David William Duchovny ( duu-KOV-nee; born (1960-08-07)August 7, 1960) is an American actor, writer, director and musician. He received his breakthrough with the role of Fox Mulder in The X-Files franchise (1993–2002, 2016–2018) receiving international fame and earning a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and five Actor Awards. He received another Golden Globe for his portrayal of Hank Moody on the television series Californication (2007–2014). He also had a recurring role in the Twin Peaks franchise (1990–1991, 2017) as transgender DEA agent Denise Bryson. He executive-produced and starred in the historically based cop drama Aquarius (2015–2016). He wrote, directed and starred in the 2004 coming-of-age comedy House of D, which also starred Robin Williams, Téa Leoni and Anton Yelchin. His film work includes a starring role alongside Brad Pitt in Kalifornia (1993) and minor roles in the coming-of-age black comedy Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991), and the family comedy Beethoven (1992). In 1992, he also played Roland Totheroh in the biographical comedy-drama Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. In the 2000s, he starred in Return to Me with Minnie Driver (2000), Evolution with Orlando Jones (2001), Connie and Carla with Nia Vardalos (2004), and The Joneses with Demi Moore (2009). Duchovny holds a B.A. in English literature from Princeton University, and an M.A. in English literature from Yale University, and has published five books: Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale (2015), Bucky F*cking Dent (2016), Miss Subways (2018), Truly Like Lightning (2021), and The Reservoir (2022).