Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson biography

Gillian Anderson is an American actress, whose name is most often associated with the legendary television series The X-Files. Thanks to the sensational role of Dana Scully, the FBI medical doctor and special agent, red hair and a bob hairstyle became popular in the 90s, and the actress became a new sex symbol.

In the photo: Gillian Anderson

Childhood and family

Gillian Leigh Anderson was born in lively Chicago on August 9, 1968. Her mother, Rosemary Alyce Anderson, worked as a computer analyst, and her father, Homer Edward Anderson, was a film distributor ‒ owned a company engaged in the promotion of films. His business involved frequent moving, and therefore the family of the little girl almost constantly changed their place of residence.

Gillian Anderson in childhood

In the first months of her life, Gillian lived in Puerto Rico with her parents. After a year and a half, Edward needed to take classes at the London Film School, and the family settled in the northern borough of the capital of Britain ‒ Crouch End.

The actress had a younger brother (born in 1981), who was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis and died of a brain tumor at the age of 30; she has a sister Zoe (born in 1982). She played as Scully in her youth in the episode Christmas Carol.

The girl fell in love with London with all her heart, but could not build relationships with peers. Since she grew up in a family of Americans, she differed from other children in accent. To get rid of the mockery, she persistently trained the British accent. By the age of 11, she managed to mimic the local language environment, but suddenly her parents bowled her over with the news ‒ they were going to return to the States, to the town of Grand Rapids, Michigan. There the girl began to be mocked because of the British accent ‒ first in elementary school, then in the secondary one, where Gillian profoundly studied under the humanitarian program for talented children.

Gillian Anderson with her younger brother and sister

Biology was always her favorite school subject, but thanks to the efforts of teachers, she showed a genuine interest in English literature and art criticism. At some moment, Gillian became carried away by classical theatrical art. At the age of 13, she enrolled in a theater group and literally knocked all teachers dead with her bright and heartfelt play. Since then, the theater has become an important part of her life. She participated in all productions, and after graduating from school, she also began performing on the stage of the Grand Rapids.

But she was by no means an assiduous girl, excellent pupil, and activist. Moving to the United States became a stumbling block in the Anderson family. After noisy London, Grand Rapids, which was considered the second-largest city in the state, seemed to Gillian out-of-the-way place. Her heart still belonged to the city on the Thames. At the age of 14, Jillian went to her beloved city for holidays and returned as a different person. She copied the style of London punks and appeared before her parents with a red Mohawk, pierced nose, in boots by Dr. Martens, and camouflage dress. In this way, the new, rebellious page of her biography began.

Dark past

Classmates and teachers did not accept Anderson’s new image. At the graduation party, according to the old American tradition, in addition to the king and queen of the prom, students were awarded various titles. Gillian gathered a whole bunch: the most marvelous student, class clown, will be arrested.

Jillian Anderson punk youth

By the way, the last prediction came true before the prom ‒ the police detained the girl and the company of her friends at the time they were filling the school lock with glue so that no one could get inside and the classes were canceled the following morning. She spent the night behind bars and as a punishment scrubbed floors in a local youth organization for a week.

After graduating from school in 1986, Gillian ran away from home without luggage, secretly borrowing some money from her parents. She enrolled at the Chicago Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University, from which she graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Gillian Anderson in her youth

In the same year, the beginner actress moved to New York, got a job as a waitress, and began to look for ways to develop her career. At the same time, she appeared on the stage and was awarded the Theater World Awards for her role in the production of Absent Friends.

It is rumored that Gillian Anderson’s career began with an adult film. This is not so ‒ in 1992 she got a rather significant role in the drama The Turning, where her character really had quite open scenes: Gillian demonstrated her naked back on the screen. According to the viewers, she was the only one of the whole cast who really played.

Gillian Anderson on the set of The Turning (1992)

The X-Files

After that, there was a small role in the TV series Class of '96, and in 1993, Gillian Anderson received a remarkable role in her career, and indeed in her life. She went to audition for the role of Dana Scully, a highly intelligent FBI special agent with a medical education, assigned to keep under observation Fox Mulder, the agent possessed by paranormal phenomena, to bring him to light and prove his abnormality.

Such Gillian Anderson was remembered by millions of viewers

For the role of Mulder, an actor had already been chosen ‒ it was David Duchovny, but the creators of the series, according to the canons, were looking for a lush-breasted tall blonde woman as a pair to him. So, they wanted to refuse the short red-haired Gillian immediately after the audition, but screenwriter and producer Chris Carter insisted that she was accepted ‒ that’s how he imagined the clever and reasonable for her age Dana Scully. And he wasn’t the loser ‒ the viewers, who were tired of sexy girlfriends of the main character, accepted the independence from the men and relying on her intellect, and not on the character of the form with a bang.

She was not afraid of being comical and was not shy about her sexuality

Anderson and Duchovny's notorious screen chemistry were so obvious that the ratings of the series went off-scale during the first seasons, but even by the end of the project, they were quite high. In total, the shooting of The X-Files continued for nearly nine years until the project was closed in 2002. This includes not only the television series but also the full-length films The X-Files and The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which were released 6 years after the TV show ended.

