Gillian Anderson, Actress, - Biography
Born August 9, 1968, Chicago, Illinois,
United States
Height 5 ft 2.5 in - 159 cm
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an Emmy & Golden
Globe Award-winning American actress, best known for her roles as FBI Agent Dana
Scully in the American TV series The X-Files & Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV
series Bleak House.
Anderson was born in Chicago to Edward & Rosemary Anderson.
Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for fifteen months &
then to Crouch End in London so her father could attend the London Film School.
When she was eleven, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan,
where she attended Fountain Elementary & then City Middle/High School, a program
for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in
1986. With her English accent & background, she felt out of place in the American
Midwest, & developed a reputation as a strong-willed & rebellious teenager.
Anderson, mocked because of her British accent, soon developed a Midwest dialect.
In addition, she had her nose pierced in the early 1980s, & dyed her hair
various colors.
She found an outlet for her talents when she began acting in high school & community theater productions. She had wanted to be a marine biologist, but at 17 after a couple of auditions for the Grand Rapids Community Theater, she gained a few roles & never looked back. She attended Goodman Theater School of Drama at DePaul University in Chicago, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990, & a few summer schools with the National Theatre of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Anderson moved
to New York when she was twenty-two, & started her career in Alan Ayckbourn's
play Absent Friends at the Manhattan Theatre Club where she played alongside Brenda
Blethyn. For this role she won a 1990-91 Theatre World "Newcomer" Award.
Her next theatrical role was in Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist at the
Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT. To support herself when she started out,
she worked as a waitress.
She 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.
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 who was more "bimbo-like". Fox sent in more actresses, but Carter stood by Anderson, & she was cast as Special Agent Dana Scully. She got the part assuming it would run for thirteen episodes, the standard run for American TV networks. Filmed in Vancouver, the series eventually ran for nine seasons, & included one film. During her time on The X Files, Anderson won several awards for her portrayal of Agent Scully, including an Emmy Award, Golden Globe, & two SAG awards for Best Actress in a Drama Series. While filming she met assistant art director Clyde Klotz, whom she married. She had roles in a handful of films during the run of The X-Files & 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 & worked on various film projects. She has also done narrative work for documentaries on scientific topics. In 2005, she appeared as Lady Dedlock in a 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) & performed in A Cock & Bull Story, a film version of the novel Tristram Shandy.
In 1999, Anderson starred in the English 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.
In 2006, she was nominated for a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Actress & won the Broadcasting Press Guild Television & Radio Award for Best Actress for her role in Bleak House. However, her co-star in Bleak House, Anna Maxwell Martin, walked away with the BAFTA. Anderson also received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her performance as Lady Dedlock. She was also nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for her performance in Bleak House & came in second place in the best actress category of the 2005 BBC Drama website poll for her performance as Lady Dedlock. (Billie Piper won, & Anna Maxwell Martin came in third.) She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Bleak House.
She also appears in the movie The Last King of Scotland released
in late 2006 & the movie Straightheads, due for an April 2007 release.
As
a teenager, Anderson has been said to have dyed her hair purple & , in her
mid-teens, dated a twenty-year-old musician.
On New Year's Day 1994, Anderson married Clyde Klotz, the The X-Files series assistant art director, on the 17th hole of a golf course in Hawaii in a Buddhist ceremony. A few months later came the news that she was pregnant, & Chris Carter created an alien abduction storyline that kept Anderson off-camera long enough for labor, delivery, & a 10-day maternity leave. Daughter Piper Maru was born by caesarean section on September 25, 1994, Vancouver, Canada - Chris Carter was named her godfather.
The X-Files finished its ninth & final season in May 2002, marking the end of a major period in her life - she started the show when she was 24, & finished it when she was 34. Her marriage ended & she 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 & Ozanne announced their separation on 21 April 2006, after 16 months of marriage. On November 1, 2006, Anderson & boyfriend Mark Griffiths welcomed a son named Oscar.
Anderson provides philanthropic & charitable assistance in the support of finding a cure for neurofibromatosis. She serves as NF, Inc.'s Honorary Spokesperson & is a Patron of the Neurofibromatosis Association (based in the UK). Her support stems from her brother being diagnosed with NF-1.
Anderson is a member of the board of directors for Artists for a New South Africa.
Anderson is a supporter of animal rights & an active member of PETA.
Was voted "Sexiest Woman in the World" for
FHM's first ever 100 Sexiest Women poll.
Is one of three children. Siblings
are Aaron & Zoe Anderson, both younger.
Her eyes are blue-green, &
her original hair color is ash-blond.
Her father owns a post-production film
company.
Is allergic to cats, as stated in an X-Files commentary.
Having
been voted "Most Bizarre," "Class Clown," & "Most
Likely to be Arrested" by her high school classmates, Anderson was caught
trying to jam the high school doors by filling their locks with glue on the eve
of her graduation.
Had a nose piercing in her younger years; the remnants
of the hole are still visible in some photographs.
Tattoos include a Tahitian
tribal symbol on the inside of her right ankle, the words "every day"
in Sanskrit on her right wrist, & a "P" on her left hip (presumably
for daughter Piper)
The X-Files episode "Piper Maru" is named after
her child, Piper
Her favorite X-Files episodes are "Triangle" &
"Bad Blood"
Wrote & directed the X-Files episode "all things"
The computer-animated cartoon series "Reboot!" aired an episode,
titled "Trust No One," in which agents Fax Modem (Fox Mulder) &
Data Nully (Dana Scully) investigated the mysterious disappearance of several
citizens of Mainframe; Gillian Anderson agreed to voice the character of Data
Nully.
Compiled a collection of Electronica music inspired by Future Fantastic,
entitled Future: A Journey Through The Electronic Underground. Contributed vocals
to one track, Extremis, with music by HAL.
Provided the voice for the ship's
computer in the 1996 video game Hellbender by Terminal Reality & Microsoft.
Was at one time friends with Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan
When interviewed
on British talk show Parkinson, she told the host Michael Parkinson that when
she is in England she never knows how to speak, or what her "real" accent
should be, & that it makes her feel a fraud. However, by speaking with an
English accent she doesn't attract attention. But problems come if there's a phone
call from the US & she feels she has to switch accents.
Is a campaigner
for ACTSA
Future Fantastic as a presenter - July/August 1996.
Straightheads
(Completed; to be released April, 2007), as "Alice"
The Last King
of Scotland (2006), as "Sarah Merrit"
Bleak House as "Lady
Honoria Dedlock"
A Cock & Bull Story (2005) as "Gillian Anderson/Widow
Wadman"
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"
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,
& 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 Flea In Her Ear (1990)
A Zoo Story
(1986)
Arsenic & Old Lace (1983). City High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
two performances, as "Officer Brophy".
This
Site was written in April 2007
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