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| Birth Name(s) : Gillian Leigh Anderson |
Date of Birth: August 9, 1968 |
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| Profession:
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Full Gillian Anderson Biography
| Gillian Anderson is perhaps better known as Dana Scully in fan circles. Now-infamous for her role on the blockbuster TV series "The X-Files" (1993), she has yet to break the type-cast of her TV character on the big screen. Feature films on her resume include "Chicago Cab" (1998) and "Playing by Heart" (1998). |
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Additional Gillian Anderson Biography
Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, best known for her roles as FBI Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files and Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV series Bleak House.
Anderson 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 so her father could attend the London Film School. When Anderson was eleven, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where 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. At some point after the move to America, her father started a post-production company.
Anderson moved to New York when she was twenty-two, and 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 and greater sex appeal. Fox sent in more actresses, but Carter stood by Anderson, and she was cast as Special Agent Dana Scully. She got the part assuming it would run for thirteen episodes, the standard minimum order for American TV networks. Filmed in Vancouver and then in Los Angeles, the series eventually ran for nine seasons, and 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, and 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 and starred in The House of Mirth, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of the same name.
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.
In 2006, she 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 received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her performance as Lady Dedlock. She was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award 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 won, and Anna Maxwell Martin came in third.) She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Bleak House.
Anderson recently appeared in two British films; in 2006, The Last King of Scotland and in 2007, Straightheads.
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, and 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, Vancouver, Canada - Chris Carter was named her godfather.
She is good friends with her The X-Files fellow co-star David Duchovny. In 1996, Anderson was voted "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 her life - she started the show when she was 24, and finished it when she was 34. Her marriage ended and 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.
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. Anderson is a supporter of animal rights and an active member of PETA. |
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