Guest Contributor
Starz and FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) announced today that Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”) will play Media in the upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel, American Gods.
Anderson plays Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods, functioning as their public face and sales representative, by taking the form of various iconic celebrities. She lives off the attention and worship that people give to screens-to their laptops, their TVs, to their iPhones in their hands while they watch their TVs. Ever the perky spokesperson, and always in control, she spins stories in whatever direction best suits her.
An Emmy(R), Golden Globe(R)and SAG(R) Award-winning actress, Gillian Anderson has long delighted audiences and critics alike with her versatile skills and classic beauty. Comfortable with any genre, from science fiction to period drama, Anderson will soon star in several prestigious projects on both stage and screen.
Anderson reprised her role as “Dana Scully” in the Fox cult-classic “The X-Files,” which premiered January, 2016. Anderson earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards, one Emmy(R) Award and one Golden Globe(R) Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and numerous nominations for her portrayal of Scully. She also recently appeared in the television mini-series “War and Peace” which aired this past January.
Anderson is currently in production on the third and final season of the critically acclaimed series “The Fall,” which will premiere this year.
Anderson reprised her role as “Blanche DuBois” in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York with the original cast from the London production. Anderson “[gave] the performance of her career,” as Blanche DuBois, according to The Telegraph.
Anderson is currently in production on the third and final season of the critically acclaimed series “The Fall,” which will premiere this year.
“A Dream of Ice,” the second novel in Anderson’s science fiction saga, was published by Simon & Schuster in December 2015. The first novel in the saga, “A Vision of Fire,” was released in October 2014. Anderson co-writes the thriller series with New York Times bestselling author Jeff Rovin. Her next novel, co-written with journalist and activist Jennifer Nadel, entitled “We – A Manifesto for Modern Women,” will be released by HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster on March 8, 2017.
Additional television credits include “Hannibal,” the 2011 miniseries “The Crimson Petal and the White,” as well as the TV adaptation of William Boyd’s novel, “Any Human Heart,” which earned her a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as “The Duchess of Windsor.”
In film, Anderson was most recently seen in the human trafficking-themed movie “Sold,” executive-produced by Emma Thompson and directed by Jeffrey D. Brown. Previous film credits include the Richie Metha-directed science-fiction mystery I’ll Follow You Down, Sandra Nettelbeck’s romance Last Love, the James Marsh-directed thriller Shadow Dancer, L’Enfant d’en Haut (Sister), the second film directed and written by Ursula Meier and the 2011 British action comedy hit Johnny English Reborn. In 1998, Anderson played “Dana Scully” in the feature film The X Files: Fight The Future. She reprised the role in 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Anderson has also provided voices for two Hayao Miyazaki films, Princess Mononoke and From Up on Poppy Hill.
In 2009, Gillian portrayed “Nora” in Zinnie Harris’ adaptation of “A Doll’s House” at London’s Donmar Warehouse, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress. She also was featured in the Royal Court’s Ian Rickson-directed production of Rebecca Gillman’s play “The Sweetest Swing In Baseball” in 2005 and she made her London stage debut in Michael Weller’s “What the Night Is For” in 2002.
After receiving her B.F.A. from the prestigious Goodman Theater School at Chicago’s DePaul University, she performed in the Manhattan Theater Club production of Alan Ayckborne’s “Absent Friends,” for which she won a Theatre World Award in 1991. In addition, she appeared in Christopher Hampton’s “The Philanthropist” at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT.
Over the last 15 years, Anderson has been strongly involved in many charity organizations: as a board member of Artists For A New South Africa, a spokesperson for Neurofibromatosis Inc., a founding member of South African Youth Education for Sustainability (SA-YES), an ambassador for Survival International and a patron of the Alinyiikira Junior School in Uganda, among many others. She remains outspoken about child and human trafficking and the impact of commercial fishing on deep sea life.
Anderson is represented by Michael Katcher of CAA.
American Gods has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
“American Gods” is produced by FremantleMedia North America. Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”) and Michael Green (“The River,” “Kings,” “Heroes”) are writers and showrunners. David Slade (“Hannibal,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) is directing the pilot and additional episodes. FMNA’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are executive producing the series along with Fuller, Green, Slade and Neil Gaiman. Senior Vice Presidents of Original Programming Marta Fernandez and Ken Segna are the Starz executives in charge of “American Gods.” Starz retains all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia is distributing the series worldwide.
