Gillian Anderson Quotations

I hope everyone that is reading this is having a really good day. And if you are not, just know that in every new minute that passes you have an opportunity to change that.

I have a real problem with stillness. With just stopping and being quiet.

In time, she learned to develop her own opinion of the people that she worked for, and she got stronger. Think she's now much stronger. In the beginning she wanted to believe she was strong but sometimes she faltered.

I truly believe that we can overcome any hurdle that lies before us and create the life we want to live. I have seen it happen time and time again.

Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need.

Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.

I was a daydreamer, and there is a lot of history and geography and science I missed out on because I was in my head. And I regret that.

To re-live these characters would be wonderful, because I know when the show ends it will be huge mourning process.

Layers are not difficult for me. You have the luxury of takes, so if you feel like, say, you did not take in the fact that your aunt is across the way in one take, you do it again and try to add that piece.

The first time, where Fox Mulder and Scully met, she stands up for herself. She stands right there and gives it to him and that was extremely attractive.

My whole belief system is that our paths are drawn for us. I believe in reincarnation. I believe we're here to learn and grow. We choose how we come into this life based on what it is we have to learn. Some people have harder lessons than others.

I was a good liar as a child.

I mean the whole thing about meditation and yoga is about connecting to the higher part of yourself, and then seeing that every living thing is connected in some way.

I believe people are in our lives for a reason. We're here to learn from each other.

After I did nine years of a television series, I didn't want to do anything really that involved going to a set and being in front of a camera for quite a while. And when I did start to want to do things, I wanted to focus more on film.

I have a tendency to go through my life at full speed and as a one-man band, and so I don't generally stop and take in other people enough to develop many relationships. I'm starting to regret that a bit. I want to change it.

When the show's not around any more, it's going to be hard not to have her in my life.

At the beginning Scully was much more sceptical than she is now.

I can goof around with other people right up to when we shoot.

I didn't pay as much attention in school as I would have liked to.

In my case, I was born to parents who were very young, and I don't think they were entirely ready to have a child. My dad was going to college and working two or three jobs at the same time, and my mum was working and going to school.

I think we're tremendously different than the series, if they were to tune in to the series after seeing the movie they might be disappointed. That there was, you know, that they might have some kind of adverse reaction.

It's so funny, because right now I'm very tired and my brains a little dead, I tend to get very focused and serious. So, I'm probably coming off a lot more like Scully right now.

You know, it's a big version of an episode, which I think is necessary at this point because we're drawing in people who not only people who have seen the show before and are devoted to it, but people who have never seen it before.

Sometimes I read a script and it's obvious from early on that it's one where the suspension of disbelief has to develop strongly from page one. Some are more reality-based.

I think she definitely has. I think, um, her and Mulder's relationship has become more equal. And, I think she has become stronger and more independent over the seasons.

To my detriment sometimes. I can be very controlled - too controlled. It spills over into my life, and that's when it gets difficult.

Motherhood has been enormously healthy for her. She's more secure.

I also respond very strongly to characters I have not done before ... something I can really sink my teeth into, and what's scary, and what terrifies me, because that's where I need to go.

I think we were all coming in saying, you know, this will probably last for twelve episodes and then we'll all go home and start making movies.

Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with

So much of this world is based on illusion, temporariness, and disposability that I think it's essential that our closest relationships reflect what is real.

On The X-Files we shoot out of sequence every day, and sometimes we're shooting three different episodes at one time, so I'm used to that.

I try in my life to follow my heart in terms of what moves me and what is important to me. I know what it feels like to do things that are soul-decaying, and a lot of the large aspects of life in Hollywood, in the stereotypical way, I find unbelievably soul-decaying, and I choose, albeit frustratingly to other people in my life, not to expose myself to too much of that.

David (Duchovny) and I and (creator/producer) Chris Carter have been excited about and determined to do the next 'X Files' movie. I think it would be a huge amount of fun to get together in kind of a reunion situation and just make a really good, really scary film.

