Gillian Anderson Biography
-Author: Cynthia Schmidt, GAWS
Gillian realized her love for acting when she auditioned for
a community play while attending City High School in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. "Somehow, I have no idea how the transition was
made from wanting to be a archeologist or a marine biologist, to
wanting to be an actress, but it just kind
of happened," says Gillian. As a child Gillian seemed to be more
interested in marine biology than on becoming a television star.
"I loved digging up worms and
cutting them up into little pieces. In the interests of science,
of course!" Her mother, Rosemary recalls, "From
the start Gillian had a real flare for the dramatic. That has
simply always been her personality. But the first time I
knew something was really up with her and acting was when she
was 14 and a teacher assigned her the
Romeo And Juliet balcony scene. Gillian had no background in Shakespeare, acting or anything remotely like
it. Nobody on either side of our family had any experience with acting. Her father was interested in film
production, but that had mostly been connected with industrial training films and commercials. But she studied
that scene and mastered it with no effort whatever. When she performed it from me my jaw just dropped."
Gillian Leigh Anderson was born in Chicago Illinois, on August 9th, 1968. Soon after her birth the family
relocated to Puerto Rico, for 15 months then moved to England. Gillian spent the next 9 years of her childhood
growing up in London's North End. First in Stamford Hill, then later in Crouch End, while her father Edward was
studying film production at the London School of Film Technique in Covent Garden for 2 years. Eventually the
family moved back to the States and settled in Grand Rapids, her father now runs a film post-production
company and her mother is a computer analyst.
Before the she got into acting, Gillian dabbled in
the punk rock scene. "I fainted when it was inserted.
My father was furious about it," Gillian tells of her
father's reaction of her getting a nose ring. "I was
confused," is how Gillian puts her somewhat wild teen years.
"I was arrested on graduation night for
breaking and entering into the high school," Gillian confesses
in a recent interview for TV Guide. Of course
growing up in England and then moving back to the States was not
a simple thing, as her mother recalls: "The
contrast was just incredible. Plus she missed all the friends
she had grown up with in London. And her
classmates all thought she talked funny because she didn't
have an American accent. Gillian had to learn to
speak like an American for the first time in her life, just to
fit in." Gillian herself admits: "I was angry and it was
my way of keeping people at a distance." In a different
interview Gillian remembers, "I was always off in my own
little world or being sent to the principal's office for talking back." Then the acting bug hit and, "My outlook
changed, my grades went up and I was voted 'most improved student'," Gillian says.
After graduating from City High School in 1986, Gillian
studied acting at the prestigious DePaul
University's Goodman Theater and graduated with a Bachelor's
degree in Fine Arts. While attending
DePaul Gillian was selected to attend a three-week workshop run
by the National Theatre of Great Britain
at Cornell, in Ithaca, NY, during the summer after her
freshman year. Upon obtaining her degree, Gillian headed
to New York at the age of 22, to pursue a career in acting. Gillian's first big break came she landed a role in an
off Broadway play 'Absent Friends.' It was for her performance
in this production that Gillian won a Theater
World Award in 1991. Gillian did one more play 'Philanthropist,' with was performed at the Long Wharf Theater
in New Haven, Conn. and a low budget film staring Tess Harper
and Karen Allen called the 'Turning,' before
relocating to LA, to pursue a career in film. "First of all, I swore I'd never move to Los Angeles, and once I did, I
swore I'd never do television. It was only after being out of
work for almost a year that I began going in [to
auditions] on some stuff that I would pray that I wouldn't get because I didn't want to be involved in it."
In LA Gillian landed a guest appearance in the sort lived
TV series 'Class of 96,' the title of the
episode she guest stared in was 'The Accused,' that was
episode 8. In 1993 Gillian auditioned for a TV
pilot on a newly formed Fox Network, called The X-Files -- in
which she auditioned for the role of Special
Agent Dana Scully. "I couldn't put the script down," Gillian
remembers. During the auditions though, there was a
bit of behind the scene's action. The executives at Fox wanted
someone with less radiance and more
sex-appeal cast in the role of Scully, but Chris Carter insisted that Gillian had the no-nonsense integrity the role
required. "I sort of staked my pilot and my career at the time
on Gillian. I feel vindicated everyday now," says
Chris Carter on his decision to stand firm on his choice for
Scully. As luck would have it the day her last
unemployment check arrived she found out that she had won the
role of Agent Scully and flew straight out to
Vancouver and began shooting the pilot. "I didn't foresee at
all that it was going to become as popular as it has.
I often thought, 'What have I gotten myself into?' The first
year was the hardest in terms of getting into the
grueling hours and sleep deprivation and having to perform
constantly, day in and day out," Gillian recalls of the
first season.
Just as the show was taking off, Gillian met Clyde Klotz,
the series assistant art director at the time.
"It wasn't quite love at first sight," Gillian says of
their three-month affair. "It was Clyde's smile that first
attracted me. He was very quiet, rugged and cool, but I soon
realized he had a lot to say and that he was a
very intelligent man." On New Year's Day, 1994 Gillian and
Clyde flew to Hawaii and got married on the 17th
hole of a golf course. The only other person present was the
Buddhist monk that performed the ceremony. "We
sent a letter to my mum and dad, with a strict instruction not
to open it until New Year's Day. Mom had already
met Clyde and my dad was in a good mood that day, so they
were happy," Gillian recalls on how she told
her parents about her new spouse. Gillian was back on
the set of the X-files 2 days later. Then came shocking
news a few months later, Gillian found out she was pregnant.
When Gillian learned she was indeed pregnant
she already knew what she wanted to do, but concedes to "not
completely thinking ahead about the
consequences of that decision." The first person she
told on the set was co-star David Duchovny. "Part of the
show's success is the audience's investment in these characters,"
Chris Carter says as he again stuck by
Gillian and refused to have Scully re-cast. "It was a bit
of a bombshell for them (referring to the executives at
Fox). It wasn't in my contract not to get pregnant, but it is now," Gillian recalls.
Chris Carter then created an alien abduction that kept
Gillian off-camera long enough for labor,
delivery and a 10-day maternity leave. "My feet were
swelling and I was exhausted, sleeping between
scenes," Gillian remembers. Gillian's daughter, Piper was
delivered in September 1994 by cesarean
section, which wasn't anticipated and required her to
spend the next 6 days in the hospital. Four days later
Gillian was back on the set shooting scenes for the episode
"One Breath." "During the first season, I didn't know
who the hell I was, let alone this character was. I feel
stronger as a person in the world now. I remember, after
going through the birthing process, feeling that no cut,
no abrasions, no knock on the head will make me whine
again," she commented in a recent interview. "I can't
imagine not having Piper," says Gillian, who chose Chris
Carter to be the baby's godfather. Four years, one
husband and a daughter later, Gillian is still playing the
enigmatic Special Agent Scully on the Fox Networks biggest
hits to date. The show itself has received
numerous awards and nominations namely The Golden Globe
Award for Best Drama TV Series in 1995, and
raked in 5 Emmy's at the 1996 Ceremony. Gillian has
honored with a SAG Award in 1996, as Best Lead
Actress in a Drama Series and was also nominated for and Emmy in 1996 for the same category.
The year 1997 has been kind to Gillian so far, as she again
took home this year's
SAG Award for Best
Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Gillian was also honored
by the Foreign Press with a Golden Globe in
the category of "Best Actress in a Television Drama" for 1997. Her latest award is an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1997.
