Prep-Hep

He didn't hit Hollywood until he'd received a double dose of Ivy League credentials (Princeton and Yale) in English literature. Now David Duchovny's intellectual charm is defining him as a thinking woman's sex symbol. But his role choices defy labeling. A veteran of two Henry Jaglom films, the actor went "mainstream" as Twin Peaks' leggy transvestite detective. Next he juggles roles in Fine Line's The Rapture, Propaganda's Ruby, and Ivan Reitman's Beethoven. Duchovny didn't act until after college because he "didn't want to be exposed," but his schoolteacher mother's reaction to his Peaks appearance in a skirt finally set his mind at ease. "I called her and the first thing she said was 'You looked thin.' "

SHERYL LONGIN