Gillian Anderson

Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Rosemary Anderson (née Lane), a computer analyst, and Edward Anderson, who owned a film post-production company.[2][3] Her father was of English descent, while her mother was of Irish and German ancestry.[4] Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months; her family then moved to the United Kingdom where she lived until she was 11 years old. She lived for five years in Rosebery Gardens, Crouch End, London, and for 15 months in Albany Road, Stroud Green, London,[5] so that her father could attend the London Film School. She was a pupil of Coleridge Primary School. When Anderson was 11 years old, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan.[6] She attended Fountain Elementary and then City High-Middle School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in 1986.[5]

Like some other actors (notably Linda Thorson and John Barrowman) Anderson is bidialectal. With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest accent. To this day, her accent depends on her location — for instance, in an interview with Jay Leno she spoke in an American accent, but shifted it for an interview with Michael Parkinson.[7][8][9]

Anderson was interested in marine biology,[5] but began acting her freshman year in high school productions, and later in community theater, and served as a student intern at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre & School of Theatre Arts. She attended The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago (formerly the Goodman School of Drama), where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990.[10] She also participated in the National Theatre of Great Britain's summer program at Cornell University.[5]

Anderson's brother died in 2011 of a brain tumor, at the age of 30