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Gillian Anderson

Actor

Gillian Anderson

Born August 9, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA47 films

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.

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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.

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The Last King of Scotland posterFirst watchThe Last King of Scotland20067.4as Sarah MerritYoung Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
The Pale Blue Eye poster6.8The Pale Blue Eye2022The X-Files poster6.9The X-Files1998Johnny English Reborn poster6.3Johnny English Reborn2011The Spy Who Dumped Me poster6.4The Spy Who Dumped Me2018TRON: Ares poster6.5TRON: Ares2025Crooked House poster6.4Crooked House2017The X-Files: I Want to Believe poster5.9The X-Files: I Want to Believe2008White Bird poster7.8White Bird2023

Filmography

47 films as actor
  1. TBAThe Turning Door(voice)
  2. 2026Animals
  3. 2026The Julia Set
  4. 2026Teenage Sex and Death at Camp MiasmaBilly
  5. 2025TRON: AresElisabeth Dillinger
  6. 2025Tron: Ares - A Special LookElisabeth Dillinger
  7. 2025The Salt PathRaynor Winn
  8. 2024Woolf Works
  9. 2024ScoopEmily Maitlis
  10. 2023White BirdVivienne Beaumier
  11. 2022The Pale Blue EyeJulia Marquis
  12. 2021Robin RobinCat (voice)
  13. 2020The Sunlit NightOlyana
  14. 2019National Theatre Live: All About EveMargo Channing
  15. 2018UFODr. Hendricks
  16. 2018The Spy Who Dumped MeWendy
  17. 2017Crooked HouseMagda Leonides
  18. 2017Viceroy's HouseEdwina Mountbatten
  19. 2017Woolf WorksVoiceover from a letter by Virginia Woolf (voice)
  20. 2016SoldSophia
  21. 2015Robot OverlordsKate
  22. 2014The DepartureBlanche DuBois
  23. 2014National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named DesireBlanche DuBois
  24. 2013Mr. Morgan's Last LoveKaren Morgan
  25. 2013I'll Follow You DownMarika Whyte
  26. 2012Room on the BroomWitch (voice)
  27. 2012SisterKristin Jansen
  28. 2012Shadow DancerKate Fletcher
  29. 2011Johnny English RebornPamela
  30. 2010Boogie WoogieJean Maclestone
  31. 2008How to Lose Friends & Alienate PeopleEleanor Johnson
  32. 2008The X-Files: I Want to BelieveDana Scully
  33. 2007Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd KindQueen Vorkana (voice)
  34. 2007StraightheadsAlice
  35. 2006The Last King of ScotlandSarah Merrit
  36. 2005A Cock and Bull StoryWidow Wadman / Gillian Anderson
  37. 2005The Mighty CeltKate
  38. 2000The House of MirthLily Bart
  39. 1998Playing by HeartMeredith
  40. 1998Chicago CabSouthside Girl
  41. 1998The X-FilesDana Scully
  42. 1998The MightyLoretta Lee
  43. 1996Why Planes Go DownNarrator
  44. 1996Spies Abovenarrator
  45. 1992The TurningApril Cavanaugh
  46. 1988A Matter of ChoiceWoman
  47. 1986Three at OnceWoman 1