Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson

  • Birthday: 1968-08-09
  • Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Also know as: Gillian Leigh Anderson

Biography

Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. Her film work includes The House of Mirth (2000), The Mighty Celt (2005), The Last King of Scotland (2006), and two X-Files films, The X-Files (1998) and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008). Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Rosemary Anderson (née Lane), a computer analyst, and Edward Anderson, who owned a film post-production company.Her father was of English descent, while her mother was of Irish and German ancestry. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months; her family then moved to the United Kingdom where she lived until she was 11 years old. She lived for five years in Rosebery Gardens, Crouch End, London, and for 15 months in Albany Road, Stroud Green, London, so that her father could attend the London Film School. She was a pupil of Coleridge Primary School. When Anderson was 11 years old, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Fountain Elementary and then City High-Middle School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in 1986. Along with other actors (notably Linda Thorson and John Barrowman) Anderson is bidialectal. With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest accent. To this day, her accent depends on her location — for instance, in an interview with Jay Leno she spoke in an American accent, but shifted it for an interview with Michael Parkinson. Anderson was interested in marine biology, but began acting her freshman year in high school productions, and later in community theater, and served as a student intern at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre & School of Theatre Arts. She attended The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago (formerly the Goodman School of Drama), where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990. She also participated in the National Theatre of Great Britain's summer program at Cornell University. Anderson's brother died in 2011 of a brain tumor, at the age of 30. Anderson married her first husband, Clyde Klotz, The X-Files series assistant art director, on New Year's Day, 1994, in Hawaii in a Buddhist ceremony. They had a daughter, Piper Maru (born September 1994), for whom Chris Carter named the X-Files episode of the same name, and divorced in 1997.] In December 2004, Anderson married Julian Ozanne, a documentary filmmaker, on Lamu Island, off the coast of Kenya. Anderson announced their separation on April 21, 2006. Anderson and former boyfriend, Mark Griffiths, have two sons: Oscar, born November 2006 and Felix, born October 2008. She ended their relationship in 2012. In March 2012, Anderson told Out magazine about her past relationship with a girl while in high school. In 1997, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Askmen listed her at No. 6 on their Top 7: '90s Sex Symbols. In 2008, she was listed 21st in FHM's All Time 100 Sexiest Hall of Fame.

Filmography

Playing by Heart

1998

As Meredith

The House of Mirth

2000

As Lily Bart

Straightheads

2007

As Alice

Boogie Woogie

2009

As Jean Maclestone

Room on the Broom

2012

As Witch (voice)

Sold

2016

As Sophia

I'll Follow You Down

2013

As Marika Whyte

No Pressure

2010

As Herself

The Departure

2014

As Blanche DuBois

The Widowmaker

2015

As Narrator

UFO

2018

As Dr. Hendricks

Woolf Works

2017

As Voiceover from a letter by Virginia Woolf (voice)

Three at Once

1986

As Woman 1

A Matter of Choice

1988

As Woman

Scoop

2024

As Emily Maitlis

The Salt Path

0000

As Raynor Winn

The X Files: I Want to Believe

2008

As Dana Scully

The Mighty Celt

2005

As Kate

Johnny English Reborn

2011

As Pamela Thornton ("Pegasus")

Robot Overlords

2014

As Kate

The X Files

1998

As Agent Dana Scully

Viceroy's House

2017

As Edwina Mountbatten

Shadow Dancer

2012

As Kate Fletcher

Mr. Morgan's Last Love

2013

As Karen Morgan

Inside The X-Files

1998

As Herself

Robin Robin

2021

As Cat (voice)

The Last King of Scotland

2006

As Sarah Merrit

Sister

2012

As Kristin Jansen

The Sunlit Night

2020

As Olyana

White Bird

2024

As Vivienne Beaumier

The Turning

1992

As April Cavanaugh

Chicago Cab

1998

As Southside Girl

Crooked House

2017

As Magda Leonides

TRON: Ares

0000

As

The Pale Blue Eye

2022

As Julia Marquis

The Spy Who Dumped Me

2018

As Wendy

The Mighty

1998

As Loretta Lee

Heroes Manufactured

2017

As Self (archive footage)

A Cock and Bull Story

2005

As Widow Wadman / Gillian Anderson

Production

The Departure

2014

As Director

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