You may not know her from How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, The Last King of Scotland, The House of Mirth, Closure, The Mighty, or even Hell Cab. But you do know her as Special Agent Dana Scully from the X-Files.

Gillian Anderson earned her breakthrough role as the badge toting medical doctor hunting aliens with the lead of her FBI partner. The series survived ten seasons, a movie, and a sequel. The television series could easily stamp Anderson with the typecast like her male co-star, if not for her unfailing dedication.

Anderson continued to practice her craft with small parts while her small screen persona raked in the money. In retrospect, it seems as if Anderson stumbled onto a goldmine while her real dream was to strive as an actress. Or perhaps Anderson was smart enough to pick her roles so completely different than her popular television role in order to keep out of the pigeon hole audiences and directors love to use.

Anderson threw herself into dingy roles with The Mighty and Hell Cab to show she could offer more. She refused to be typecasted. She pushed herself in drastically different roles audiences are not used to seeing her.

In closure, she really stretched herself. Anderson’s performance turn any person’s head. You watch her character work through a 180 degree turn. In the end, her performance make you want to spend and hour in the shower scrubbing yourself clean. She made you believe every moment you watch.

Her versatility shined through with her different venue choices and her master of accents. Anderson did not limit herself to work in movies and television. She has given an award winning performance in Micheal Weller’s What The Night is For in London. Anderson doned her childhood English accent for roles in Closure and The Last King of Scotland.

She did it with pride and with no concern for the paycheck. Gillian Anderson is a great actress and is proof to what all one-dimensional actors and actresses should strive for.