| Daniel Duchovny | |
| Birth Name: | Daniel Miller Duchovny |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Danny Ducovny |
| Yearsactive: | 1980–present |
| Father: | Amram Ducovny |
| Relatives: | David Duchovny (brother) West Duchovny (niece) |
| Occupation: | Actor, director[1] |
Daniel Miller Duchovny (known as Danny Ducovny; also credited as Daniel Ducovny) is an actor and a director of commercials.[2]
Duchovny was born in New York City in 1956.[3] He is the son of Amram "Ami" Ducovny (1927–2003), a writer and publicist who worked for the American Jewish Committee, and Margaret "Meg" (née Miller), a school administrator and teacher.[4] [5] He is the first son and the oldest child of three children. He has a younger brother, David (b. 1960) and a younger sister, Laurie (b. 1966).[6] Duchovny's mother is a Scottish immigrant from Whitehills, Aberdeen, Scotland.[7] [8] His father was Jewish, and his mother was Lutheran.[9] [10] [11] [12] His father dropped the h in his last name to avoid the sort of mispronunciations he encountered while serving in the Army.[4] [13] [14] In the Polish language, duchowny means 'clergyman', and in the Ukrainian language it means 'spiritual'. Duchovny's paternal grandfather was a Jewish emigrant from Berdychiv, Ukraine, and Duchovny's paternal grandmother was a Jewish emigrant from Congress Poland (now in Poland).[15] [16] [17] [18]
In 1990, he founded his production company, Cucoloris, with partner Linda Stewart.[19] Before moving into directing commercials and the occasional TV series episode, he had worked on several movies in the camera department.[20]
2008 - "Going Down and Out in Beverly Hills" (Californication episode) - director
1999 - "The Unnatural" - guest appearance in this The X-Files episode, which was written and directed by his brother David
1994 - "You Make Me Want to Wear Dresses" (Red Shoe Diaries episode) - director
1988 - Vibes - New York director of photography
1987 - Tough Guys Don't Dance - additional photographer
1986 - Jumpin' Jack Flash - second unit director of photography
1983 - Lillian Gish - first assistant camera
1982 - - Cameraman
1980 - Missing Persons - director of photography
1980 - Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - camera operator
1980 - We Are the Guinea Pigs - assistant camera and second unit camera operator
... my father being a Russian Jew ....
My relatives are Scottish, so I think my Scottish audience is important. Some are in Glasgow, but my mum's from Aberdeen. I hear it's grey there—like my mum. The name's Russian, but New York is my home. That's where I'm from.
I like that I look like my father and mother put together—that's a Russian Jew and a Scottish Lutheran, and I like that it all looks mixed up. ... I'm sure my nose wasn't an asset until I was David Duchovny. Before that, it was, like, "Yeah, that kind of Jewish-looking guy with the kind of big nose."