Gillian Anderson

Born: 1968-08-09 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Known For: Acting

Biography

Gillian Leigh Anderson OBE (born August 9, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and activist. She is best known for her roles as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the sci-fi series The X-Files (1993–2002; 2016–2018), Lily Bart in the drama film The House of Mirth (2000), DSI Stella Gibson in the BBC/RTÉ crime drama series The Fall (2013–2016), Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education (2019–2023), and Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of the Netflix drama series The Crown (2020). She has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Born in Chicago, Anderson was raised first in London and then in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She later started her career onstage in New York City before achieving international recognition for her work on The X-Files. Her film work includes the dramas The Mighty Celt (2005), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Shadow Dancer (2012), and Viceroy's House (2017), as well as the X-Files films Fight the Future (1998) and I Want to Believe (2008). Her television credits include Lady Dedlock in Bleak House (2005), Wallis Simpson in Any Human Heart (2010), Miss Havisham in Great Expectations (2011), Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier on Hannibal (2013–2015), Media in the first season of American Gods (2017), and Eleanor Roosevelt on The First Lady (2022). Anderson has also received awards and acclaim for her stage work, which includes Absent Friends (1991), for which she won a Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer; A Doll's House (2009), for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress; Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (2014 and 2016), for which she won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress and received a second Laurence Olivier Award nomination; and All About Eve (2019), for which she received a third Laurence Olivier Award nomination. Anderson has supported numerous charities and humanitarian organizations, being an honorary spokesperson for the Neurofibromatosis Network and a co-founder of South African Youth Education for Sustainability (SAYes). She has lived in London since 2002 and was appointed an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2016 for her services to drama. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gillian Anderson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

2026

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma as Billie

2025

TRON: Ares as Elisabeth Dillinger
The Abandons as Constance Van Ness
The Salt Path as Raynor Winn
Trespasses as Gina
The Salt Path Scandal as Self (archive footage)
Tron: Ares - A Special Look as Elisabeth Dillinger

2024

Scoop as Emily Maitlis
Woolf Works

2023

White Bird as Vivienne Beaumier

2022

The First Lady as Eleanor Roosevelt
The Pale Blue Eye as Julia Marquis

2018

The Spy Who Dumped Me as Wendy
UFO as Dr. Hendricks

2017

American Gods as Media
Crooked House as Magda Leonides
Heroes Manufactured as Self (archive footage)
Viceroy's House as Edwina Mountbatten
The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism as Narrator
Woolf Works as Voiceover from a letter by Virginia Woolf (voice)

2016

The Crown as Margaret Thatcher
War and Peace as Anna Pavlovna Scherer
Sold as Sophia

2015

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self - Guest
The Late Late Show with James Corden as Self - Guest
Robot Overlords as Kate
Getting the Old Scent Again: Reimagining Red Dragon as Self
The Widowmaker as Narrator

2014

Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self - Guest
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
Crisis as Meg Fitch
Ronja, the Robber's Daughter as Narrator
National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche DuBois
The Departure as Blanche DuBois

2013

Hannibal as Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier
The Fall as Stella Gibson
I'll Follow You Down as Marika Whyte
Mr. Morgan's Last Love as Karen Morgan

2012

Shadow Dancer as Kate Fletcher
Room on the Broom as Witch (voice)
Sister as Kristin Jansen
FOX 25th Anniversary Special as Self

2011

Johnny English Reborn as Pamela
Great Expectations as Miss Havisham
The Crimson Petal and the White as Mrs. Castaway
Moby Dick as Elizabeth

2010

Any Human Heart as Duchess Of Windsor
Boogie Woogie as Jean Maclestone
No Pressure as Self

2009

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen as Self - Guest

2008

The X Files: I Want to Believe as Dana Scully
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People as Eleanor Johnson

2007

The Graham Norton Show as Self
Straightheads as Alice
Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind as Queen Vorkana (voice)

2006

The Last King of Scotland as Sarah Merrit

2005

Bleak House as Lady Dedlock
A Cock and Bull Story as Widow Wadman / Gillian Anderson
The Mighty Celt as Kate

2004

Parkinson as Self - Guest

2003

Jimmy Kimmel Live! as Self - Guest
Celebrities Uncensored as Self

2002

Top Gear as Self
American Idol as Self
V Graham Norton as Self
Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening as Self - Performer

2001

Richard & Judy as Self

2000

The House of Mirth as Lily Bart

1999

Harsh Realm as Video Narrator (uncredited)

1998

Parkinson as Self
The X-Files as Agent Dana Scully
The Magic Hour as Self
The Mighty as Loretta Lee
Playing by Heart as Meredith
Chicago Cab as Southside Girl
Inside The X-Files as Self
The Making of 'The X Files: Fight the Future' as Self
Akte X Intern - Was Sie schon immer wissen wollten as Dana Scully / Self

1996

The Rosie O'Donnell Show as Self - Guest
Future Fantastic as Self - Host
More Secrets of the X-Files as Self
Why Planes Go Down as Narrator
Spies Above as narrator

1995

Secrets of the X-Files as Self

1994

ReBoot as Data Nully (voice)

1993

The X-Files as Dana Scully
Frasier as Jenny (voice)
Class of '96 as Rachel

1992

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as Self - Guest
Eek! The Cat as Dana Scully (voice)
The Turning as April Cavanaugh

1989

The Simpsons as Dana Scully (voice)

1988

This Morning as Self - Guest
A Matter of Choice as Woman

1986

Three at Once as Woman 1

1944

Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter