David Duchovny

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Photo: David Duchovny

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Biography of David Duchovny

David Duchovny is an American actor of Russian origin, widely known for his roles in the cult TV series The X-Files and Californication. Winner of two Golden Globe Awards. David is not only an actor, but also a producer, musician and screenwriter.

Pictured: David Duchovny


Childhood

David Duchovny was born into a low-income large family. His mother, an immigrant from Scotland, worked as a school teacher. His father Abraham Duchovny was a publicist and playwright. My paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew who emigrated from the Kiev province in 1918, my grandmother also left the Russian part of Poland forever at the beginning of the twentieth century. Parents raised three children, but despite this they divorced when David was 11 years old.

David Duchovny as a child


As a child, the future actor was uncommunicative and withdrawn, but he had an extraordinary mind, which helped him get a scholarship to pay for tuition at a prestigious and expensive school in New York. John F. Kennedy Jr., son of President John F. Kennedy, attended classes with David. The actor continued to communicate with him until his tragic death in a plane crash.

At school, Duchovny showed excellent results, so he could enter any prestigious American university: Harvard, Yale or Princeton. David chose the latter.

Education

A talented student received a bachelor’s degree in education from Princeton; his thesis was devoted to the topic “The Critique of Pure Reason in the Works of Samuel Beckett”. After graduating from university in 1987, Duchovny went to graduate school at Yale, where he studied English classical literature. The result of the study was a dissertation on the topic “Magic and Technology in Modern Poetry and Prose.”

David Duchovny led the basketball team at the university


At school and at the university, David Duchovny went in for sports, led the basketball and baseball teams. In parallel, he earned his living by working as a bartender, watchman and food delivery man. Good looks helped the future actor get an offer to star in a beer commercial. It was the first step towards a cinematic career.

In the process of working on his dissertation, David took acting classes, he had to choose between a career as a teacher and an actor. After the first small roles in the theater, Duchovny got into Hollywood. In 1988, David played his first role in the film Business Woman. Then there were a number of episodic roles. For example, Duchovny played an unscrupulous young man in the film “New Year’s Day” and a mean businessman in the film “Beethoven”, and also appeared in the films “Working Girl” and “Don’t Tell Mom the Nurse is Dead.”

Actor career

Despite the fact that David’s acting career began with a lot of small roles, he was lucky enough to work with David Lynch in 1990, who invited him to play the role of a transvestite detective in the cult TV series Twin Peaks.

David Duchovny in Twin Peaks


In 1992, famed erotoman director Zalman King spotted the actor as an ideal contender for the role of an abandoned lover for The Red Shoe Diaries. This is the story of an architect’s life, which was destroyed by the death of his fiancée. David played one of the central roles, and his colleagues on the set were Audie England, Jennifer Burton and Anthony Addabbo. Duchovny worked on the series for five years. The success of the picture exceeded expectations, and the actor was finally noticed.

David Duchovny in The Red Shoe Diaries


During the same period, Duchovny starred in the biopic Chaplin alongside Milla Jovovich, Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Hopkins. The drama was based on Charlie Chaplin’s 1963 autobiography.

David Duchovny in Chaplin


In 1993, US viewers saw the detective series The X-Files on their screens. In it, David Duchovny played the role of agent Fox Mulder, which made him a world-famous star. Together with Dana Scully, played by Gillian Anderson, David’s character was looking for an explanation for the incredible events of extraterrestrial origin. It is noteworthy that in real life Duchovny is a skeptic, but his hero Agent Fox believes in the existence of aliens.

David Duchovny in the series The X-Files


During the filming of The X-Files, David participated in the sensational film Playing God. The brilliant work of Duchovny, who played a surgeon who was deprived of his license due to drugs, was noted not only by the audience, but also by critics.

David Duchovny in “Playing God”


Glory brought David the title of Hollywood sex symbol. In 2003, he took part in the cult melodrama series Sex and the City. He got the episodic role of the mentally ill guy Kerry, the heroine of Sarah Jessica Parker.

Evening Urgant. Interview with David Duchovny

In 2000, David played in the movie Come Back to Me. He told about a man in love with a woman who had the heart of his deceased wife transplanted.

In 2005, David brilliantly played the role of charming Tom in the melodrama with comedy elements Trust a Man. On the set, the actor worked in the company of Julianne Moore and Bart Fryundlich.

David Duchovny in the drama “What We Lost”


In 2007, viewers saw the film-drama “What We Lost” by Suzanne Bier. For the role of Brian Burke, Duchovny received another portion of admiration from critics. This is a picture about true friendship, death, love and human selfishness, in which Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro participated.

“Californication”. Trailer

In the same year, David begins acting in another major work – the television series Californication, in which he will play 7 seasons. The project dragged on the actor, and he began to participate in the editing and writing of the script, as well as producing. The series is also known to Russian viewers under the name “California” and “California”.

Personal life of David Duchovny

David Duchovny said that he, most likely, was not all right with his psyche, since he could not arrange his personal life for a long time. Fans watched how fickle David was. He lived with actress Perry Reeves, then had an affair with Winona Ryder, and then, according to Duchovny himself, met with Gillian Anderson. The actor admitted that it is difficult for him to maintain a monogamous relationship.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson


David Duchovny first married at the age of 37. His chosen one was the actress Tea Leoni, known for such films as “The Family Man”, “Swindlers: Dick and Jane Have Fun.” The lovers got married at a school where the actor’s mother taught for a long time. In April 1999, their daughter Madeline was born, and three years later, their son Kid Miller Duchovny was born.

David Duchovny with his son


Family life was not smooth. Eleven years later, Thea and David broke up because of his hypersexuality, which he admitted publicly. The actor underwent a course of treatment, and the family was reunited.

David Duchovny and Tea Leoni


However, in 2011, the couple began to live separately, and three years later they officially divorced. In one of her interviews, Tea Leoni commented on her family life as follows:

“10 years of marriage and 10 years of working in Hollywood equals 50 years of real life.”

David Duchovny now

David Duchovny also finds time for music. In 2015, he released the music album Hell or Highwater. The record did not become popular with listeners, but Duchovny noted in an interview that this was just a way to convey his feelings and sensations to his fans and listeners.

David Duchovny – “Every Third Thought”

In 2017, David starred in the third season of Twin Peaks. And already in January 2018, the premiere of the eleventh season of The X-Files, expected by fans around the world, took place. It was the last for Gillian Anderson’s character – Scully (the actress refused further filming – ed.). And for David Duchovny, work in the project has become an integral part of his cinematic career. Therefore, now he is not only an actor in one of the main roles of The X-Files, but also a screenwriter and director.

The series “The X-Files” (season 11, 2018) – trailer

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