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David Duchovny

David William Duchovny (born August 7, 1960) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning American television and film actor, best known for his roles as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.

Early life

Duchovny was born in New York City, New York, the son of Margaret "Meg" (née Miller), a school administrator and teacher, and Amram Ducovny (Duchovny), a writer and publicist who worked for the American Jewish Committee. Duchovny's paternal grandparents were Russian Jews and his mother is a Lutheran immigrant from Scotland. His father dropped the "h" in his surname because of frequent mispronunciations of the name. Duchovny's siblings are Daniel and Laurie Duchovny. He attended The Collegiate School For Boys in Manhattan and ultimately graduated from Princeton University. He also holds a Master's degree in English Literature from Yale University and began work on a Ph.D. that remains unfinished. The title of his uncompleted doctoral thesis was "Magic and Technology in Contemporary Poetry and Prose." At Princeton, Duchovny was a member of the Charter Club, one of the University's eating clubs, where upperclassmen take their meals. In 1982, while at Princeton, his poetry received an honorable mention for a college prize from the Academy of American Poets and the title of his senior thesis was The Schizophrenic Critique of Pure Reason in Beckett's Early Novels. Also while at Princeton, he played a season of junior varsity basketball, as a shooting guard, and two playing center field for the varsity baseball team.

Career

Duchovny appeared in an advertisement for Löwenbräu beer in 1987. He had a recurring role as a transvestite DEA agent on the series Twin Peaks and played the narrator/host in the long-running Showtime erotica/softcore TV series Red Shoe Diaries. In 1993, Duchovny began starring in the sci-fi series The X-Files as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, a conspiracy theorist who believed his sister was abducted by aliens. The show emerged as a cult hit and quickly became one of The FOX Network's first major hits. During the show's run, in between the fifth and sixth seasons, Duchovny co-starred alongside Gillian Anderson in a 1998 motion picture that continued the X-Files storyline, titled The X-Files: Fight the Future. He remained with the series until quitting in 2001, partly due to a contract dispute that occurred after season seven finished filming. Duchovny appeared in half of the season eight episodes, but did not appear in season nine until the series finale in 2002. He also provided the voice for a parody of his Fox Mulder character in an episode of The Simpsons, entitled The Springfield Files.

Duchovny caused controversy when it became public that he was the primary reason that filming of The X-Files series was moved from Vancouver, British Columbia to Los Angeles in 1998. Many residents of Vancouver were upset with Duchovny over scripted jokes on Conan O'Brien's late night show about the city's heavy rainfall; he joked that "Vancouver is a very nice place, if you like 400 inches of rainfall a day." He also stated, "Of course, I'm tired of the rain. But if I wasn't married to a woman that lives in L.A. I'd stay in Vancouver. It's a lovely city. During the run of The X-Files, he also made several guest appearances in the cult TV satire The Larry Sanders Show, playing himself, but adding a strong attraction to Sanders. In the final episode of the series, he performed a parody of Sharon Stone's 'flashing' scene from Basic Instinct.

Duchovny has guest hosted Saturday Night Live twice (May 13, 1995 and May 9, 1998). Both shows were season finales. In 2000, he starred in the feature film Return to Me, a romantic comedy/drama. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and co-starred Minnie Driver and Carroll O'Connor. In 2001, Duchovny played a hand model in the Ben Stiller comedy, Zoolander. He also played the role of Ira Kane in the movie Evolution along side Seann William Scott that same year.

He also appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in May 2000. He got up to $250,000, but answered his $500,000 question incorrectly and lost $218,000, leaving him with only $32,000.

Duchovny provided the voice of Ethan Cole in the 2005 video game, Area 51, as well as that of the title character "XIII" in the 2003 video game XIII. In 2003, Duchovny starred in the 84th episode of the popular HBO show Sex And The City. He played the role of Jeremy, Carrie Bradshaw's high-school ex-boyfriend, who has committed himself to a Connecticut mental health facility. In 2005, Duchovny, who had already made his directorial debut with an episode of The X-Files, wrote, directed and featured in House of D. The film starred Anton Yelchin, Robin Williams and Duchovny's wife Tea Leoni in a coming-of-age tale. It received mostly poor reviews and little box office success. Duchovny also guest-directed an episode of Bones (Episode 211, "Judas on a Pole") during its second season.

Duchovny currently plays Hank Moody, a troubled novelist in Showtime's series Californication. The portrayal landed him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical in 2007.

Personal life

Duchovny married actress Téa Leoni on May 6, 1997. On April 24, 1999, Leoni gave birth to a daughter, Madelaine West Duchovny. Their second child, a son, Kyd Miller Duchovny, was born June 15, 2002. The Duchovnys make their home in Malibu, California.

Duchovny is a former vegetarian.

On August 28, 2008 Duchovny's lawyer revealed that his client had checked himself into a rehabilitation facility for treating sex addiction.

Awards and nominations

Emmy Award

1997 – Nominated – Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series – The Larry Sanders Show
1997 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – The X-Files
1998 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – The X-Files
2003 – Nominated – Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series – Life with Bonnie

Golden Globe

1995 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama – The X-Files
1996 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama – The X-Files
1997 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama – The X-Files
1998 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama – The X-Files
2007 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy – Californication

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Working Girl	Tess' birthday party friend
1989	New Year's Day	Billy
1990	Denial	John
1990	Bad Influence	Club goer with glasses
1991	Twin Peaks	DEA Agent Denise/Dennis Bryson	TV series
	Julia Has Two Lovers	Daniel
	Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead	Bruce
	The Rapture	Randy
1992	Ruby	Officer Tippit
	Beethoven	Brad
	Baby Snatcher	David Anderson	TV movie
	Red Shoe Diaries	Jake Winters	TV series and movie
	Venice/Venice	Dylan
	Chaplin	Rollie Totheroh
1993	Kalifornia	Brian Kessler
1993	The X-Files	FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder	TV series (1993-2002)
1995	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode 386, May 13, 1995
1996	Space: Above and Beyond	Alvin EL 1543, a.k.a. "Handsome Alvin"
1997	The Simpsons	FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder	TV series (One episode: "The Springfield Files")
1997	Playing God	Dr. Eugene Sands
1998	The X-Files: Fight the Future	FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder
1998	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode 446, May 9, 1998
2000	Return to Me	Bob Rueland
2001	Evolution	Dr. Ira Kane
2001	Zoolander	J.P. Prewitt
2002	Full Frontal	Bill/Gus
2003	Sex and the City	Jeremy	TV series (One episode: "Boy, Interrupted")
2004	Connie and Carla	Jeff
2004	House of D	Tom Warshaw	Directorial debut, also wrote film
2005	Trust the Man	Tom
2006	Pedigree Petfoods	Voice-over	"We're for dogs" ad campaign
2006	The TV Set	Mike Klein
2007	Things We Lost in the Fire	Brian Burke
	The Secret (AKA Si j'étais toi'')	Dr. Benjamin Marris
	Californication	Hank Moody	TV series
2008	The X-Files: I Want to Believe	Fox Mulder	Filming finished on March 11, 2008, for a July 25, 2008 release