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David Duchovny Auditioned to Play the Male Leads on Full House : 'I Was Wrong for Every Single One'

David Duchovny
David Duchovny

Matthew Eisman/Getty

The cast of Full House could have looked a bit different.

When David Duchovny appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Monday, he opened up about the roles he previously lost out on over the years, including the three male leads on the family-friendly sitcom.

"You tried out for every male character of Full House," host Ellen DeGeneres said, to which Duchovny, 61, confirmed as being true.

"Yeah, I tried out for Full House, for, I think, all three of them," he said before joking, "and the little girls."

Duchovny revealed the series of auditions had occurred early in his Hollywood experience.

RELATED: Candace Cameron Bure Shares Pics of Night She and Her Full House Costars First Met Her Husband

"It was my first time out in L.A., and they brought me out for different shows," he recalled. "I ended up with the Full House stuff, and they just kept on trying to plug me into different characters. And clearly, I was wrong for every single one."

The parts eventually went to Bob Saget (Danny Tanner), John Stamos (Uncle Jesse) and Dave Coulier (Uncle Joey). But it all worked out for Duchovny in the end as he went on to find major success playing FBI agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files, which premiered in 1993 and ran for 11 seasons.

David Duchovny on Ellen
David Duchovny on Ellen

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Duchovny previously opened up about not landing the Full House gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, calling it a "great disappointment."

"I was auditioning for every show that would have me. Right before [The X-Files], I had great disappointment because I had auditioned for Full House," he said in 2018. "I had actually auditioned for all three parts. They could not figure out how to use me."

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Asked by host Jimmy Kimmel whether he really wanted the opportunity, Duchovny — who was a struggling actor at the time — joked he "wanted to eat."

"I would go home and I'd get the call, 'You're not that guy. Go in for this guy,'" he said, noting it happened twice more.

FULL HOUSE
FULL HOUSE

ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty

Full House ran for eight seasons on ABC between 1987 to 1995. Created by Jeff Franklin, the beloved series followed a widowed dad of three (Saget) as he raised his children with the help of his brother-in-law (Stamos) and his best friend (Coulier).

Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Lori Loughlin and Andrea Barber were also featured in the cast.

A sequel series, Fuller House, later aired for five seasons on Netflix between 2016 to 2020.