"X-Static"
People, February 15, 1999
"Fans assume I'm in on some conspiracy and have hidden knowledge," says Owens (with X-traterrestrial visitors in his LA home).
People, February 15, 1999
"Fans assume I'm in on some conspiracy and have hidden knowledge," says Owens (with X-traterrestrial visitors in his LA home).
While shooting a guest spot on THE X-FILES last year, Chris Owens got his chance to meet David Duchovny. Seizing the opportunity, he invited the star out for a beer. "He just looked at me and had no idea who I was," says Owens. Deadpans Duchovny: "He started acting like he knew me, and I called security."
But Owens's boldness got Duchovny's attention. After watching him in another guest spot, Duchovny last season suggested Owensfor the new role of the nefarious Agent Spender. Owens, 37, got the part, and soon tabloids were heralding him - falsely - as Duchovny's replacement. "I hadn't started work," he says, and I was in the Enquirer." But the reports didn't faze Duchovny, and the two have since grown close.
The son of Toronto jazz musicians - drummer Garry and singer Jeanette - Owens began performing in local theater ("I was always playing a heroin addict for no pay") after high school. He continued acting on the stage and in bit TV parts until he landed his first role on THE X-FILES in 1996. Now reincarnated as Spender, Owens has moved to LA, where he sublets an apartment and chats daily by phone with girlfriend Tara Parker, 27, a Victoria, B.C., law student. Has playing a heavy made a difference in his life? Well, maybe. "People say jokingly, 'We don't want to piss this guy off,'" says Owens. Pause. "At least I think they're joking..."
