David William Duchovny (born August 7, 1960 in New York City, New York) is a Golden Globe Award-winning American television and film actor.

Duchovny's father, Amram Ducovny (different spelling), was a writer of Jewish heritage, and his mother, Margaret, is a Scottish-American teacher; Duchovny speaks French and Latin and has some familiarity with Hebrew. His siblings are Daniel and Laurie Duchovny. Duchovny attended the The Collegiate School For Boys in Manhattan, moved on to graduate from Princeton University. He also holds a Master's degree in English Literature from Yale University and almost completed his Ph.D. (but quit before finishing his thesis). At Princeton, he was a member of the Charter Club, one of the University's eating clubs, where upperclassmen take their meals. The title of his senior thesis is The Schizophrenic Critique of Pure Reason in Beckett's Early Novels (1982).

Career

Duchovny appeared in an advertisement for Löwenbräu beer in 1987. He had a memorable recurring role as a transvestite DEA agent on the series Twin Peaks. In 1993, Duchovny starred in the sci-fi series The X-Files, in a lead role as FBI agent Fox Mulder- a conspiracy theorist who believed his sister was abducted by aliens. The show started as a cult hit but quickly became one of The FOX Network 's first major hits. Duchovny starred in the X-Files movie and remained with the series until he quit the show after the seventh season following a contract dispute. Duchovny appeared half of the season 8 episodes but did not appear in season 9 until the series finale in 2002. He also reprised his role on an episode of the animated series The Simpsons.

Duchovny caused controversy when he was the primary reason filming of The X-Files was moved from Vancouver, British Columbia to Los Angeles in 1998. Many residents of Vancouver were upset with Duchovny over comments about the city's heavy rainfall. "Vancouver is a very nice place if you like 400 inches of rainfall a day," Duchovny said on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. "It is kind of like a tropical rain forest without the tropics. More like an Ice Age rain forest." Duchovny claimed it was just a joke. "Of course, I'm tired of the rain. But if I wasn't married to a woman that lived 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 homosexual attraction to Sanders. He featured memorably in the final episode of the series, performing a parody of Sharon Stone's infamous 'flashing' scene from Basic Instinct. He also played the role of the narrator/host in the long-running Showtime erotica/softcore TV series Red Shoe Diaries.

He 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 movie. Return to Me was directed by Bonnie Hunt and starred David Duchovny as Bob and Minnie Driver as Grace. This film gets its title from the Dean Martin recording of the same name. This movie sold more copies to the airline industry than any other single film in history. This was Carroll O'Connor's last film.

Duchovny provided the voice of Ethan Cole in the 2005 video game Area 51, as well as the title character "XIII" in the 2003 video game XIII.

In 2003, Duchovny starred in 84th episode of a popular HBO show Sex And The City. He played the role of Jeremy, Carrie Bradshaw's high-school X-boyfriend who has committed himself to a Connecticut mental health facility.

Starting in the summer of 2006, Duchovny performed voiceover work for Pedigree Petfoods commercials.

On April 13, 2007, on the Craig Ferguson show, David Duchovny said that a new X-Files movie was "in the works." Later in the interview he confirmed that "a new X-Files movie is coming out."

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. Though their childrens name are Madelaine and Kyd, David and his wife call them by their middle name as if it were their first.

Duchovny is a vegetarian and wears contact lenses. He suffered an eye-injury due to a basketball accident years ago, which caused one pupil to be enlarged.

In popular culture

• Bree Sharp, an American singer and songwriter, included on her debut album, A Cheap and Evil Girl (1999) the popular novelty tune, "David Duchovny."

• Duchovny has been referenced in Futurama. First, he is seen at the Head Museum and later, Calculon states that he assumed the identity of David Duchovny in the past years.

Filmography