David Duchovny has been on our screens for more than thirty years, and has appeared in an array of productions, from science fiction to romcoms, from indie dramas to horror. Here are ten of his best performances.
10. Phantom
While hardly attaining the heights of The Hunt for Red October, Kathryn Bigelow’s Harrison Ford vehicle K-19: The Widowmaker, or even Crimson Tide, this 2013 Cold War submarine thriller is amiable if lightweight fare. Duchovny and co-star Ed Harris do everything asked of them as Zubov and Bruni, a Soviet sub captain and a KBG agent respectively, whose paths cross in an outlandish plot involving a top secret sonar device, but the story is as far-fetched as it sounds, and the movie bombed at the box office.
9. The X-Files (1998)
Neither of the two X-Files movies were runaway successes, but the 1998 film is by some distance the more watchable of the two. Duchovny co-stars with Gillian Anderson on a chase around the world to discover evidence of a planned alien colonization of Earth. William B. Davis and John Neville return from the TV series as the Cigar-Smoking Man and the Well-Manicured Man respectively.
8. Evolution
Ivan Reitman’s 2001 sci-fi comedy has acquired something of a cult status that belies the lukewarm critical response at the time. Duchovny stars alongside Orlando Jones, Julieanne Moore, and The Silence of the Lambs‘ Ted Levine as Dr. Ira Kane, who discovers a meteorite filled with microorganisms that can evolve at a terrifying rate. Duchovny’s timing is as impeccable as ever, but the lowest-common-denominator gags wear thin after a while.
7. Aquarius
This overlooked crime drama aired for two seasons on NBC before being canceled in 2016. Duchovny is right at home as Hodiak, a detective with the LAPD who roams 1967 Los Angeles in pursuit of Charles Manson. As an evocation of southern California at the height of the counterculture, Aquarius is solid and believable, and Gethin Anthony is suitably perverse as Manson.
6. House of D
Critics lambasted this coming-of-age comedy-drama as a vanity project for Duchovny, who wrote and directed. But the cast includes some heavy hitters, such as Frank Langella, Robin Williams, and a 13-year-old Anton Yelchin, who would make his name just a few years later as Chekhov in the Star Trek reboot. Duchovny is as watchable as ever, but despite a promising premise, the film never quite takes flight.
5. Things We Lost In The Fire
This 2007 Sam Mendes-produced drama sees Duchovny star opposite Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. Berry plays Audrey, whose family life with Brian (Duchovny) and their son is shattered when Brian is killed attempting to protect a woman from a beating by her husband. Duchovny appears in flashbacks as Audrey tries to rebuild her life with the help of Brian’s school friend and heroin addict Jerry (Del Toro).
4. Twin Peaks
Duchovny got in on David Lynch’s seminal drama during its second season, when story issues and scheduling problems put the show on the fast track to cancellation. But Duchovny’s turn as Denise, a transgender DEA officer complete with big hair, mascara, and ruby red lipstick, was one of the season’s highlights. Duchovny briefly reprised the role for the 2017 revival.
3. What Happens Later
After an almost decade-long absence from film, Duchovny returned in 2020, appearing in a slew of low-energy romcoms and comedy-dramas that underperformed critically and at the box office. This year’s What Happens Later represents a return to form for both Duchovny and his co-star Meg Ryan, who also directs.
2. Californication
Duchovny followed his stint on The X-Files with this long-running, Emmy Award-winning Showtime drama. Duchovny bagged a Golden Globe for his performance as Hank Moody, Hollywood’s most dissolute novelist, whose constant binging on drink and drugs and wayward sex life provides all of the thrills and spills.
1. The X-Files
Duchovny’s double act with Gillian Anderson as the paranormal-obsessed half of FBI duo Mulder and Scully was required viewing in the 1990s, and although the episodic formula meant that some of the more lurid “monster of the week” stories have long since passed their sell-by date, the more serious episodes, the ambitious story arcs, and above Duchovny’s effortless chemistry with Anderson remains as watchable and compelling today as it was then.