Gillian Anderson

Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an American actress, best known for her role as FBI Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files.

Life and career

She was born in Chicago to Edward and Rosemary Anderson; soon after her birth her family moved to Puerto Rico for fifteen months and then to Crouch End in London. When she was eleven, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended City Middle/High School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities. With her English accent and background, she felt out of place in the American Midwest, and developed a reputation as a strong-willed and rebellious teenager. She had her nose pierced in the early 1980s, dyed her hair various colors, and was once arrested for gluing the locks of the school closed.

She found an outlet for her talents when she began acting in high school and community theater productions. She attended Goodman Theater School of Drama at DePaul University in Chicago, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990.

Following some professional stage work, she "broke into" television. In 1993, she had a guest appearance on the collegiate drama Class of '96 on the fledgling Fox Network, and auditioned for the role of Dana Scully on The X-Files. There she met assistant art director Clyde Klotz, whom she married and with whom she had a daughter, Piper Maru, in 1994. (An alien-abduction storyline explained her brief absence from the series for delivery.) Anderson and Klotz later divorced. She 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.

Since The X-Files ended, she has performed in several stage productions and worked on various film projects. She has also done narrative work for documentaries on scientific topics, in which the voice listeners recognize as "Agent Scully" lends an air of credible authority to the material. In 2005 she appeared as Lady Dedlock in a BBC television adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House and she recently completed work on a film version of the novel Tristram Shandy, due to be released later in the year. In December 2004, Anderson married longtime partner Julian Ozanne, a documentary filmmaker, on Lamu's island of Shella, off the coast of Africa.

Filmography

Anderson as "Lily Bart" in The House of Mirth (2000)The Last King of Scotland (Filming; to be released 2006), as "Sara Zach"
Straightheads (Announced - unknown release date)
Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life (Announced - unknown release date)
Bleak House as "Lady Honoria Dedlock"
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
The Mighty Celt (2005), as "Kate"
The House of Mirth (2000), as "Lily Bart"
Mononoke Hime (1997), aka Princess Mononoke (English language version, 1999), voice, as "Moro"
Playing by Heart (1998), as "Meredith"
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998), as "Dana Scully"
The Mighty (1998), as "Loretta Lee"
Chicago Cab, aka Hellcab (1998), as "Southside Girl" (or "Brenda")
The Turning (1992), as "April Cavanaugh"
A Matter of Choice (1988), B&W student production
Three at Once (1986), B&W student production, as "Woman 1"

List of Stage Appearances

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The Sweetest Swing in Baseball (2004). World premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London.
What The Night Is For (2002-11-07 to 2003-02-09). This play ran at the Comedy Theatre in London, and was Anderson's West End debut.
The Vagina Monologues (1999)-(2000)
The Philanthropist (1992).
Absent Friends (1991). Long Wharf Theater. Won a Theatre World Award for Best Performance.
A Zoo Story (1986)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1983). City High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan, two performances, as "Officer Brophy".

Trivia

There exist over 180 fake nude and pornographic images of her; only one of which (a nipple-slip at an awards ceremony) has been proven genuine. She has been quoted as saying she doesn't mind: "It's just people getting their rocks off."
Performed nude alongside co-star David Duchovny in the X-Files episode "One Son".
The X-Files episode "Piper Maru" is named after her child, Piper.
X-Files director, creator, writer and actor Chris Carter is godfather to her child.
Her favourite X-Files episodes are "Triangle" and "Bad Blood."
She wrote and directed the X-Files episode "all things."
Her eyes are blue-green, and her original hair color is ash-blonde.
Favourite movie is said to be "Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers"
Tattoos include a Tahitian tribal symbol on the inside of her right ankle, the words "every day" in Sanskrit on her right wrist, and a "P" on her left hip (presumably for daughter Piper)
As stated in an X-Files commentary, she is allergic to cats.
She compiled a collection of Electronica music inspired by Future Fantastic, entitled Future: A Journey Through The Electronic Underground. She even contributed vocals to one track, Extremis, with music by HAL.