David Duchovny

Born: 7th August 1960
Where: New York, USA

Duchovny's name will always be inextricably linked with the character of Fox Mulder he played in American TV's The X-Files.

However, he has also branched out successfully into feature work, with plaudits for his work on Chaplin, Evolution and the TV hit Californication.

The son of a school administrator and a writer/publicist for the American Jewish Committee, Duchovny is of Russian and Scottish stock.

One of three brothers, he attended the Collegiate School For Boys in Manhattan.

Duchovny was teaching English at Yale (his thesis was Magic and Technology in Contemporary Poetry and Prose) when he appeared in a beer commercial and decided on a career switch.

He scored a one-line bit part as a party-goer in Working Girl before being cast as a womaniser in 1989's New Year's Day.

He delivered a showy turn as cross-dressing FBI agent Dennis/ Denise Bryson during a brief 1990 stint in TV series Twin Peaks.

Duchovny's modest success in features was almost forgotten when he took the part of Mulder, making him a millionaire and what co-star Gillian Anderson refers to as "catnip to women".

After a stint narrating sexy TV series The Red Shoe Diaries, he played a disgraced doctor whose life becomes intertwined with a criminal's in the disappointing Playing God in 1997.

In 2000, he starred in the romantic comedy Return To Me opposite Minnie Driver and, after nine series of The X-Files, went for another sci-fi role in Evolution.

Next up was an unbilled appearance in Ben Stiller's Zoolander and the lead role of Gus in Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal.

In 2004, he starred alongside Toni Collette in the comedy Connie and Carla with Toni Colette and the crime thriller My Dark Places.

He impressed in the ensemble drama Things We Lost in the Fire and went on to star as Hank Moody in the hit TV comedy Californication.

In 2008, he returned to the role that made him famous in the sci-fi thriller The X-Files: I Want To Believe.