David Duchovny Biography

news-details Differentiates himself from other Hollywood actors with the quiet intensity, fierce intellect, and acerbic wit he consistently displays when performing on both small and big screen, David William Duchovny sure has carved a unique characteristic of his own to make him very special in every audience's heart. A fine figure of Jewish and Scottish descent, he was born the second son of intellectual couple of writer also publicist Amram Ducovny and a teacher named Margaret on August 7, 1960 in New York City. At age 11, his parents sadly decided to have a divorce, leaving the boy alongside his two siblings taken under the care of his mother who chose to remain in Big Apple while his father left for Boston before stayed in Paris. Though life afterwards was not easy for him to undergo, he wonderfully made his way to earn a scholarship to the elite Manhattan's Collegiate School for boys where he later graduated as a class valedictorian which prompted the likes of Harvard, Yale, Browns, and Princeton to offer the bright student a seat eagerly.

Finally entered Princeton University to smoothly earn a BA degree by 1982, David shortly thereafter continued his post-graduate study at Yale majoring in English Literature and without much difficulty acquired his Master in 1987 before going on his way to a Ph.D. It was during this period that he fell heavily for acting which subsequently drove him to give up chasing the doctoral degree and moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue a professional career in show business. Initially only landed small parts in movies like "Working Girl" (1988), "Bad Influence" (1990), also "Beethoven" (1992) to name few, the brown-haired guy then managed to come to public notice when he satisfyingly made a fine portrayal of journalist Brian Kessler opposite Michelle Forbes in "Kalifornia" (1993). However, it was not until he secured the role of FBI agent Fox Mulder in FOX series "The X Files" that the actor was ultimately able to embrace the widespread prominence he had aimed for.

Dominated the ratings for some years after its first airing in 1993, "The X Files" really became such a fantastic vehicle for David to pen his name in the industry as he gloriously found himself being showered with prestigious accolades continuously during his stints there. Along the way, he had been nominated for Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series by 1997 and 1998, also that of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series at Screen Actors Guild Awards for 5 consecutive years from 1996 to 2000, plus Golden Globes nods in 1996-1999 for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama which he won one at the 1997 event. Such superb achievement unmistakably boosted his status increasingly, making him one of the substantial TV actors of the '90s for sure.

Nevertheless, it appeared to David that the great success of "The X Files" in turn prevented him to develop his film career since he was only seen enacting in two pictures during the era, namely "Playing God" (1997) and the big screen version of the series released in 1998. Feeling the need to broaden his movie resume, the charming star thus came to a shocking decision of leaving the acclaimed program by the turn of the third millennium and so, put his concentration on film production though he still showed up on it occasionally in the early 2000s. Already commenced his re-entry to the cinema with "Return to Me" (2000), the tall actor persistently worked his path through performances in "Evolution" (2001), "Full Frontal" (2002), and "House of D" (2004) among others, the latter being his directorial film debut which unfortunately did not fare well in box-office.

Continued to appear in wide-screen feature by 2005, this time going comedic yet romantic in Bart Freundlich's "Trust the Man" alongside Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup, the next two years delightfully turned out to be a good period for David to maintain his film career as he has already been involved in several big screen projects, including "The TV Set" (2006), "The Secret" (2007), and "Things We Lost in the Fire" (2007) opposite Oscar winner Halle Berry. The three contrastingly were films of different genres, being of comedy, thriller horror, and drama, respectively, but all no doubt would prove to be such effective vehicles for the thesp to display his remarkable knack in portraying characters.

Concerning his private life, David is happily married since May 6, 1997 to actress Tea Leoni who has given him two lovely children named Madelaine West and Kyd Miller. The twosome first bumped to each other when they both attended the audition for a spot on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", but it was not until their next meeting arranged by their mutual agent, Risa Shapiro, that spark between them began to occur. Not only establish long-lasting marriage bond which Hollywood couples rarely maintain, they also form good collaboration professionally with David producing Tea-starred "Funlady" (2009) apart from their commitment to produce together "American Dreamers", a big screen adaptation of the former Reader's Digest editor Peter Canning book.