He also caused a stir as a transvestite detective in Twin Peaks.
With his teasing motto The Truth Is Out There, The X Files
centres around
two FBI agents with a mission to explain the unexplicable.
TV's most remarkable phenomenon started by being pretty weird and
has grown
progressively weirder. The show has taken flying saucers and aliens
who spout
green, corrosive blood out of comic stip territory - making science
fiction
terrifyingly believable - and mixed it with a detective story complete
with
action, murder and killer viruses.
The adventures of Splcial Agents Mulder and his brainy, capable
partner, Dana
Scully, played by Gillian Anderson, were such a success they astouded
almost
everyone associated with it, even David, 35, who did not think it
would run for
more than one series. "I thought since it was about UFOs and aliens,
it would
only be good for about five or six episodes. But gradually it was
expanded to
deal with all the unexplainable phenomena and so was able to develop
into
something with a much longer self life," he says
"When i saw one episode was about a serial killer with green eyes
who ate
the liver of his victims, I knew we were in buisness.
Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg is one of The X Files many
celebrity
fans demanding to make a guest appearence in the show. Famous British
fans
include Jonathan Ross and his wife Jane, who is so obsessed that she
spent three
and a half months intesivley writing The X Files, Book Of The
Unexplained,
Volume One.
Such is the success of the show that the book is now No 3 in the
best-seller
list.
And two X files adventures and an official X Files guide have become
best-sellers for publisher HaperCollins. The latest yarn is Ground
Zero,
currently at No 13 in the top 20 hardback fiction titles
All has turned David and Gillian into big stars. But the price of
fame has
been high for David.
He has just split up from his girlfriend of two years, actress
Perrey Reeves.
Speaking for the firts time about their broken romance, he says they
simply
spent too much time apart: the show is filmed in Vancouver; Perrey
lives in Los
Angeles.
He admits to being tempted by other women while away, and says: "I
found it
difficult to be monogamous. There is so much temptation as an actor. I
was just
not ready to settle down." His new-found status in one of the world's
most
popular TV shows has opened doors for him that previously remained
firmly shut.
During a recent trip home to Los Angeles, he was asked to read a
script by
Steven Spielberg.
"It was a bit like meeting the most beautiful girl in the world, and
pretending you're not interested.
"I was playing it cool when he came up to me and said he'd watched
every
episode of The X Files, at which point I melted and rushed to phone
the show's
producer Chris Carter.
"I said, 'Hey, guess what?Splieberg's seen every episode, he thinks
it's
great'."
Born in New York, David's mother is from Aberdeen. He says she
instilled in
him a Scottish, down-to-earth approach to lifewhich prevents him from
becoming
to impressed by stardom.
"Ghe always made sure none of her kids got carried away. When
anything bad
happened to us when we were growing up, she'd always say 'well, it's
better than
a stane a'hind the lug'."
His real ambition was a basket ball star for his beloved New York
Knicks, but
that dream ended when he stopped growing at 6ft. However, David is
certainly no
himbo. Before turning to acting he gained a degree in Englsih at
Princeton and
was studying for a Phd at Yale University when thr lure of acting
finally proved
irresistible. Yet his early forays into acting left him doubting if he
had made
the right choice.
David says: "I would hope that it rremains where it is. Having a
professional
working relationship with a woman is much more interesting. It's very
easy to
just jump into bed. That doesn't take much imagination.
"We are very wary of the fact that at any moment the other can turn
into a
psycotic human being because of the demands that are put on us; the
16-hour
days.
"Working with Gillian is more like a marriage. We have our good days
and our
bad days and we just have to work through it." Gillian, 27, admits
their
relationship is close enough for David to be the first person on The X
Files set
whom she confided in after learning she was pregnant.
Her daughter Piper, now 15 months old, was conceived on her wedding
day. She
met and fell in love with production designer Clyde Klotz within six
months of
starting the first series.
She feared being written out of the show. The attractive but
decidely
unglamorous Gillian, had not been the first choice of the show's
bosses as
Scully. They had wanted a blonde, leggy bimbo, not a petite
redhead.
"Having a baby was the right decision for my husband and me," says
Gillian.
"But I was worried about my future."
However, producer Chris Carter, driving force behind The X Files,
fought to
keep Gillian. His battle was paid off. Scully and Mulder, as far as
fans are
concerned, are now inseparable, while remaining as different as chalk
and
cheese.
The truth, they are still convinced, is out there. But X Files
aficiados are
hoping they will not find it for many years to come.