David Duchovny hit by ‘so many’ rejections early in career
Opening up about how he was terrible at high-energy sitcom auditions, David Duchovny has admitted he was left reeling by “so many” rejections early in his career.
David Duchovny was left reeling by “so many” rejections early in his career.
The 63-year-old, famed for his role as FBI alien-hunter Fox Mulder in ‘The X-Files’ TV show and film spin-offs, made the admission on his ‘Fail Better’ podcast while talking about how he was desperately chasing parts in auditions.
He said: “I had plenty of those (TV) pilots that I went up for when I was first out in LA and I thought each one was going to be the break.
“I just needed to be able to pay my rent, too. That was an important thing because I just wanted a job.
“When I moved to LA, I didn’t get so many shows. I can’t tell you how many shows I didn’t get.”
One of his biggest blows was failing to land a role on ‘Full House’ after he went up for all three male characters – Danny Tanner (played by Bob Saget), Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier.)
He added: “At first, they had me for, I think, the dad. And then, they had me for the Stamos character.
“And then, they had me for the other guy. I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get one of these, and it’s going to change my life’.”
But he admitted he was terrible at high-energy auditions for sitcoms.
David went on: “I was really bad at that kind of stuff. I did not know how to do that sitcom stuff.
“I don’t know what they were thinking, that they thought I was going to exist in that world.
“I mean, I guess I could have learned, but I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready for that kind of energetic performance that they need.”
It wasn’t until 1993 – aged 33 – that David landed his lead role in ‘The X-Files’, propelling him to global fame, with his work on the show earning him an Emmy award.
