David]
Ruby (1992) [Officer Tippit]
Chaplin (1992) [Rollie Totheroh]
Red Shoe Diaries (1992- )(TV) [Jake]
Venice/Venice (1992) [Dylan] (never released to
video.)
Kalifornia (1993) [Brian Kessler]
The X-Files (1993- )(TV) [Fox Mulder]
(Golden Globe award winner for Best Dramatic Series, 1994)
He also has appeared in several US television commercials, one for
Lowenbrau Beer (1987), and one for AT&T (1993). He is also doing
commercial voiceovers for NYNEX, a New York telephone company.
Of first season episodes, David has said that he prefers "Fallen Angel", "Ice", and "The Erlenmayer Flask". He was less than complimentary about "Ghost in the Machine", "Lazarus", and "Born Again". Second season preferences have yet to be revealed, but he has said that "One Breath" was his "Beyond the Sea", meaning the one that gave him the most character development to work with.
Here is a partial bibliography of published David Duchovny interviews or articles containing information about him:
Santa Cruz Sentinal, 3/13/94 "X-Files Star Forsakes Romance for the Paranormal" by Lynne Elber, (AP)
People magazine, 4/25/94 issue "Going to X-Tremes" by Michael Lipton
The Prydonian Renegade (a pub. of the Princeton Dr. Who Fan Club), June 94 "Coffee, Tea, and David Duchovny: An Afternoon Chat with the Star of "The X-Files" by Rhonda Krafchin
San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/12/94 "X-Files Actor is a (Super) Natural" By Eirik Knutzen, Copley News Service
Los Angeles Times, 10/28/94 "A Surreal 'X-Files' Captures Earthlings! Poltergeists, Space Aliens, and Mutants Feed Show's Hold on Younger Audience" By: Daniel Howard Cerone; Times Staff Writer
The following issues of Starlog Magazine contain XF articles: Chris Carter, SL #201, April '94 Gillian Anderson, Starlog Platinum #2 David Duchovny, SL #202, May '94 David Nutter Starlog Platinum #3 X-Philes, Starlog Platinum #4 article by Julianne Lee (X-Phile) Morgan & Wong, SL #210 (1/96) article by Paula Vitaris (X-Phile) Gillian Anderson, SL # article by Julianne Lee
The November 1994 Cinescape Magazine has an XF cover and a large article.
November 1994 Fate Magazine has an X Files article.
December 1994 issue of OMNI has an X Files article.
Newsweek magazine Dec. 5 1994 issue. General X-Files article with mention of Duchovny and photograph from Little Green Men.
Entertainment Weekly Dec. 2 1994, issue 251. The cover story has a quote from Chris Carter on the same page with a 1/2 page sidebar on Duchovny.
AXCESS magazine, Vol. II, No. 5 (Nov./Dec. 94) features an interview with David Duchovny.
Cinefantastique magazine, Feb 1995 has a two-page article on the X-Files by Dale Kutzera.
DETAILS magazine, Feb. 95 issue features interviews with the cast of The X-Files.
Entertainment Weekly, 3/10/95 issue has an article about the X-Files with some excellent photographs.
Playgirl Magazine, April 1995 issue, features an interview and photo layout.
This isn't really the official complete FAQ, mostly just information I pieced together from various sources. Hopefully all the information is
accurate and if not, e-mail me.