BIOGRAPHY

• Gillian Leigh Anderson was born on August 9th, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois. Soon after, she moved to Puerto Rico and then England. During the nine years that her family lived there, her father took a course on Film Production. After moving to Grand Rapids Michigan, Anderson was often teased about her English accent. She became very angry and soon found an outlet for that anger in punk rock. She even spiked her hair and got a nose ring. On the night of her graduation, she was arrested for trying to glue shut the doors to her high school.
  
  Before her arrest, Anderson found another outlet for her rage in acting. She had become interested in acting after auditioning for a play while attending City High School. When she was 14, she won the role of Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. Her success in this role wiped away her previous dreams of being an archaeologist or a marine biologist. After graduating from high school, she studied at DePaul University’s Goodman Theatre.
  
  Upon graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, Anderson, now 22, moved to New York. Soon after, she won a Theatre World Award for her part in the Broadway play ‘Absent Friends’. The next year, she appeared in The Turning, her first movie. The movie, which was based on the play Home Fires Burning, also starred Tess Harper and Karen Allen. Although the movie was filmed in 1992, it was considered bad enough that it wasn’t released until 1997, well after Anderson had become a major star. Of course, the largest picture on the cover showed her posing provocatively, even though she only appears in the movie for fifteen minutes.
  
  With her career stalled, Anderson did what she had wanted never to do: She moved to Los Angeles. She justified the decision in her own mind by telling herself that she wouldn’t do television. After going a whole year without work, she relented and made a guest appearance on the short-lived Fox series ‘Class of 96’.
  
  That same year, she auditioned for ‘The X-Files’. Producer/director Chris Carter decided to cast her as Special Agent Dana Scully, going against the advice of Fox executives who wanted a ‘sex symbol’ in the lead female role. Upon being told that she had the part, Anderson, who had just received her last unemployment cheque, immediately left for Vancouver to begin filming.
  
  Anderson’s character, Scully, is a practical-minded doctor who is assigned by the FBI to work with free-thinking Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) on his investigations into unsolved paranormal cases (The X-Files). What neither of them knows is that the FBI assigned Scully to Mulder in the belief that Scully’s scepticism will slow Mulder down and prevent him from uncovering a giant government conspiracy. This backfires because Scully’s level-headedness provides Mulder with a firm scientific base for his investigations. The character of Scully is actually the polar opposite of Anderson, who considers herself far more rash and impulsive than her on-screen character.
  
  The massive success of the show caught most people by surprise. Previously, most science-fiction shows developed only a small but dedicated following. The X-Files changed all of this, sparking a wave of interest in all things alien.
  
  Anderson’s role in ‘The X-Files’ garnered her much critical attention. She was nominated for the Best Actress in a TV-Series-Drama Golden Globe in 1996, 97, 98, and 99. She won in 1997. Similarly, she was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy in 1996, 97, and 98. She also won that award in 1997.
  
  While working on the show, Anderson met assistant art director Clyde Klotz. On New Years Day of 1994, they were married by a Buddhist monk on the 17th hole of a golf course in Hawaii. A month later, Anderson became pregnant. To accommodate for this, Chris Carter wrote Scully’s abduction into the script so that Anderson could take a ten day maternity leave. Piper Maru Anderson was born on September 25th, 1994. Due to complications, she was delivered by Caesarean section and Gillian had to spend the next six days in hospital. Four days later, she went back to work on the show. Anderson and Klotz were later divorced.
  
  Acting on ‘The X-Files’ and raising her daughter kept Anderson busy for the next several years. Then in 1998, she found the time to appear in four movies. Playing by Heart, a collection of five stories about five couples that also starred Sean Connery and Dennis Quaid, lost more than $10 million despite some critical praise.
  
  Anderson also played a smaller role in The Mighty. This is the story of two very dissimilar boys, one (played by Keiran Caulkin, brother of Macauly) weak from Morquio’s syndrome but intelligent, the other (played by Elden Ratliff) big but virtually illiterate. One is assigned to be the others tutor and, in their own minds, they travel back to the days of King Arthur. Sharon Stone also co-starred as one of the boy’s mother. Despite good reviews, the movie hardly made a dent at the box office.
  
  Chicago Cab portrayed fourteen hours in the life of a Chicago taxi driver as he picks up passengers in all parts of the city. Of course, all of them treat the driver like he was their personal therapist. Despite good reviews and a star-studded cast that also included John Cusack, Julianne Moore, and Laurie Metcalf, the movie was only given two screenings. Consequently, it made less than $5,000.
  
  Anderson’s roles in those three movies were relatively minor compared to her part The X-Files. This was one of the few movies based on a television show that was made while the show was still running. Anderson was paid $3 million for her part, half of what co-star David Duchovny was paid. In comparison to the two screenings that Chicago Cab was given, The X-Files was shown in 2629 movie theatres on its opening weekend. The movie ended up grossing more than $180 million, nearly three times what it cost to produce. The movie was a success because it built upon the ongoing plot of the television show while still being understandable to newcomers. The movie also marked the movement of the show from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
  
  According to many reports, the 1999-2000 season of ‘The X-Files’ will be its last. Afterwards, there are plans for another movie. Nothing has been announced or even rumoured for afterwards. Anderson is most likely to continue her movie career. Since she has been associated so strongly with a single character, it is unlikely that she will try to find another starring role on television. Only time will tell what will come next from this talented actress.