1990s: beginnings and global success

Alongside David Duchovny at the San Diego Comic-Con 2013, for the 20 th  anniversary of the series X-Files .
She discovered a passion for the theater and graduated from the Chicago University of Dramatic Arts . For her "comedy was the only way to feel good at the time" . She leaves for New York and earns her living as a waitress while playing in small rooms.

After two roles in two short films ( Three at Once and A Matter of Choice ) and a supporting role in The Turning , she took a role in theater in Absent Friends and Celia's role in The Philanthropist in 1992 . After this successful role, she moves to Los Angeles to join a boyfriend and try to break into the business while stubbornly refusing any role on television .

Finally, after a meeting with Chris Carter , she accepted the role of Dana Scully in X-Files , alongside David Duchovny . Although the directors of the FOX find that Gillian is not sexy enough, they trust Carter .

The series met with immense success from Season 3 and in 1997 , Gillian received the Emmy Award for Best Television Actress. She also realizes an episode of the series, episode 17 of season 7: Existences .

In 1996, she was elected "the most beautiful woman in the world" by FHM magazine for which she posed, creating a certain buzz , no one expecting to see Gillian posing in underwear or in extremely tight suit, She is known only for her role as Dana Scully , a rather austere and rather strict character. Gillian also participated once in a fan convention, to see the effect it was doing, but his presence creates a riot during an autograph session. The media, who were initially interested in David Duchovny, became more interested in her. So she does a lot of magazine covers like Rolling Stones , TV Guide , Esquire or SFX . Her television appearances are becoming more and more numerous, she is asked to present various programs, including Future Fantastic , on the subject of science fiction .

She meets the group Hal and records with them the single Extremis which is a small success in the United Kingdom and Australia . She lends her voice to her character for the audio version of the book derived from X-Files Point Zero ( Ground Zero ). In 1998, she still lends her voice to her character in The Simpsons in the episode On the Borders of the Real and plays in the film of X-Files for which she receives 4 million dollars. In parallel to the shooting of X-Files , it turns, in 2000 , In Chez les Heureux du Monde , where she plays the lead role of Lily Bart . His interpretation earned him several awards.

She is expected to resume the role of agent Clarice Starling (which Carter was inspired for Scully's character ) in Hannibal at the cinema, but his contract with X-Files forbade him to play another FBI agent. In 2002, the series will end after its 9 th  season .

At the end of the series, she moved to London , now alternating theater and cinema.

2000s: theater and cinema

The actress in Buskaid, London, July 2004.
2003 marks his return to the West End with the play What The Night Is For with Roger Allam . A year later, she reiterated her work with Rebecca Gilman in The Sweetest Swing In Baseball, which earned her a great success and particularly lavish critics. In the same year, she married journalist Julian Ozanne in Kenya .

In 2005 she returned to the screens: Despite her desire to break away from television, she was offered the role of Lady Dedlock in the mini-series La Maison d' Âpre -Vent , adaptation of Charles 's classic Dickens . For her performance, she was selected at the Bafta and the Emmy Awards in 2006.

In the cinema, she continues in this historical vein with the British comedy Shooting in an English garden , by Michael Winterbottom , then returns to a contemporary universe with the Irish drama That Mighty Celt , with Robert Carlyle . Two works hailed by critics. It is nevertheless his participation in the thriller The Last King of Scotland , by Kevin Macdonald , that attracts the most attention. The feature film, which introduces James McAvoy to Hollywood, and allows Forest Whitaker to win the Oscar for Best Actor, brings it back to the forefront.

She nevertheless avoids projects too exposed, and thus returns in 2007 headlined by the independent thriller Straightheads , written and directed by Dan Reed , alongside Danny Dyer  ; and in 2008 held a supporting role in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People of Robert B. Weide first test Simon Pegg headlining in Hollywood. Both films are critical and commercial failures.

She has no more chance with X-Files: Regeneration , second feature film from the now cult series, five years after its end. Entitled I Want to Believe , and released in the summer of 2008, the film receives very bad reviews and fails at the box office.

The actress now no more than one film a year: in 2009 , she is part of the main cast of the independent comedy Boogie Woogie , with Heather Graham  ; In 2011 , holds a supporting role in the blockbuster action Johnny English, back , alongside another British comedian, Rowan Atkinson . Two critical failures. On the other hand, in 2012 , she took second roles in the acclaimed French drama L'Enfant d'en haut , written and directed by Ursula Meier , alongside Léa Seydoux , then in the thriller Shadow Dancer ,

It is on television that it finds more developed roles.

Years 2010: television return and critical revival

Has a convention in Toronto, in August 2012.
It is first in a historical record that it is distinguished: in 2010 , it is part of the main distribution of the mini-series of the BBC Any Human Heart , where it lends its features to Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor; And in 2011 she appeared not only in two episodes of the mini-series The Crimson Petal and the White , but mostly starred in the female role of the acclaimed Great Expectations .

In 2013 , she returned to a modern universe, still on the BBC, headliner of the thriller series The Fall , alongside the young Jamie Dornan . The program is hailed by international critics, and receives multiple awards. The shooting allows him to rotate in parallel.

She agrees to play a recurring role in the American series Hannibal , developed by Bryan Fuller . His chilling and complex interpretation of the psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier, closely related to the main character, impresses criticism. However, the actress only managed to participate in four episodes of the second season.

The NBC channel that broadcasts Hannibal , actually mobilizes it on the shoot of a novelty, Crisis . In this series of action, launched on March 16, 2014 in the United States , she lends her features to Meg Fitch, director of a major company and sister of Suzie, embodied by Rachael Taylor . The program is a critical and commercial failure, and stops in indifference after a dozen episodes.

On the other hand, The Fall , returns to the BBC for a second season, on which she now also officiates as a producer. In addition, Bryan Fuller can promote her to the rank of principal actress for the third season of Hannibal . The series ventures into an even more black and ambitious record, reaping excellent reviews, but failing to reap satisfactory audiences. She is therefore stopped at the end of this last batch of episodes, thus concluding the adaptation of the novel Dragon Rouge , by Thomas Harris .

The year 2016 confirms this return to television grace: it returns first of all on the American channel FOX for a tenth season of X-Files  ; Holds a supporting role in the historic War and Peace series  ; And finally leads the third season of The Fall .

In the movies, she starred in the action movie Robot Overlords , written and directed by Jon Wright , and returned to the stage for a new theatrical adaptation of a tram named Désir , first in London and then in New York York.