Name is pronounced "DAY-vid doo-KUV-nee".The Last name is derived from a Russian word meaning spiritual. David says he doesn't care how his name is pronounced so long as people get the meaning right.

Background

David was born in New York City on August 7, 1960. His father is Amram Ducovny (yes, they spell their last names differently), a former publicist for the American Jewish Committee. Amram Ducovny has written an off-Broadway play, "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald", which ran in 1967 in New York. Amram Ducovny is also the author of several books: "The Wisdom of Spiro T. Agnew" and "David Ben-Gurion In His Own Words". David's Scottish-born mother Margaret, a homemaker for many years, taught grade school in Manhattan. His younger sister Laurie, a school teacher, lives in New York and his older brother Daniel lives in Los Angeles, where he is an award-winning director of commercials.

David was educated at a private school in Manhattan (Collegiate Prep.), and then went to Princeton University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He holds a Master of Arts in English Literature degree from Yale University, and was working on his Ph.D. when he left Yale to pursue acting. He has been a teaching assistant, and his Ph.D. dissertation (never finished) was entitled "Magic and Technology in Contemporary Poetry and Prose". (He still thinks it is a good subject for research.)

"I started acting to stop thinking." He began taking acting lessons from The Actor's Studio in order to improve his screenwriting abilities, and was cast in a few roles. His first film role was in a Lowenbrau commercial (which he says he got after much auditioning), was later tapped for Henry Jaglom's "New Year's Day", and never looked back. He moved to Hollywood in 1987, and apparently had a dry spell for about a year and a half. During that time, he jokes, he "leeched off people" while writing for magazines and working for a caterer. (No true actor gets through life without being a waiter at least once...) His work in films drew him to the attention of Randy Stone at Twentieth Century Fox, who recommended him to Chris Carter.

Hobbies / Interests

David played basketball throughout his school career, and also played baseball at Princeton. He has appeared in MTV's "Rock n' Jock" charity baseball game (he singled to right field and was batted in by David Justice) and in a recent MTV charity basketball game. He played basketball for the camera in "Red Shoe Diaries". He keeps in shape with jogging and power workouts, and has been known to play raquetball with Chris Carter. His (in)famous swimsuit appearance in "The X-Files" episode "Duane Barry" indicates that he is an excellent swimmer. He also practices "power" Yoga, and is "mostly" vegetarian. He does *not* eat sunflower seeds constantly; that's a habit of Chris Carter's which was written into the character of Mulder. He also does not wear ties, so fans are discouraged from sending him either sunflower seeds or ties.

David enjoys acting for the theatre as well as film and television. He has described stage acting as "an hour and forty five minutes of pure bliss". He enjoys writing and has expressed regret for leaving LA, as he misses the live poetry readings he used to participate in. He says he still writes poetry, he just doesn't read it in public any more. In a CBC radio interview, Chris Carter revealed that David supplied part of the outline for an episode of "The X-Files" (a two-parter, "Colony" and "End Game") which aired in February, 1995. David admires the playwright/actor Sam Shepard. He has been quoted as saying that his favorite musician is Keith Richards, and was spotted in the audience at the last date on the Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge" tour. He also likes Peter Gabriel's music for "The Last Temptation of Christ", called "Passion".

UFOs

He has publicly stated several times that he does not believe in UFOs or Beastwomen from New Jersey. He does not dismiss the possibility of extraterrestrial life, but would like more proof. He claims (perhaps facetiously?) that he may have seen a UFO while jogging on the beach in Ocean City, N.J., in 1982. In any case, he says, it makes no difference to his portrayal of Fox Mulder.

What's David really like ?

Charming, funny, and very smart. Although he grants few interviews and is rather cagey when he does, his associates describe him as "hilarious", "smart", and "a regular guy". One fellow actor described him as "humourous, witty, friendly, supportive, generous and very, very normal". David seems to be very surprised, not only by the success of "The X-Files" but by his own personal popularity (does the man not own a mirror?). Chris Carter, executive producer and creator of "The X-Files", has called him "frighteningly smart". Gillian Anderson has described him as "hysterically funny" and says he consults often with the show's writers, going over the scripts with the minute care of a former English teacher. One of the show's writers, Glen Morgan, also describes him as very intelligent and notes that much of Fox Mulder's humor is either ad-libbed by David or part of an in-joke between him and the writers. Other actors who have worked with him describe him as humble, professional, and hard-working. He also has a good memory and remembers names and faces well. In person he is soft-spoken, polite, and somewhat reserved.