American actress, Gillian Leigh Anderson, was born on August 9, 1968, best known as no-nonsense FBI Agent Dana Scully, in 'The X-Files', a hit American TV series. She is a winner of an American Emmy and Golden Globe award for the same role along with her performance as Lady Dedlock in a BBC TV series, the Bleak House. She pursued her acting talents since high school and small community theater productions, ditching her goal to be a marine biologist. She was born in Chicago and grew up to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Goodman Theater School of Drama at DePaul University. After auditioning for the Grand Rapids Community Theater, she undertook few acting offers followed by a stint in 'The Philanthropist' at the Long Wharf Theatre, New York. Gillian, then aged 22, later registered for summer school classes in the National Theatre of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She managed her early life as a waitress, soon followed by plentiful of theater performances. She gained significant praise for her theatrical roles including the 1990 Theatre World Award for her performance in 'Absent Friends', a play produced by Alan Ayckbourne enacted at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Resisting any venture into television due to her resolution, Gillian finally accepted offers for quite a few series including the Home Fires Burning series and a guest appearance in 'Class of '96' in 1993 foreseeing unemployment. Her stage performances fetched the role of Special Agent Dana Scully, strongly mentored by X Files show producer, Chris Carter. At her age of 24, she opted for the series based on the typical series length of 13 episodes. The hit series historically spanned the productions nine seasons and one successful movie. The series brought to Anderson's credit, an Emmy Award, the Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actress in a Drama Series. She acted in a screen adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel, The House of Mirth and few other movie titles. Her role in the Irish film, The Mighty Celt, won her an IFTA award for Best International Actress.