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.
She was born in Chicago, but lived in London until she was 11 years old. Her family then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended City Middle/High School, a program for gifted students. With her English accent and background, she felt alienated in the surroundings of 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 arrested for gluing the locks of the school closed.
She found an outlet for her creativity when she started acting in high school and community theatre 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 auditioned in 1993 for the role of Dana Scully on the fledgling Fox Network’s new series 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, including the starring role in The House of Mirth, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of the same name. Since the end of production on the The X-Files, she has performed in several stage productions, in addition to working on various film projects.
Filmography
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The Mighty Celt (2005)
The House of Mirth (2000)
Playing by Heart (1998)
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
The Mighty (1998)
Chicago Cab (aka Hellcab) (1998)
Mononoke Hime (aka Princess Mononoke) (voice: English language version) (1999)
The Turning (1992)
List of Stage Appearances
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
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.
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 only X-Files episode she did not appear in is “3″, in Season 2. She was giving birth when it was filmed.
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 episode is “Triangle".