HOT GALLERY: The Truth Is in Here! See What the Stars of the Cult Classic The X-Files Are Doing Today

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William B. Davis as the Cigarette-Smoking Man in The X-Files

Known as the Cigarette Smoking Man until his name was finally revealed (or was it??), CGB Spender was Agent Mulder’s archnemesis (and father—it’s complicated). CSM was a major player in the government conspiracy group known as the Syndicate, whose secrets he ruthlessly protects over the span of the series and the films. At the end of the series run, he goes into remote hiding but finally reveals when aliens plan to invade Earth (in 2012) before he is killed in a missile strike. Or was he?? No, he totally was.

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William B. Davis Today

An internationally respected stage actor, William B. Davis founded his own acting school, The William Davis Centre for Actors Study in Vancouver. He remains an active television guest actor, theater performer, and writer/director for CBC Television.

Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat in The X-Files

Another inside member of the Syndicate, Deep Throat was one of Agent Mulder’s first informants. Deep Throat wanted the work the Syndicate was doing to get out to the public, so he chose Mulder as his conduit to get the truth out there. Unfortunately, Deep Throat met the wrong end of an assassin’s gun for his loose lips.

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Jerry Hardin Today

A longtime respected television actor, Jerry Hardin started his career back in 1960 and has appeared on more than 100 different TV shows. He got a lot of acclaim for his role on The X-Files... and for being the dad of actress Melora Hardin (Jan on The Office).

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Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner in The X-Files

Veteran character actor Mitch Pileggi played FBI assistant director Walter Skinner for the entire run of The X-Files and the two films. The Skinman supervised the FBI teams of Mulder/Scully and then agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes. Initially, Skinner came off as a heavy, but he evolved into an important advocate/wingman for his agents.

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Mitch Pileggi Today

An always-in-demand actor, Mitch Pileggi moved on to many a show after The X-Files, including regular roles on Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Grey's Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy, Medium, and the animated series The Batman, as the voice of Commissioner James Gordon.

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Steven Williams as Mr. X in The X-Files

Mr. X replaced Deep Throat as Mulder’s primary informant. A far more shady and violent character in terms of his motivations, he was very proactive in making sure Mulder wasn’t murdered. Before he’s assassinated, Mr. X connected Fox to his inside intel successor, Marita Covarrubias.

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Steven Williams Today

A busy TV character actor, Steven Williams was best known for his roles on 21 Jump Street and L.A. Heat. After The X-Files, Williams was a recurring actor on The Bernie Mac Show and Supernatural.

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Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files

Marita was an informant mole for Agent Mulder, an operative for the Smoking Man and the Syndicate, as well as a red-hot lover for Krycek. Busy girl! She eventually turns on the Smoking Man and is called to testify at Mulder’s series-end murder trial. Aware that the things she knows could get her killed, she never divulges any key information and is dismissed from the stand.

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Laurie Holden Today

Holden did 10 episodes of The X-Files and was a voice in the The X-Files: Resist or Serve video game, but she’s much better known today for her role as toughened-up undead killer Andrea on the hit zombie drama The Walking Dead.

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Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully in The X-Files

After several roles on the stage, Gillian Anderson moved to Los Angeles in her early 20s to give Hollywood a try. At 24, she landed the shoulder-padded role of super-skeptic FBI special agent Dana Scully. She won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild awards for her portrayal of the strong, stable Scully, who fell in love with her partner, Fox Mulder. Anderson stayed with the show for nine seasons and two movies.

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Gillian Anderson Today

As soon as she left the show, Gillian Anderson went right back to acting in theater and in TV period projects like Bleak House and hosting PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre. She now spends much of her time in England, raising her kids and doing theater, and in Ireland to film the upcoming BBC Two drama The Fall.

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David Duchovny as Fox Mulder in The X-Files

An up-and-coming character actor prior to The X-Files, David Duchovny became a household name playing FBI special agent Fox Mulder, a conspiracy theorist who believed the truth was out there—and he was going to expose it, once he figured out what it was. Duchovny earned a Golden Globe statue and two Emmy nominations for his work. He stayed with the show for eight of the nine seasons and returned for the series finale in 2002 and starred in the two X-Files movies.

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David Duchovny Today

After he left the show, Duchovny dabbled in film acting, directed the film The House of D, and finally went back to TV in 2007 with the Showtime dramedy Californication. Duchovny won a Golden Globe for playing Hank Moody, a sexy but hot mess of a novelist who reluctantly resides in Los Angeles.

