You know the face. Even if you haven't watched a single episode of The X-Files since 1998, you can picture him. He sits in the shadows of a windowless office. Smoke curls from a Morly cigarette. He doesn't say much, but he doesn't have to. For a decade, the Cancer Man X-Files actor—whose real name is William B. Davis—was the personification of every dark theory we had about the government. He was the man who killed JFK, the man who hid the aliens, and the man who made Fox Mulder’s life a living hell.
But here is the weird part. William B. Davis wasn't actually an actor when he got the part. Well, he was, but that's not why he was on set. He was a drama coach. He had basically given up on the "starring role" dream to teach others how to do it. Then Chris Carter needed a guy to sit in the background and look ominous. No lines. Just a presence. Davis took the gig, thinking it was a one-off background part.
He didn't speak for the first season. Not a word.
From Background Extra to the Greatest Villain in TV History
It’s actually hilarious when you think about it. Most actors spend their lives practicing monologues and trying to get more lines. Davis became a legend by doing the opposite. He just stood there. But he did it with such a specific, cold intensity that the writers couldn't ignore him. By the time they decided to give him a script, he had already become the show's primary antagonist.
Davis is a Canadian actor with a massive theater background. He's not some Hollywood slicker. He’s a guy who trained at the National Theatre School of Canada. He spent years directing plays. When he finally started talking as "C.G.B. Spender," the Cigarette Smoking Man (or CSM), he brought this Shakespearean weight to a show about little green men.
The irony of his character is thick. The Cigarette Smoking Man is defined by his habit. He's literally named after the thing that’s killing him. But in real life? William B. Davis hadn't smoked in twenty years when he got the role. He had to smoke herbal cigarettes because the real ones made him sick. Imagine being the most famous smoker on the planet while secretly being a fitness-obsessed water skier who hated tobacco.
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Why the Cancer Man X-Files actor matters in 2026
We live in an era of "prestige TV" now. We have Succession and The Bear. But back in the 90s, villains were usually cartoonish. They laughed maniacally. They had capes. Davis changed that. He played the Cancer Man as a tired bureaucrat. He wasn't evil because he liked hurting people; he was evil because he thought he was the only one smart enough to manage the chaos of the world.
There’s a specific episode—"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"—that is widely considered one of the best hours of television ever produced. It’s mostly a solo performance by Davis. We see him as a failed novelist. We see him as a lonely guy eating a frozen dinner. It humanized a monster. That’s the nuance Davis brought. He made you feel, for a split second, sorry for the guy who was actively suppressing the truth about the universe.
The Real William B. Davis: More Than a Shadow
If you met Davis today, you’d probably be shocked. He’s incredibly articulate, a staunch skeptic, and a competitive water skier. Seriously. He has broken records in his age group. He’s the guy who wrote Where There’s Smoke..., a memoir that dives deep into what it’s like to be recognized in every airport in the world for a character you didn't even have a name for during the first year of production.
He’s also a director. He founded the William Davis Centre for Actors’ Study. He cares about the craft. It's funny because his character on The X-Files despised the "common man," but Davis himself has spent his life trying to help common people become great artists.
Misconceptions About the Character and the Actor
People always ask: Did he really believe in aliens?
No.
Davis is a vocal atheist and a skeptic. He’s actually been a guest at many skeptical inquiry conferences. He thinks the paranormal is fascinating as fiction, but he’s not out there looking for UFOs in his backyard. This creates a brilliant tension in his performance. He’s playing a man who knows the "truth" is out there, while the actor himself thinks the truth is much more grounded in science and logic.
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Another big one: Was he supposed to be Mulder's father from the start?
Honestly, the writers were making it up as they went. Chris Carter has admitted that the mythology of The X-Files was a bit of a moving target. The "father" reveal was something that grew out of the chemistry between Davis and David Duchovny. It wasn't some grand plan from the pilot. It worked because Davis played the character with a strange, paternal disappointment.
Key Lessons from the Career of William B. Davis
What can we actually learn from a guy who spent years playing a chain-smoking conspirator? Quite a bit about longevity and the "overnight success" myth.
- Patience is a weapon. Davis didn't get his big break until he was in his 50s. Most people in the industry give up by 30. He stayed in the game, focused on teaching, and let the opportunity find him.
- Presence over prose. Sometimes, doing less is doing more. His silence in Season 1 made the audience lean in. If he had come out swinging with big speeches in episode two, we would have been bored.
- Health vs. Image. You don't have to be your character. You can play a dying smoker and be a world-class athlete. Don't let your job define your physical reality.
Actionable Takeaways for X-Files Fans and Aspiring Actors
If you're looking to dive deeper into the work of the Cancer Man X-Files actor, don't just stop at the TV show.
First, go watch his early Canadian theater work if you can find archives. It shows a completely different range. Second, read his book. It's one of the few celebrity memoirs that actually feels like it was written by the person on the cover. It’s witty, slightly cynical, and very honest about the mechanics of fame.
For those of you into the technical side of acting, look up his "Verbatim" technique. He’s a proponent of a very specific way of learning lines that prioritizes the internal thought process over the external emotion. It’s why his delivery as the Smoking Man felt so inevitable. He wasn't "acting" sinister; he was thinking sinister thoughts, and his face just followed along.
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Finally, if you’re a fan of the show's lore, re-watch the series but focus only on his eyes. In the early seasons, notice how he never blinks when he’s on camera. It was a conscious choice to make the character feel slightly non-human. It’s those tiny, granular details that turn a background extra into a cultural icon.
Check out the William Davis Centre if you're ever in Vancouver. Even if you aren't an actor, seeing where he taught gives you a sense of the man behind the Morley cigarettes. He isn't a villain. He’s a teacher who happened to be very, very good at playing a god.
To really understand the impact, you have to look at how many villains have tried to copy him since. The "Man in the Suit" trope became a cliché because Davis did it so well that it became the gold standard. But nobody ever quite matched that specific mix of weariness and power. He looked like a man who had seen everything and found it all incredibly disappointing. That’s a hard vibe to fake.
If you want to support his current work, look for his appearances in independent Canadian films. He still works constantly. He doesn't need the money; he just loves the work. That’s probably the most important thing to know about him. He was never in it for the "Cigarette Smoking Man" fame. He was in it for the craft. The fame was just a side effect of being the best person for the job.
Stop looking for the truth in the shadows and start looking at the technique. That’s where the real magic of William B. Davis lives.
Next Steps for the Deep Diver
- Watch the "Talitha Cumi" episode (Season 3, Episode 24). It features a verbal showdown between Davis and a character playing a healer. It's basically a masterclass in dialogue-heavy tension.
- Compare the 1990s run to the 2016 revival. You can see how Davis aged the character. He didn't try to play the "young" version of himself; he leaned into the frailty, which made the character even scarier.
- Track down his guest spots in Stargate SG-1 or Smallville. Seeing him in other sci-fi universes helps you appreciate how much of the "Smoking Man" was him, and how much was the writing.
Davis proves that you don't need the lead role to own the show. You just need to be the most interesting thing in the frame.