David Duchovny Biography

In 1998 the motion picture The X-Files: Fight the Future--released in June and becoming the number one box-office hit, with a take of over $30 million in its first weekend--brought to the big screen one of the hottest television shows and hottest couples of the 1990s. FBI Special Agents Fox ("Spooky") Mulder and Dana Scully, played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, respectively, on the TV series "The X-Files," had never so much as kissed in the five years the program had been on. Nonetheless, to the show's 20 million weekly viewers there was no denying the chemistry between Mulder (a believer in space aliens and government conspiracies) and his partner, Scully (a skeptical scientist and doctor), as they pursued the truth behind the odd, usually paranormal cases described in the X-file dossiers. The movie also added to the electricity between Scully and Mulder but still brought them only to the brink of a kiss, and the kiss that took place in an episode early in the series' sixth season, because of its context, was not "official."

David William Duchovny was born Aug. 7, 1960, in New York City. He was educated at Princeton University, where he received a B.A. degree, and Yale University, where he earned an M.A. in English literature and began working on a Ph.D. Duchovny added acting classes in New York City to his schedule and began getting work, including a TV commercial for beer and some Off-Broadway plays. He left Yale in 1987 to live in New York City and later that year moved to Hollywood, where his first movie roles were in Working Girl (1988) and the independent film New Year's Day (1989). Other credits followed, notably Julia Has Two Lovers (1991), The Rapture (1991), Chaplin (1992), and Kalifornia (1993). In the early 1990s he added such TV roles as Jake on "The Red Shoe Diaries" and the memorable transvestite detective Dennis/Denise on "Twin Peaks." Duchovny's "X-Files" popularity led to TV guest appearances as himself on "The Larry Sanders Show" and as the voice of Mulder on the animated series "The Simpsons." In 1997 he starred in the motion picture Playing God.

Anderson was born Aug. 9, 1968, in Chicago. When she was in high school, entertaining thoughts of becoming a marine biologist, community theatre participation whetted her appetite for acting. She earned a B.F.A. degree at the Goodman Theatre School at DePaul University, Chicago, and attended the National Theatre of Great Britain's summer program at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., before pursuing a theatre career in New York City. Anderson appeared in the Off-Broadway production Absent Friends, winning a 1991 Theatre World Award, and in The Philanthropist at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., before moving to Los Angeles. After a few motion-picture and television appearances, she auditioned for the part of Scully and in 1993, at "The X-Files" creator Chris Carter's insistence, landed her first starring role. In 1998 Anderson could be seen in two additional films, Chicago Cab and The Mighty, and in the autumn she and Duchovny headed into their sixth television season, more certain than ever that "the truth is out there."