Desert Island Discs Revisited

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Americans: Gillian Anderson

Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Gillian Anderson

Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Gillian Anderson.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Gillian Anderson, best known for her role as Dana Scully in The X Files. Gillian was born in Chicago, Illinois. When she was two, she moved with her parents to London. At 11, the family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan which she found deathly dull in comparison to the big city life of London. Gillian began acting in community theatre productions while in high school and decided to study drama at the Goodman Theater School at Chicago's DePaul University. After she finished her degree, she moved to New York City to find work. She performed in a couple of plays, but then was cast as the female lead in a new science fiction TV series. 

The X Files turned out to be a massive success and in September 1993, Gillian began a nine-year stint in the FOX TV series. For her role she received two Screen Actors Guild awards, an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series. In 1999 Gillian wrote and directed her own episode. In 2000, Gillian played Lily Bart in the Terence Davies' feature The House of Mirth and won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. This year she debuts on the West End in Michael Weller's What the Night is For.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Luxury: Recordings of her daughter and "her love" reading self-written stories and poetry

Gillian Anderson

Factual: Life Stories

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Americans

Americans

A collection of castaways from the United States of America.

Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Desert Island Discs Revisited, Americans, Gillian Anderson

From Radiohead to Schubert. X-Files' Gillian Anderson shares her castaway choices

From Radiohead to Schubert. X-Files actress Gillian Anderson shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From January 2003.

From Radiohead to Schubert. 

American actress Gillian Anderson shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley

Best known as Dana Scully in The X-Files , her TV role won her two Screen Actors Guild awards, an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2003.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Desert Island Discs Revisited

Americans

Gillian Anderson

Genres

Brand

Series

About this data