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Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek in The X-Files

Alex Krycek began his run on The X-Files as an up-and-coming FBI agent who initially tried to gain Mulder’s trust. It’s quickly revealed that he is actually an undercover agent working for CSM from the inside, and usually doing a pretty terrible job. Dubbed “rat boy” for his easily swayed allegiances, Krycek found himself infected by the alien virus and one arm lighter by the end of season 4. A constant thorn in Mulder’s side throughout the series (like, killing his father), Krycek finally gets it right between the eyes via Skinner’s gun. That deserves a slow handclap.

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Nicholas Lea Today

Nicholas Lea appeared in 25 episodes of The X-Files and has remained busy since the series was canceled, with regular roles on shows like Kyle XY, Whistler, Men in Trees, and V.

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Robert Patrick as John Doggett in The X-Files

When Agent Fox Mulder was abducted by aliens in the show’s eighth season, Agent John Doggett was assigned to the X-Files office as Dana Scully's partner. With Doggett taking the skeptic role and Scully becoming more of the believer, it took a while for the two characters to warm up to each other. They worked together until Scully left to teach at the FBI Academy. He was then paired with Special Agent Monica Reyes.

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Robert Patrick Today

Before The X-Files, Robert Patrick was best known as the T-1000 cyborg from Terminator 2, but his exceptional work as Agent Doggett earned him new acclaim from critics and X-Files fans. After his two seasons on the series, Patrick went back to film work in movies like Ladder 49, Walk the Line, Flags of Our Fathers, and The Men Who Stare at Goats. He also returned to regular TV in The Unit.

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Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes in The X-Files

Special Agent Monica Reyes joined the X-Files team as an expert on satanic cults, mythology, and religious studies. She aided in the search and recovery of Agent Doggett's murdered son years earlier and was brought on to aid in the search for Mulder in season 8. Reyes was made Doggett's partner after Agent Scully left the FBI. You may remember Reyes from her 100 Greatest Whale Songs for Getting Through Labor CD after serenading Scully as she birthed her alien spawn.

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Annabeth Gish Today

Primarily known as a film actress before The X-Files, Annabeth Gish did 23 episodes of the series before it was officially canceled. Afterward, Gish remained more of a TV fixture, doing shows like The West Wing, Brotherhood, Pretty Little Liars, and CSI. She ended up marrying X-Files stuntman Wade Allen.

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Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike in The X-Files

Melvin Frohike is a '60s radical and computer hacker of the the Lone Gunmen trio. Agent Mulder was an avid follower of their theories and would often consult with the trio when investigating cases. Frohike made no bones about his undying love for Scully and liked to throw himself into tricky situations as the “man of action” in the group.

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Tom Braidwood Today

The X-Files series and movie were the highest-profile projects that native Canadian actor Tom Braidwood acted in, however his primary profession is behind the scenes as a first and second assistant director on series such as Millennium, The X-Files, and Da Vinci's Inquest.

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Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers in The X-Files

The most straitlaced and normal-looking of the three Lone Gunmen, John Fitzgerald Byers (named after former President Kennedy) was an ex-PR guy who joined his two colleagues in collecting information on shadow groups and government conspiracies. Byers once said to Mulder, "That's what we like about you, Mulder. Your ideas are even weirder than ours."

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Bruce Harwood Today

The native Canadian actor costarred in the short-lived X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, reprising his role as Byers. After appearing in 36 episodes of The X-Files, Harwood continues to act primarily in Vancouver-based series like Smallville and Supernatural. He also added his voice skills to the video game The X Files: Resist or Serve.

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Dean Haglund as Richard "Ringo" Langly in The X-Files

Essentially the young punk of the Lone Gunmen trio, Langly is the rival computer hacker of Frohike in the group. A huge fan of the Ramones, video games and Dungeons & Dragons role-playing, Langly is the prototypical nerd virgin of the operation.

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Dean Haglund Today

Another native Canadian actor, Dean Haglund is as actual stand-up comedian who costarred in the X-Files series, movie, and spin-off, The Lone Gunmen. He still acts in TV shows and films and hosted the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures. Interestingly enough, Haglund also invented Chill Pak, a product used to externally cool down laptops.

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James Pickens Jr. as FBI Deputy Director Alvin Kersh in The X-Files

FBI deputy director Alvin Kersh was Mulder and Scully’s boss after they were taken off the X-Files (damn you, Spender and Diana Fowley!)—again. He hated when they investigated X-File cases on their own and even attempted to separate them, more to save Scully’s career from the damage that Mulder was inflicting on her reputation. At the end of the series, Kersh was the man who permanently closed the X-Files division, but he also came through for the agents as they fled to safety.

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James Pickens Jr. Today

A popular former soap actor (Another World) and television character actor, Pickens went from The X-Files to playing Dr. Richard Webber, the chief of surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital, on the ABC hit Grey’s Anatomy. Pickens has been a cast member from the first season.