Carter, Chris

▪ 1998

      "The truth is out there." This enigmatic mantra appeared in the opening credits and was silently implied throughout each episode of Chris Carter's Emmy award-winning science-fiction television series "The X-Files." The series, which was filmed in Vancouver, B.C., debuted in 1993, and by 1997 it had become an international sensation. The story line followed two FBI agents who investigated paranormal activity and other bizarre phenomena. Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny) was the believer, haunted by childhood memories of his sister's abduction by aliens and driven to find what he believed to be the truth. His partner, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), was a doctor and pathologist whose practical, scientific approach usually led her to play the devil's advocate and keep Mulder terrestrially grounded.

      The program won immediate cult status, and many of the series' fans were tireless in their attempts to decode every detail—such as the meaning of some cryptic episode titles or the significance of Mulder's apartment number (42)—in an effort to piece together the ultimate truth behind the mystery that lingered on at the end of each episode. Although critics of the show expressed concern over its unhealthy effect on impressionable minds, Carter, the program's creator and executive producer, said that by bringing together those things that haunt the minds of the paranoid—conspiracy theories, alien abductions, government cover-ups, espionage, murder—he was able to "scare you in a smart way that makes you think and question."

      Carter was born on Oct. 13, 1957, in Bellflower, Calif., a blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles. In 1979 he graduated from California State University at Long Beach with a degree in journalism and took a job as associate editor for Surfing magazine. During his five years there, Carter tried his hand at screenwriting. A script about three young men going off to Vietnam never made it to the big screen, but it encouraged him to write a second script—this time a comedy. Although that too was a failure, it brought him to the attention of Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was then chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Katzenberg hired him as a writer for "The Disney Sunday Movie," and Carter's interests switched from movies to television.

      In 1995 Carter received an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing in a dramatic series for "The X-Files" episode "Duane Barry." In 1996 he created another series, "Millennium," in which a member of the mysterious Millennium Group investigated more earthly, yet still frightening, crimes and other weird phenomena supposedly arising as the world approached the new millennium.

      At year-end 1997, fans could access the official X-Files Web site or read The X-Files Official Magazine. Finally, they could anticipate the 1998 release of The X-Files film, which promised to shed some light on at least a few of Carter's mysteries. "The truth is out there." "Trust no one."

MARIA OTTOLINO RENGERS

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