birthname | David William Duchovny |
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birth date | August 07, 1960 |
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birth place | New York City, New York |
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occupation | Actor |
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yearsactive | 1987–present |
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spouse | Téa Leoni (1997–Present) (separated) |
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homepage | }} |
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David William Duchovny (born August 7, 1960) is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work 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 (1927–2003), a writer and publicist who worked for the
American Jewish Committee. David's paternal grandparents were
Jewish immigrants from
Russia, and his mother is a
Lutheran immigrant from
Scotland. His father dropped the ''h'' in his last name to avoid the sort of mispronunciations he encountered while serving in the Army.
Education
Duchovny attended
Grace Church School and
The Collegiate School For Boys; both are in
Manhattan. He graduated from
Princeton University in 1982 with a
Bachelor of Arts in
English Literature. He was a member of the
Charter Club, one of the university's
eating clubs. In 1982, his poetry received an honorable mention for a college prize from the
Academy of American Poets. The title of his senior thesis was ''The Schizophrenic Critique of Pure Reason in
Beckett's Early Novels''. Duchovny played a season of
junior varsity basketball as a shooting guard and centerfield for the varsity baseball team.
He received a Master of Arts, also in English Literature, from Yale University and subsequently 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.''
Career
Duchovny appeared in an advertisement for
Löwenbräu beer in 1987. He appears in two scenes in ''
Working Girl'' (1988). 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 1992, he played the role of
Rollie Totheroh, in the biographic film ''
Chaplin'', directed by
Richard Attenborough, and based on the life of
Charlie Chaplin. In 1993, Duchovny began starring in the
science fiction series ''
The X-Files'' as FBI Special Agent
Fox Mulder, a
conspiracy theorist who believed his sister had been abducted by
aliens. The show emerged as a cult hit and quickly became one of
The Fox Network's first major hits. Also in 1993, Duchovny was cast alongside
Brad Pitt and
Juliette Lewis, in the
Dominic Sena-directed thriller, ''
Kalifornia''.
During ''
The X-Files'' 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 because of 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'', titled ''
The Springfield Files''.
Duchovny caused controversy when it became public that he was the primary reason for which 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, "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'' and a parody of "Dr. Hannibal Lecter" being introduced to Agent
"Clarice Starling" in ''The Silence of the Lambs''.
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 directed by Bonnie Hunt and co-starring 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'' alongside Seann William Scott that same year.
He appeared in a celebrity edition of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' in May 2000. He got to the $250,000 question, but answered his $500,000 question incorrectly and lost $218,000, leaving him with $32,000.
He also appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1995 and 2010.
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 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 appeared in the feature film ''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 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.
Paul Ruffino, the studio executive in charge of casting ''The X-Files'' show and later Duchovny's role model for the Hank Moody character on ''Californication'', was very positive towards him. According to Carter, Duchovny turned out to be one of the best-read people he knew. After getting the role, Duchovny thought the show wouldn't last for long or that it wouldn't make as much impact as it did. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz called portraying actor Duchovny "amazingly smart". He further stated that Duchovny was behind some of the main characteristic ideas behind Mulder.
Personal life
Duchovny married actress
Téa Leoni on May 6, 1997. In April 1999, Leoni gave birth to a daughter, Madelaine West Duchovny. Their second child, a son, Kyd Miller Duchovny, was born in June 2002. On October 15, 2008, Duchovny's and Leoni's representatives issued a statement that they had separated and had been for several months prior to this announcement. On October 21, 2008, Duchovny's lawyer said that he plans to sue the U.K.'s ''
Daily Mail'' over an article it ran that claimed he had an affair with Hungarian tennis instructor Edit Pakay while still married to Leoni, a claim that Duchovny has denied. On November 15, 2008, the ''Daily Mail'' printed a retraction stating that the story "is inaccurate and Ms. Pakay and Mr. Duchovny are only friends who used to play tennis occasionally". They once again split on June 29, 2011 .
Duchovny is a former vegetarian and a current pescatarian.
In 1996, ''People'' magazine named him one of its 50 Most Beautiful People.
On August 28, 2008, Duchovny announced that he 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''
2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy – ''Californication''
2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy – ''Californication''
Filmography
References
External links
''Washington Post'' Interview with David Duchovny, April 2007 David Duchovny and the Drama of Television
Category:1960 births
Category:Actors from New York City
Category:American film actors
Category:American television actors
Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
Category:Collegiate School (New York) alumni
Category:Living people
Category:People from Fire Island, New York
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:American people of Russian descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:Yale University alumni
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bn:ডেভিড ডুকভ্নি
bs:David Duchovny
bg:Дейвид Духовни
ca:David Duchovny
cs:David Duchovny
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de:David Duchovny
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ko:데이비드 듀코브니
id:David Duchovny
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jv:David Duchovny
ka:დევიდ დუხოვნი
lt:David Duchovny
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mk:Дејвид Духовни
ms:David Duchovny
nl:David Duchovny
ja:デイヴィッド・ドゥカヴニー
no:David Duchovny
uz:David Duchovny
pl:David Duchovny
pt:David Duchovny
ro:David Duchovny
ru:Духовны, Дэвид
scn:David Duchovny
simple:David Duchovny
sk:David Duchovny
szl:David Duchovny
sr:Дејвид Дуковни
sh:David Duchovny
fi:David Duchovny
sv:David Duchovny
tl:David Duchovny
th:เดวิด ดูคอฟนี
tr:David Duchovny
uk:Девід Духовни
zh:大衛·杜考夫尼