Gillian Anderson is an American-British film, television, and theater actress who is perhaps best known for her portrayal of the character Detective Dana Scully in the long running American science fiction series The X-Files. Gillian Leigh Anderson was born on August 9, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois; her father owned a film post-production company and her mother was a computer analyst. During her youth, Gillian attended Fountain Elementary and City High-Middle School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Gillian moved to New York at the age of twenty two, where she worked as a waitress before beginning her career with a performance in the play Absent Friends at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In addition to the X-files, Anderson’s television credits include Hannibal, The Fall, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, American Gods, and Sex Education.

She also did the voice of Detective Scully on an episode of the Simpsons. Gillian Anderson married Clyde Klotz on New Year’s Day in 1994. The couple had a daughter, Piper Maru, in September of that year, but was divorced just three years later. Anderson married Julian Ozanne in December of 2004 but the couple divorced in April of 2006. Anderson has two sons with former boyfriend Mark Griffiths. She currently resides with her three children in London, England.