Actress, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Brought up in London, her family returned to the USA, where she became involved in community theatre, and studied at DePaul University. She then found theatre parts in New York City, eventually moving to Los Angeles, where she was offered the part of Dana Scully in the television series The X-Files (19932002, Golden Globe, Emmy), which has since become a cult classic, and also starred in the feature film The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998). Other films include The Mighty (1998), The House of Mirth (2000), and The Last King of Scotland (2006). In 2005 she appeared in BBC television's BAFTA-winning serialization of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
| Gillian Anderson | |
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| Birth name | Gillian Leigh Anderson |
| Born |
August 9, 1968 (age 38) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Notable roles |
Dana Scully in The X Files Lady Dedlock in Bleak House |
| Spouse(s) |
Clyde Klotz (1994-1997) Julian Ozanne (2004-) (Seperated) |
Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an American Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress, best known for her role as FBI Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files and her role as Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV series Bleak House.
Biography
Early life
She was born in Chicago to Edward and Rosemary Anderson. Anderson, mocked because of her British accent, soon developed a Midwest dialect.
She found an outlet for her talents when she began acting in high school and community theater productions.
Career
Anderson moved to New York when she was twenty-two, and started her career in 'The Philanthropist' at the Long Wharf Theatre. Anderson did a lot of theatre work and won much critical acclaim, including a 1990-91 Theatre World Award for he role in the play 'Absent Friends' produced by Alan Ayckbourn which ran at the Manhattan Theatre Club. 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. Fox sent in more actresses, but Carter stood by Anderson, and she was cast as Special Agent Dana Scully. 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. 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. 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) and performed in a film version of the novel Tristram Shandy, released in January 2006.
In 1999, Anderson starred in English release of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, where she voiced the character of Moro.
In 2006, she was nominated for the prestigious 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 also received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her performance as Lady Dedlock.
Personal life
As a teenager, Anderson has been said to have dyed her hair purple and, 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, and Chris Carter created an alien abduction storyline that kept Anderson off-camera long enough for labor, delivery, and a 10-day maternity leave.
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 and Ozanne announced their separation on 21 April 2006, after 16 months of marriage. In November 2006, Anderson and boyfriend Mark Griffiths welcomed a son named Oscar.
Anderson provides philanthropic and charitable assistance in the support of finding a cure for neurofibromatosis.
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