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.
