You may know him as FBI Agent Fox Mulder, who wants to believe in aliens and the paranormal, or frustrated, sex-starved writer, Hank Moody, but he was born David William Duchovny on August 7, 1960, in New York city to Meg and Amram Duchovny. The influence of his writer/publisher father might be the reason Duchovny graduated from Princeton University with a BA in English Literature before going on to Yale to obtain his Englisher Literature Masters. It was during his time at Yale that Duchovny began to study acting in New York city, and made his first appearances off-Broadway.

Bit by the acting bug, David threw caution to the wind, along with his plans to finish his English Literature Doctorate at Yale, and decided to pursue acting full-time.

After participating in a number of low-budget films, Duchovny got an early break with the unexpected success of the short-lived Twin Peaks series, that aired during 1990. It was his role as transvestite Drug Enforcement Agent, Dennis Bryson.that jumpstarted Duchovny’s career, providing a number of small film roles until he hit the motherload in 1993.

Offered the role of stoic journalist, Brian Kessler, in the film cult-thriller film, Kalifornia (which also starred Brad Pitt and Juliet Lewis,) Duchovny finished out his big year by accepting the role that would put him on the television map. When The X-files aired on Fox in 1993, it featured a young FBI agent named Fox Mulder, who on account of his preference for the abnormal and strange, had earned himself the nickname “Spooky” within the agency. Paired with the reasonable Dr. Dana Scully, the two set out to explore unique case investigations with Scully being instructed by an inner-agency group to do everything in her power to debunk her partner’s claims. The series took on a life of its own, running for nine seasons and spawning two box-office films.

After The X-Files, Duchovny continued to appear in a variety of television series, including Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, as well as acting in numerous big screen productions like Evolution and Return to Me.. It wasn’t until 2007, however, that Duchovny made a big comeback as uninspired, sex-crazed novelist, Hank Moody, in the Showtime series, Californication.

During the span of his career, Duchovny won two Golden Globe Awards in the best actor in a television drama category, and was nominated for several others. He was also nominated for four Emmy Awards, two of which for his role as Fox Mulder in The X-Files.

There is no doubt that that with his dry wit, subtle grin and distinctive voice,  Duchovny is one of the sexiest actors television has ever seen, but hands off and back up, ladies. He has been married to actress Tea Leoni since 1997, and together the couple have two children. In August of 2008, Duchovny announced that he was seeking professional help for sexual addiction, which caused waves in the couple’s relationship, but as of fall 2009, Leoni and Duchovny have reconciled and remain married.