Gillian Anderson, a renowned American actress, has a net worth of $40 million. She gained widespread fame for her iconic role as Special Agent Dana Scully in the popular television series The X-Files. Beyond this role, Anderson has had a rich and diverse career in both film and television.
Early Life
Gillian Anderson was born on August 9, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Edward Anderson, was a film post-production company owner. The family relocated to Puerto Rico for a brief period of 15 months, then moved to London for Edward’s studies at the London Film School. Gillian spent her early childhood in the Crouch End neighborhood of North London, where she attended Coleridge Primary School.
At 11 years old, Gillian and her family moved back to the United States, settling in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Despite living in the U.S., the family continued to maintain a flat in London and would spend summers there. During her teenage years in Michigan, Gillian went through a rebellious phase, marked by incidents like petty theft and dating an older boyfriend. As a result, she began therapy at the age of 14.
After graduating high school, Gillian attended The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990. During her time in Chicago, she participated in a summer program with the National Theatre of Great Britain at Cornell University. To support herself through school, she worked at the Goose Island Brewpub.
With her background rooted in English culture, Gillian found herself struggling to fit in with her Midwestern peers. To blend in, she adopted a Midwestern accent, although she is bidialectal, effortlessly switching between her American and British accents even today.
Early Career
At 22, Anderson moved to New York City, where she began her career with a role in the play Absent Friends. Her performance earned her the Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer. In 1992, she moved to Los Angeles, where she spent a year auditioning before landing her first role in the film The Turning. Initially, she vowed to avoid television, but after a year of unemployment, she reconsidered.
In 1993, Anderson appeared in a guest role on Class of ’96, which led to her being offered the script for The X-Files.
The X-Files
Anderson’s breakthrough came in 1993 when she was cast as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully on the science-fiction television series The X-Files on Fox. Initially, she thought the show would only run for 13 episodes. However, the show’s success far exceeded expectations. The show debuted on September 10, 1993, and ran for nine seasons until May 19, 2002, spanning 202 episodes.
The X-Files became a monumental success, making both Gillian Anderson and her co-star David Duchovny A-list stars. It was not only one of Fox’s highest-rated shows but also one of the most profitable. The series also led to two feature films, which performed modestly at the box office.
Anderson’s portrayal of Scully earned her numerous prestigious awards, including an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award in the same year. She made history as the first actress to win all three in one year. Anderson also became the first woman to write and direct an episode of The X-Files.
In 2016, Anderson reprised her role as Dana Scully in the reboot of The X-Files.
Salary on The X-Files
In the early years of The X-Files, Gillian Anderson was paid significantly less than David Duchovny, her co-star. She later revealed that her original contract required her to stand behind David in the scenes. As the show gained popularity and Dana Scully’s character became central to its success, Anderson successfully negotiated a contract that ensured she was paid equally to Duchovny from the fourth season onward.
Before this agreement, it was known that David earned $150,000 per episode for the first three seasons. From the fourth season onward, both Anderson and Duchovny earned $240,000 per episode, totaling $5.76 million per 24-episode season. This would amount to around $10 million today when adjusted for inflation.
In addition to her TV salary, both Anderson and Duchovny earned $4 million each for starring in the first X-Files film. They were also each paid approximately $6 million for the second film.
Post-X-Files Career
After The X-Files ended in 2002, Gillian Anderson decided to return to London for a change of pace. She pursued a return to the stage, making her West End debut that year in the play What The Night Is For at the Comedy Theatre. In 2004, she starred in the Royal Court Theatre’s production of The Sweetest Swing in Baseball.
Anderson also made notable appearances in television, such as in the BBC miniseries Bleak House in 2006, where she was nominated for a BAFTA, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe. In 2009, she returned to the stage with A Doll’s House in the West End.
In 2013, Anderson began portraying Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson in the critically acclaimed Irish-British crime drama The Fall, which ran for three seasons. She also served as executive producer for the second season of the show.
Between 2013 and 2015, she appeared in the NBC series Hannibal. In 2014, she earned widespread praise for her stage performance as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic Theatre in London. The production set a record as the fastest-selling show in the theatre’s history, prompting an extended run due to overwhelming demand for tickets.
Anderson continued to take on diverse roles, including appearances in American Gods, Crooked House, and All About Eve. In January 2019, she began playing Jean Milburn in the Netflix series Sex Education. Later, she was announced to play former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of The Crown.
Gillian Anderson has been married twice in her life. Her first marriage was to Clyde Klotz, whom she wed in 1994, but they divorced in 1997. Her second marriage was to Julian Ozanne from 2004 to 2007. She has three children, two of whom were from her relationship with former boyfriend Mark Griffiths. Their relationship ended in 2012. Since 2016, Anderson has been in a relationship with screenwriter Peter Morgan.
Gillian Anderson has lived in London since 2002, where she raises her children. She is also deeply involved in numerous charitable causes and activist movements. Anderson is an advocate for the Trevor Project, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and the Neurofibromatosis Network, the latter of which is especially personal to her as her brother Aaron passed away from the disease in 2011.