Despite the inevitable rumors, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny didn’t date in life

Further career

After The X-Files ended, Gillian Anderson took a break from television and cinema, returned to the theater, and in 2006 she appeared in the historical film The Last King of Scotland, where she played as a missionary doctor in a Ugandan village. A young colleague, (James McAvoy), who the dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) subsequently drew closer to him, was in love with her character. The film was based on real events.

Shot from the movie The Last King of Scotland

The mini-series of the same year Bleak House with the participation of the actress and based on the novel by Charles Dickens is also worth noting. The role of Lady Dedlock brought the Anderson BAFTA Award.

Gillian Anderson in the Bleak House mini-series

This was followed by the passing drama Staightheads, participation in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People with Simon Pegg, comical and unexpected role in Boogie-Woogie, the tragicomedy about modern art. The actress often appeared on the big screens and on TV, but there was no grandiose return, comparable to the success of Dana Scully.

Gillian Anderson height – 160 cm

Gillian Anderson’s appearance in the seventh season of the Hannibal television series with Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy was memorable. Subsequently, her character, the fateful Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, played an important role in the series and Dr. Lecter’s fate.

David Duchovny: about growing up and relationships

In 2013, Anderson again tried on the role of the law enforcement officer, albeit not an FBI special agent, but a purposeful Irish detective Stella Gibson from the television series The Fall. But her partner was Jamie Dornan, and good ratings and reviews of critics were waiting for the series. The series aired for 3 seasons.

Gillian Anderson dyed her hair blonde

Anderson’s next loud appearance on the screen took place thanks to director Benedict Andrews, who invited the actress to play the lead role in his production of A Streetcar Named Desire, recorded on the film. She reincarnated in Blanche DuBois, already a middle-aged aristocrat woman with a dark past, who became an apple of discord in the family of her sister Stella (Vanessa Kirby) and drunkard brother-in-law Stanley (Ben Foster).

A Streetcar Named Desire: Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois

In 2016, there was a long-awaited revival of The X-Files. Aged, but not lost their charm and chemistry actors appeared before the viewers 14 years later. Many people noted that after all, Dana Scully, who had dyed her hair blonde, became prettier over the years, which could not be said of Fox Mulder, who got flabby.

Gillian Anderson then and now

In 2017, the actress appeared in another sensational TV series ‒ American Gods based on the novel by Neil Gaiman. She got the part of the goddess Media, who appeared in the form of David Bowie, however, she refused to participate in the second season because of the leaving of screenwriters Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.

Shot from the TV series American Gods

In the summer of 2018, the action movie The Spy Who Dumped Me was released, with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, in which Anderson’s character was assigned one of the key roles.

Gillian Anderson personal life

The star of The X-Files project was married twice. Her first husband was the art director of the film crew Clyde Klotz, whom the actress secretly married in 1994. If producers could forgive Anderson the love-affair with a member of the team, they could not resign themselves to the pregnancy of the star. Klotz was fired with scandal, and Gillian was forced to act until the ninth month.

Left: Gillian Anderson first husband; right: her common-law husband Mark Griffiths

The actress gave birth to a daughter, Piper, and after three years the marriage broke up.

Piper, Gillian Anderson and Clyde Klotz daughter

In January 2005, the actress decided to tie the knot again and married director, Julian Ozanne. But the new marriage existed even less than the previous one ‒ only 16 months. In 2006, the actress began to date businessman Mark Griffiths. In the same year, their son Oscar was born, and two years later, baby Felix. In 2012, the civilian spouses decided to break up.

In 2018, Gillian Anderson celebrated her 50th birthday, but age is not a hindrance to her creative plans. She looks great; she is full of strength and has new ideas.

In 2018, Gillian Anderson turned 50

The actress actively supports the movement PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and as a support action, she posed naked in 2018. The photo was accompanied by the inscription I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur.

Gillian Anderson now

Whatever hopes Chris Carter built for the revival of the X-Files, he had to give up his plans after Gillian Anderson’s report about her final leaving. Having played two seasons in the new The X-Files, she decided to put an end:

I respect my colleagues on the show, but I’ve finished with it, completely. As an actress, I like to search for new tasks and new characters. It’s time to leave Scully. For the next couple of years my schedule is packed to capacity.

And indeed, the filmography of the actress is rapidly growing. Since 2019, Gillian Anderson has been starring in the Netflix series Sex Education. In it, the actress plays the mother of the protagonist - a psychologist specializing in sex. The first season kicked off successfully, as did the second (2020), after which the series was extended for several more seasons.

Sex Education: Season 2 (Trailer)

Linda Lewis

I just loved the X-Files series!!! And I really liked Anderson :)

2021-04-03 09:52:25
Justin Antonio Jones

In my opinion, Gillian Anderson only looks prettier with the years. She has noble appearance.

2021-03-20 19:06:17
Josephine Carroll

I enjoyed watching her role as a sexologist mother in the series «Sexuality Education»!

2021-03-14 20:28:52
Michael Hampton

Gillian Anderson is of course Scully! She is already a real legend.

2021-03-07 10:29:56

Photos: Gillian Anderson