I hadn't read the novel Bleak House . I'd read Dickens, but not this novel. I'd read several of his great novels, though I think it's different if you read them when you're young. You appreciate the storytelling, the stand-out characters, but you don't appreciate his ability as a writer, the depth of his humanity. He writes about everything, the rich, the poor, the prisons, the law courts, the country houses, the orphans and the families. I read the script for Bleak House and I was tentative about it. I'd told the producers, 'I don't do television.' But they charmed me and I did actually read the novel. I was captivated.

In England, it's much easier to flip between doing television and film. It doesn't ruin one's career the way it sometimes does in America. I had to take that on faith, but from the moment I started working on it, it was the best fun I'd had in a really long time.

I'm a massive fan of Sunshine. Oh my God, I love that film.

People always ask if I was really voted Most Bizarre Girl in high school. But that one's actually true. I was living in Michigan in a very conservative town and had a nose-ring and a shaved head and did kind of strange things.

I've got huge tubs full of stuff that I can sell on eBay. If there are people out there that are interested, I want them to come my way and buy my jackets and hats and scripts that are signed by everybody.

I've seen productions where it feels like the actors are just tired and want to go home. That is one of the challenges doing theater - especially a long production - how to keep it alive for yourself and the audience.

Every now and then we'd meet up and reminisce about the characters. At the beginning, shortly after we started shooting, someone sent me some clips put together on youtube. It was the first time I'd seen something like that. "The intimate moments of Mulder and Scully."

In retrospect, I think that I've been given quite a few scripts over the years that had dark elements to them but most of them took place in the countryside with a haunted house. I think I've probably had that script about six to 10 times over the past few years. Or it was something to do with the supernatural.

Directing was a transformative experience for me, one that I really enjoyed.

I always felt I wasn't completely American and I wasn't completely British: there was a feeling of having my feet in both places.

What happens in our lives is not really anybody's fault but our own... When I was in high school, I was in an atheist crowd, and it was the consensus that religion was a crutch.

When I finished the series, I wasn't going to do television again. I never wanted to do television to begin with, and I was so exhausted by the process that I was wary of being in front of the camera again.

There is a difference between being listened to and being heard.

I became an actor because it was the only thing I could do. I didn't have any friends, I didn't fit in. But when I started acting everything in my life shifted and I felt happy.

I'm sure with a production that's not particularly well received or mediocrely received, it must be incredibly challenging to get up and keep doing it.

I would never point a finger at anyone and say, 'They lived their life badly.' I take it as it comes and deal with each situation as it arrives.

Self-esteem should have nothing to do with what you look like – if you exude genuine confidence, people will be swept into it. You have to be able to hold yourself.

I'm actually very scared of sharks. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was young, which may not have been compatible with that fear.

So much of this world is based on illusion, temporaries, and disposability that I think it's essential that our closest relationships reflect what is real.

My default is self-destruction, and anything on top of that is a bloody lot of work.

It's funny because sometimes one doesn't actually consider these things for one's self until one's in a situation like this [press conferece] where one has to kind of think about it.

Vibration is always good. Sitting on top of the washing machine thats going.

Sometimes having a big amount of time is a gift, because by the time you're at the end of the run you feel like you've figured it out finally or discovered everything you can about the character. Sometimes that's not the case.

I am more spontaneous than my character.

Only once have I taken on a role where I felt that I didn't quite understand her, but I said yes anyway. I don't think I'll ever do that again.

When I think of normality I think of mediocrity

I truly beleive that we can overcome any hurdle that lies before us.

I’m trying to accept where I’m at, not run from it.

I will only take something or agree to do something that I feel like I understand, and inherent in understanding is empathy.

We are all dying. Every single day that we are alive!

It is not a matter of being fearless. The fear is sometimes constant, but it's about moving forward regardless of the fear. Courage means feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Sometimes I struggle to watch stuff that I've done and sometimes I don't, and I'm sure that my judgment is based on whether I feel like I accomplished what I set out to accomplish.

People have been willing to accept that the government is lying to us, but (are now) more willing to accept the concept of aliens and other life forms. There's just a slew of stuff out there right now. It's been people's closet belief system, and now it's coming out of the closet.

