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Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, best known for her roles as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files and Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV series Bleak House. An intelligent and versatile actress, Gillian Anderson forged a career that spanned every medium – from American television and feature films, to the London Stage. A natural blonde, Anderson rose to fame as the no-nonsense redhead FBI agent Dana Scully on the cult sci-fi series, “The X-Files” (FOX, 1993-2002) a role which earned her a multitude of die-hard fans to say nothing of Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 1997, Anderson’s recognition from her creepy hit series provided her with a solid platform from which to branch out into a variety of film and stage work. Exhibiting her full dramatic range, Anderson turned in critically acclaimed performances in the period film, “The House of Mirth” (2000) and the BBC miniseries, “Bleak House” (2005), which earned her more Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. With an obvious love and innate skill for her craft, Anderson established herself an immensely gifted actress – even apart from her beloved characterization of Agent Dana Scully, for which she remained most revered. Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the daughter of Rosemary, a computer analyst, and Edward Anderson, who owned a film post-production company. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months and then to Crouch End and finally Harringay in London, so that her father could attend the London Film 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. Anderson spent her childhood growing up in London’s Stamford Hill and Crouch End neighborhoods while her father studied film production at the London School of Film Technique. As Anderson approached her teen years, her family returned to the U.S, settling down in the radically different Grand Rapids, MI, where her father took up work running a film post-production company, while her mother worked as a computer analyst. While attending City High School in Grand Rapids, Anderson’s interest in acting was sparked when she auditioned for a community play. Though her prior interests had been marine biology and science, Anderson’s childhood transition from England to the U.S. – combined with her dramatic personality – only helped bolster her acting ability. Performing a scene from “Romeo and Juliet” at the age of 14, Anderson began to display a natural talent for acting. With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest one. In addition, she had her nose pierced in the early 1980s and dyed her hair various colors. Her high school classmates voted her as "Most Bizarre," "Class Clown" and "Most Likely to be Arrested." Anderson was also caught trying to jam the high school doors by filling their locks with glue on the eve of her graduation. Anderson found an outlet for her talents when she began acting in high school and community theater productions, even serving as a student intern at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre. She had wanted to be a marine biologist, but began acting instead at 17, with a few roles in various community theatre productions. Anderson 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 studied at the National Theatre of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Anderson moved to New York when she was 22 years old. She began her career in Alan Ayckbourn's play, Absent Friends, at the Manhattan Theatre Club in which Anderson played alongside Brenda Blethyn; she won the 1990-91 Theatre World "Newcomer" Award for her role. Her next theatrical role was in Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. To support herself when she started her career, Anderson worked as a waitress. Anderson moved to Los Angeles in 1992, spending a year auditioning. Although she had once vowed she would never do TV, being out of work for a year changed her mind. Anderson did Home Fires Burning for a cable station, as well as the audio book version of Exit to Eden. She broke into mainstream television in 1993, with a guest appearance on the collegiate drama, Class of '96, on the fledgling Fox Network. Relocating to Los Angeles, Anderson began to audition for television roles, a form of acting she had previously been opposed to pursuing until work became scarce. She made her television debut in an episode of the short-lived collegiate drama, “Class of 96” (FOX, 1993). That same year, Anderson auditioned for the role of Special Agent Dana Scully on the Fox sci-fi series, “The X-Files.” Though she impressed series creator Chris Carter, Fox executives wanted an actress with more “va-va-voom” sex appeal for the lead role. Backed by Carter who was most impressed with the young actress’ convincing read of drawn out medical and scientific dialogue Anderson landed the role and quickly relocated to Vancouver, B.C. to shoot the pilot. On set, Anderson met and began dating assistant art director Clyde Klotz; the pair later wed in Hawaii on New Year’s Day of 1994. Soon, Anderson fearfully broke the news to her series co-workers that she had become pregnant. Not wanting to recast Anderson’s character during the second season, the ever-loyal Carter created an alien abduction storyline that allowed Anderson a short maternity leave and consequently, the deepening of the story and the bond between Scully and her partner, Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). The real-life birth was a blessing in disguise, as it allowed the writers to go crazy with the Scully’s abduction, sending Mulder into a tailspin, which resonated with fans. Trooper that she was, Anderson gave birth to daughter Piper on Sept. 25, 1994 and returned to the set only 10 days later. Fortunately, the majority of her scenes took place in a hospital bed, where she spent most of her time between takes, sleeping. As a result of her guest appearance in Class of 96, Anderson was sent the script for The X Files at the age of 24. She decided to audition because "for the first time in a long time, the script involved a strong, independent, intelligent woman as a lead character." Producer Chris Carter wanted to employ her, but Fox wanted someone with previous TV exposure and greater sex appeal. Fox sent in more actresses, but Carter stood by Anderson, and she was eventually cast as Special Agent Dana Scully. Anderson got the part assuming it would run for 13 episodes, the standard minimum order for American TV networks. Filmed in Vancouver and then in Los Angeles, the series would run for nine seasons, and included one film (1998), and a second film scheduled for release in July 2008. During her time on The X Files, Anderson won several awards for her portrayal of Special Agent Scully, including an Emmy Award, Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for "Best Actress in a Drama Series." While filming, Anderson met assistant art director Clyde Klotz, whom she would eventually marry. Gillian holds the record as the youngest actress - at the age of 29 years old in 1997 - to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Primetime Drama Series Emmy Award since Lindsay Wagner won at the age of 28 in 1977. Anderson had roles in a handful of films during the run of The X-Files and starred in The House of Mirth, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of the same name. Immensely popular with fans – called X-philes – and equally well-received by critics – the conspiracy series put Anderson and her equally sexy co-star Duchovny in the bright spotlight. Though Duchovny was the bigger name at the onset of the show, the relative nobody that was Anderson soon began growing equally important, both in terms of plot and in fan popularity – particularly with the nerdy male set, who adopted her as their intellectual dream girl. The couple’s weekly adventures trying to find the “truth” that was “out there” and the matter of just when the sexually-charged agents would eventually hook up (“never!” – according to Carter) became the water cooler topics du jour. When the two actors posed naked in bed together on the cover of a mid-90s issue of Rolling Stone magazine, fans and critics were atwitter over its suggestive implications. In 1999, Anderson had a supporting role in the English-language release of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, where she voiced the character of Moro. Anderson is a proclaimed lover of Miyazaki's work. She also took part in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. When The X-Files ended, Anderson performed in several stage productions and worked on various film projects. She has participated in narrative work for documentaries on scientific topics. In 2005, she appeared as Lady Dedlock in the BBC television adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House, had a starring role in the Irish film The Mighty Celt (for which she won an IFTA award for Best International Actress) and performed in A Cock and Bull Story, a film version of the novel Tristram Shandy. Landing her first starring role apart from the series, Anderson went on to appear as Lily Bart in the feature film adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth” (2000). Well-received by critics, Anderson’s performance earned her the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. There was even talk of an Oscar nomination, to no avail. But as Anderson relished her success on the big screen apart from Scully, she knew she had to return to the paranormal world of “The X-Files.” Realizing the show was winding down, to everyone’s relief, Duchovny returned to finish out the series in 2002. After nine years, Anderson and Duchovny left the show together – with their characters finally hooking up – both well aware of their places in pop cultural history. In 2006, Anderson was nominated for a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Actress and won the Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Award for Best Actress for her role in Bleak House. Anderson also received an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie" for her performance as Lady Dedlock. Furthermore, she was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Bleak House and came in second place in the Best Actress category of the 2005 BBC Drama website poll for her performance as Lady Dedlock (Billie Piper came in first and Anna Maxwell Martin came in third). However, when Anderson appeared as Lady Dedlock in the BBC production of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House” (2005), she came back in a big way. Her brilliant performance earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and landed her the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress. A year later, Anderson starred opposite Forrest Whitaker in the critically acclaimed drama, “The Last King of Scotland,” which focused on the life of brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. During 2006 and 2007, Anderson appeared in two British films: The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Straightheads (2007). On December 10th, 2007, Anderson began filming the second X-Files movie, slated for a July 2008 release. In December 2007, it was announced that Anderson will host PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. Adding to her rising profile was the reported news that, after several years, Anderson and Duchovny would revive everyone’s favorite paranoid FBI agents with yet another big screen foray into the world of “The X-Files” – shooting in Vancouver, starting December 2008 for a summer 2009 release. In December 2007, it was announced that Anderson will host PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. On New Year's Day 1994, Anderson married Clyde Klotz, The X-Files series assistant art director, on the 17th hole of a golf course in Hawaii as part of a Buddhist ceremony. A few months later came the news that she was pregnant. The X-Files creator, Chris Carter, created an alien abduction storyline that kept Anderson off-camera long enough for labor, delivery and a 10-day maternity leave. Daughter Piper Maru (for whom The X-Files episode, "Piper Maru," was named) was born by caesarean section on September 25, 1994, in Vancouver, Canada. Carter was named her godfather. Anderson is good friends with her fellow co-star on The X-Files, David Duchovny. In 1996, Anderson was voted the "Sexiest Woman in the World" for FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll. The X-Files finished its ninth and final season in May 2002, marking the end of a major period in Anderson's life - she started the show when she was 24 and finished it when she was 34. Anderson's marriage also ended, and she later moved to London. From November 2002 through February 9, 2003, she starred in the Michael Weller play, What the Night is For, in London's West End. In December 2004, Anderson married Julian Ozanne, a documentary filmmaker, in the village of Shella on Lamu, an island off the coast of Kenya. Anderson and Ozanne announced their separation on April 21, 2006, after 16 months of marriage. On November 1, 2006, Anderson and boyfriend Mark Griffiths welcomed a son named Oscar. Anderson provides philanthropic and charitable assistance in the support of finding a cure for neurofibromatosis. She serves as NF, Inc.'s Honorary Spokesperson and is a Patron of the Neurofibromatosis Association (based in the UK). Her support stems from her brother being diagnosed with NF-1. She is also a member of the board of directors for Artists for a New South Africa and a campaigner for Action for Southern Africa. Furthermore, Anderson is an active member of PETA, supporting animal rights. |
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