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Biography

David William Duchovny (born August 7, 1960) is an American actor, writer, and director. He is best known for playing Fox Mulder on The X-Files and Hank Moody on Californication, both of which have earned him Golden Globe awards Duchovny was born in New York City, New York in 1960. He is the son of Margaret "Meg" (née Miller), a school administrator and teacher, and Amram "Ami" Ducovny (1927–2003), a writer and publicist who worked for the American Jewish Committee. His father was Jewish, from a family that immigrated from the Russian Empire and Poland. His mother is a Lutheran emigrant from Aberdeen, Scotland. His father dropped the h in his last name to avoid the sort of mispronunciations he encountered while serving in the Army.

Duchovny attended Grace Church School and The Collegiate School For Boys; both are in Manhattan. He graduated from Princeton University in 1982 with a B.A. in English Literature. He was a member of 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 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. At Yale, he was a student of popular literary critic Harold Bloom.

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. Duchovny is a former vegetarian and, as of 2007, is a pescetarian.

Filmography

1
The X-Files 1993 The X-Files Fox Mulder

Awards & recognition

1 wins · 17 nominations · 4 Award ceremony

Golden Globe Awards 1 wins 3 nominations
1 more
Emmy Awards 2 nominations

Interesting facts

14
  1. 1

    David is fond of Russian literature.

  2. 2

    His parents divorced when David was 11 years old. He has a brother, Daniel, and a sister, Laurie.

  3. 3

    On January 25, 2016, David Duchovny was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

  4. 4

    Due to a head injury from a basketball, he can barely see out of one eye, so he wears corrective lenses.

  5. 5

    On June 15, 2002, the actor's son, Kid Miller, was born.

  6. 6

    He studied at Princeton University in the Department of Education. He then entered graduate school at Yale University, where he earned a master's degree in English literature and was preparing to defend a dissertation for a Doctor of Philosophy degree on the topic "Magic and Technology in Modern Poetry and Prose."

  7. 7

    Father of West Duchovny.

  8. 8

    On April 24, 1999, David Duchovny and Téa Leoni had their first child, a daughter named Madelaine West Duchovny.

  9. 9

    Full name is David William Duchovny.

  10. 10

    David's acting career began with a beer commercial.

  11. 11

    David first married in May 1997, at the age of 37, for passionate love. David Duchovny and actress Tea Leoni were married in the chapel at the school where David's mother taught for many years.

  12. 12

    David's father's surname was not "Duchovny" but "Duchowny"; he changed it when he immigrated to the United States.

  13. 13

    His film debut was a small role in the movie Working Girl (1988).

  14. 14

    His father, Amram Duchovny (1927–2003), was a Brooklyn native from a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Poland. And his mother is Scottish.

Family & relationships

Tea Leoni wife · Children: 2 · divorced

Frequent collaborators

6

Photos

7
David Duchovny David Duchovny David Duchovny David Duchovny David Duchovny David Duchovny David Duchovny
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