[Flash] How X-Files David Duchovny Changed his Career after Job Shadowing

But he never intended to be an actor. In fact, he wasn’t in theater in high school, never went to Broadway shows growing up, and didn’t even know any actors.

Instead, David chose the path to become a college professor, earning an English degree from Princeton and entering the PhD program at Yale.

So, what happened?

David became restless. He was 22, sitting in a Yale library reading all day.

As he recalls, the last time he felt alive was when he was playing sports. He wanted to recapture that joy—he missed the collaboration, tension, and excitement.  

He wanted more life in his life.

So, David went exploring.

Hoping to hang out with people again, he dabbled with writing plays. And Yale’s drama school allowed him to sit in on—shadow!—writing classes. There, he drifted in and out, meeting interesting people.

Soon, some students asked David to join their production. He justified, “Heck, if I’m going to write plays or screenplays, I should probably experience what it’s like to say the words.”

And with that, a paradigm shift occurred. Acting introduced David to a sea of reactivity, emotions, and expressions, a stark contrast to academic pondering and brooding.

While he continued to teach at Yale for the next three years, David explored this newfound passion by taking acting classes twice a week in New York City. Following a gut instinct, he dropped out of his PhD program (a dissertation shy) and moved to California to pursue a career in acting.

From there, David’s career became an iterative journey for six years until he landed the lead in The X-Files, transforming his passion into a profession.

That’s the power of job shadowing!

David’s dabbling, observing, and experiencing informed his career path.

Job shadowing is a mentoring conversation in action. It’s not about changing careers; it’s about leveraging exposure and experience to better guide our choices.

• With informational interviews, we discover someone’s job through inquiry.
• With job shadowing, we experience their job through observation and participation.

Through the unique exposure to someone’s role, we expand our perspective by witnessing theirs. 

If you’re feeling restless or stuck, step into a new mentoring conversation at the intersection of connection, curiosity, and contemplation.

© 2024. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.