By moving to London I removed myself from the madness of the entertainment industry. I love the city and the culture, and it was an opportunity to bring my children up in a more sane environment.

Having been Scully for such a long time, I have to prove myself in other roles.

Education is key. We have to keep girls in school and give them the same opportunities that boys have. They need access to vocational training and mentorship, as well. It's an issue of gender equality, which is fortunately a hot topic right now, but we need to keep at it and not rest on our laurels.

Mads is such a talented actor - it's almost like he wears his emotions on his sleeve, but not all the time - when he decides that he needs to, he has such access to his emotional life and it is just really incredible. He can do everything with just his eyes.

I hope everyone that is reading this is having a really good day

You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.

I simply cannot fathom the horrors of being enslaved, and the thought that children are ripped apart from their families and used year in and out for sex and hard labor under the threat of violence and death breaks my heart.

I know people who are embarrassed to be American. They don't like showing their passports. It's becoming a scary place. It takes someone very brave not to be quiet, someone who doesn't mind death threats, their life being turned upside down, news cameras outside their door. There is no freedom of speech in America anymore. They are not living up to the constitution. There's so much fear in America and control.

Thinking man's crumpet? Well, it's more flattering than being a lobotomised man's crumpet, I suppose...

You're only given as much as you can handle at any given time. Whether it's true or not, it gives you the strength.

It's a proven fact that when you raise the status of girls and women in a country, that country does much better economically.

Sometimes, I genuinely enjoy having conversations with journalists; enjoying the few moments of intimacy with a stranger is fascinating to me. But once in a while that backfires and you're suddenly reading something that has a bent on it that you didn't feel was in the least bit a part of the conversation that you thought you were having. Then you get overly protective and say very little and then you come out of the hole again.

If I chose to have a nanny, I'd be able to pay to have a nanny - a lot of women don't have that opportunity. I don't feel like I'm a working single mom, because I have that option that a lot of people don't have.

People come in and out of our lives to teach us. And we teach other people. It's part of the process. They come in and they go out. Some stay for longer than others.

We can only make ourselves the victim.

Success has nothing to do with happiness.

I used to take myself very seriously, now it's all just funny. You gotta laugh at yourself. You know, most of the time when something's a big deal for us, it's only become a big deal in the space between our ears.

There is this view that if you are not tormented you cannot be vital and creative. I would like to think that is not true.

Right now the topic of female empowerment is at the forefront of conversation and it's important we take advantage of the trend while there is added pressure to adjust long-standing beliefs, prejudices, and cultural discrimination.

When I'm inside the character, I feel like I'm a different person, and then when you see that character on screen and I see that it's me, I find that disappointing.

There's a big part of me that would love to be a secret agent. But if I showed up to do an investigation and interrogate someone now, they wouldn't be able to take me seriously. I've ruined that for myself.

Well, it seems to me that the best relationships-the ones that last-are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship.

Unfortunately, the belief that women are a minority is endemic in most cultures around the world. Obviously some take it to the extreme where violence against women is legal and supported and in other cultures it is more subversive and easy to dismiss as "progress."

People generally treat me like I'm very intelligent and really, I'm much less intelligent than she is. Scully is insanely intelligent.

We have to raise the status of girls and women in every country.

I love it when women come up to me and tell me I'm a positive influence on their lives and the lives of their young daughters. That's a great feeling.

Let's stop being so damn judgemental & crucifying everyone who doesn't fit into our boxed-in perceptions of what is right.

Human trafficking is a globally assisted pandemic that generates billions of dollars of income a year.

There are so many shocking things. Is it more shocking that there are children sold into slavery in every city in the world and right under our noses or that there are villages in Nepal where there are no children left because they have all been kidnapped for sex trafficking, or that there are generations of slaves in some countries where indentured slavery passes from generation to generation and that kids grow into adults not knowing that another world - another life - exists?

I wouldn't say I'm normal. But I'm relatively stable. When I think of normal, I think of mediocrity, and mediocrity scares the f--- out of me.