THE X FILES star says it was his Scottish mother who set him on the road to success on screen, in music and as a novelist.
HE IS one of the world’s most sought-after TV actors – and David Duchovny credits his Scottish work ethic for his success.
Duchovny, who found fame in the 90s as Fox Mulder in Chris Carter’s long-running X-Files television series, says his mum’s Highland roots rubbed off on him growing up in New York.
Meg Miller, a school administrator and teacher, emigrated from Aberdeenshire and fell in love with writer and publicist Amram Duchovny.
Meg drummed into their son the working-class values that stood him in good stead.
Before heading to Scotland to perform a music concert, Duchovny said: “I’m very much looking forward to coming to Scotland.
“I have roots there. Because my mother is Scottish, it is always special when I get to go.
“She is from nearby Aberdeen. She is actually not even from the city.
“She is from a little town called Whitehills and, well, you can imagine.
“She’s Scottish and I don’t think she’d ever let me forget that. Scottish people aren’t shy about telling people that they’re Scottish and what it means.
“My mother grew up without money and valued hard work and education.
“I got the sense of being an underdog and working hard and not expecting life to give you any handouts.
“She prepared me for the struggle.
“She had an amazing work ethic and instilled it in me.”
His X-Files success, which began in 1993 and saw him star alongside Gillian Anderson, has been followed up with leading television roles.
He played sex addict and troubled novelist Hank Moody in Californication and had the role of detective Sam Hodiak in Charles Manson drama Aquarius.
Duchovny is also one of the original cast returning for the revival of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks TV series.
Due in 2017, the Primetime episodes will see him reprise his role as a transvestite DEA agent.
Duchovny is also an author, having recently released his second novel Bucky F*****g Dent.
It’s the tale of a man who looks after his dying father while trying to convince him that the Boston Red Sox are going to win the 1978 World Series.
Duchovny will be performing at Glasgow’s ABC next Thursday.
The show, which sees him backed by the band The Weather, will feature songs from his 2015 soft rock album Hell or Highwater.
He said: “I don’t get over to Europe that often and I haven’t been back to Scotland since we did the premiere of Return To Me, which was probably in 2001.
“It’s been a long time. I don’t know that I’ll do any sightseeing or even get out of Glasgow, but it’s enough for me to just be there.
“I kind of wish I was bringing my kids, but they’re still in school at this point.
“I don’t know that I will be able to see much of the country because after we have our concert in Glasgow, we are heading to London and then over to Europe from there.”
Duchovny turned his hand to songwriting after learning to play guitar six years ago.
It was a surprise for many of the fans, but music has always been a passion for him.
“It just really became a different experience for me when I took up playing guitar,” he said.
“It was a matter of entertaining myself and I just kind of took to it. I found that rock ’n’ roll was simple. It’s not easy but there are some basic chord structures that are all over rock ’n’ roll.
“I thought I could put this stuff together and that if I could hear melodies, I could write lyrics. One thing led to another and I found people who were willing to lend me their expertise.
“Brad Davidson put the album together and The Weather are amazing musicians.
“I couldn’t go out there alone. These guys hold me up.”
The album has shades of Neil Young, REM and Jayhawks.
Duchovny said: “That’s the music I love. Those are the influences but unconsciously.
“I never set out to imitate anybody because I never thought I would record a song.
“I’m just playing the music I love.”
So is he ready to play to a room full of potentially inebriated Scots in one of the world’s greatest music cities?
“Since you put it that way, not at all,” he laughed. “But, yeah, I feel pretty relaxed. We’re playing music that we think sounds good.
“I’m telling stories in the songs that I think are worth listening to.
“It’s music. It’s not rocket science.”
Duchovny is aware that some people see his music and writing as vanity projects.
But the actor, who has a degree in English literature from Yale University, says that’s not the case.
He added: “I don’t know why anybody would be irritated by anybody trying to bring beauty into the world by being creative.
“I don’t understand that point of view. I get it when people say, ‘Stick to what you do.’ That seems to be a human reaction but the truth is writing is what I think I do.
“Acting just kind of happened for me and this is a return to what I do. It’s how I would have imagined my life going.
“If you had asked me what my life would have been like when I was 20, I would have envisaged myself writing in some way.”
Speaking about the title of the novel, which Duchovny agrees could make internet searches a little risky because of the F word, Duchovny said: “If you can’t say it in Scotland, where can you say it?
“The difficulty is in advertising it, really. There have been best-sellers with f*** in the title.
“There is a children’s bestseller called Go The F*** To Sleep. It has charming lullabies that end with, ‘Now, go the f*** to sleep’ and it’s still on the bestseller lists. So it can happen.
“I just feel the whole story stems from that phrase. It seemed right and funny to me.”
Having returned to The X-Files with a new six-part series with Anderson as Dana Scully, Duchovny revealed there could be future episodes out there.
He said: “We’re talking about doing more. We’ll see what happens. It’s all a matter of scheduling for Gillian and Chris Carter and I.
“Whenever you have a huge success like X-Files, it is a happy accident.
“But at that point I had committed to acting, as I have for the last 25 to 30 years.
“It was an accident but I did apply my Scottish mother’s work ethic to my craft.”
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