Gillian
Anderson
Gillian
Anderson was born on August 9, 1968 in Chicago, IL,
to Ed and Rosemary Anderson and is one of 3 children. She lived
in Puerto Rico, and then in London, so her father could attend a
film school there (Her family still owns a flat there). At age 11
she moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended elementary
and then high school. She then moved to Chicago where she went to
college and once she had gained her BFA she then moved to New York,
N.Y. where she made several theater performances and then to Los
Angeles in about '91/'92. Upon gaining the role of Dana Scully,
Gillian then relocated to North Vancouver, Canada where she now
resides with her husband and daughter.
Gillian Anderson attended Fountain Elementary and
then City High in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating in 1986
she moved to Chicago and attended the Goodman Theater School at
DePaul University (a major theater conservatory), in Chicago, IL
where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While attending
DePaul University, she also studied at the summer program at the
National Theater of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithaca,
N.Y.
After initially wanting to be a marine biologist, at about age 17,
she was in "a couple of auditions" in the Grand Rapids
Community Theater, where she was "cast in a couple of things,"
and from then it was as if she "had never thought about marine
biology." While studying for her Bachelor of Fine Arts at DePaul
University, Gillian spent some time in the National Theater of Great
Britain. During this time, she also had a role in a film named "The
Turning" in 1988. After receiving her degree, she moved to
New York and embarked on a serious career in theater - including
an off-broadway production of Alan Ayckbourne's "Absent Friends,"
for which she won a Theater World award in 1991. She also appeared
in "The Philanthropist" at the Long Wharf Theater in New
Haven, Connecticut. Gillian then moved to Los Angeles and spent
a year auditioning for various things, during which time she did
"Home Fires Burning" for a cable station as well as the
audiocassette version of "Exit to Eden" by Anne Rice.
Although she had once vowed she would "never do TV", and
seemed set on a career in film or theater, being out of work for
a year or so changed her mind and she had a role in an episode of
"Class of '96" and then was impressed enough by the role
of Dana Scully that she auditioned for the role.
