From Autumn Issue 63
Glass speaks to actor Gillian Anderson on being a teenage punk, playing unforgettable women and generally trying to shake things up
Gillian Anderson sits in the rarefied air of modern womanhood where one doesn’t ask for permission but acts on instinct, an individual that possesses the power to turn heads, not by force but by sheer presence.
At 57, she has not just become known as an actor of startling depth, but a woman unafraid to hold space – on screen, on stage and in life. For more than three decades, she has moved with chameleonic brilliance between projects, inhabiting roles as complex and contradictory as the many women who watch her, from Margaret Thatcher in The Crown to Emily Maitlis in Scoop.
Though she encompasses a complex duality, there is a singular motivating thread evident in everything she does, even beyond scripts – a promise to empower the female perspective, a vow to be her own heroine.
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
Born in Chicago but raised in north London, Anderson’s early childhood was steeped in British sensibilities. At 11, her family returned to the States, moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, marking a significant shift but one softened by an annual return to their London flat each summer. It was through this back and forth that she quietly developed an ear for both British and American accents, moving fluidly between the two, a trait that would later become one of her trademarks.
This duality, however, extended beyond her voice. The contrast between the suburbs of Michigan and London’s street culture would soon combust, altering her teenage outlook on the world. “It started more with the discovery of style – I don’t think I’d ever paid attention to how I had dressed before,” recalls Anderson, pinpointing one summer in particular that recalibrated how she saw herself. “I went back to Michigan armed with this new way of dressing and it made a real impact.”
London in the ‘70s was a melting pot of subcultures and punk was the one that spoke to her. “I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence and something about that summer, when I went back to the UK and discovered style, started a voice inside of me, an identity. One that I hadn’t grabbed onto before and was very much a British identity. When I moved to the States I took ownership of where I’d come from rather than where I currently was, so it led to me meeting people in the punk scene and taking control of my rebellious side.”
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
She had unknowingly begun to seed a foundation that would remain true to today. On the one hand, she’s private and wants to go unnoticed and on the other she wants to be seen. “I wasn’t just different on the inside, I was also different on the outside from the norm.” When she shaved her head, she recalls flipping off passers-by who dared to stare.
Amid these expressive shifts, at 15 she entered a relationship with someone older. After three years, she discovered he’d had an affair. “Instead of imploding, I think what it did was actually give me strength to take the reins of my dream and pursue that with everything in me.” The dream was acting. Without hesitation, she moved to Chicago to study at the Theatre School at DuPaul University. “I felt like I was speeding towards the rest of my life and I’m very pleased that that was the trajectory of my story and not the opposite.”
The pointy boots, oversized thrift dresses and matted hair hadn’t quite left her. When she took a trip to New York after graduation to meet her new agent, he affectionately nicknamed her “urchin” while instructing her to dress more appropriately for auditions. After a string of successful call-backs for Fox’s upcoming sci-fi series, The X-Files, Anderson, then 24 and still an unknown name on the circuit, spectacularly landed the lead role of Dana Scully. “But I was still inside that person, a rebellious teen. It was only the character in front of the camera that was this put-together person,” she reveals.
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
“That is so much of what I feel like I’ve started championing lately in young women. What was inside of me felt so opposite and at odds with the thing I was needing for the sake of earning money. This is my dream. I’ve been hired as this character and I need to get over the fact that the person inside of me doesn’t feel worthy. I had no experience before this show and it very quickly became a No.1 hit, and I had to perpetually pretend that I had her confidence.”
For the first year or so of filming and during the accompanying press tour, Anderson admits she was haunted with imposter syndrome, scared that she would be fired at any point due to her inexperience. “I really believe that we all have the ability to act as if we are what we want to be,” she continues. “In doing that literally on a daily basis, I started to get more confidence and believe I could actually do this thing.” A decade and 11 seasons later, she left the role with an Emmy, a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a metamorphosis into a globally recognised star radiating confidence.
Roles followed, and fast, from leading parts in franchises like Johnny English to a supporting part in Academy-award winning The Last King of Scotland, and adaptations like Great Expectations and Moby Dick. Even then, her choice of roles revealed an uncanny ability to shapeshift across genres at a rapid pace, moulding a career populated by unforgettable female characters.
But it was in 2013, in a silk blouse, pencil skirt and a fixed blow out, that her portrayal of Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson in The Fall carved a space on television for a new kind of female authority – one neither hardened by trauma nor softened for male comfort. Over the course of three seasons, her calm, emotionally analytical pursuit of serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) upended stereotypes, creating a new kind of heroine.
“By the time Stella came around, this confidence in self was already a part of me, not just as an actor but as a human being,” says Anderson, who after finishing the series in 2016 returned to stage for A Streetcar Named Desire. “I wanted to scare myself again and push my boundaries,” she says, revealing it had been a lifelong dream to play Blanche DuBois since she first read her monologue at school 30 years earlier. “The fact I got to play both those characters [Stella and Blanche] in the same year, I thought if my career ended today I would be happy because I had accomplished my dreams.”
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
If strength had become her shield, it was instinct that was her sword. Sex Education, she says, belongs to a group of projects she accepted without understanding the cultural depth of their meaning until their release. Playing Jean Milburn, a sex therapist and mother to the lead, Otis (Asa Butterfield), Anderson entered the realm of comedy drama. Here, she was given the rare space to play a mother figure who was proudly sexual, messy and professionally brilliant.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the complexity of Jean,” she declares. “There are so many different ways women can be complex, whether it’s dealing with postpartum, menopause or dealing with self-worth around career. There was so much that I got to play with while at the same time doing it with humour – it felt like a real gift.”
The storyline itself was championed for opening the curtain on intimacy, queerness, trauma and shame, and all the nuances within them. “To be a part of that, actually leaning into it and embracing it, was really important to me as a person. To be a vocal proponent of diversity and inclusion, and freedom of expression – I didn’t realise how strongly I felt about the importance of allowing anybody, but particularly women, to be whoever they wish.”
Not long after the series wrapped up, Bloomsbury approached her to take the conversation further “It made perfect sense to me that I would be the one to do it,” she says earnestly. “One, because of Jean. Women would write to me, so they would accept that I am the one putting this call out. But also, I am Jean. I’m non-judgemental and compassionate, and I think that’s very necessary.” The result is Want, a curated book of anonymous letters written by diverse women about their sexual fantasies. Its immediate rise to No.1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list and translation into 27 languages was proof that, even in 2025, female autonomy in a sexual space is ground-breaking.
“One of the most extraordinary things that came out of it is that women are starting to really think about what it is that they want, and not just in the bedroom but what they want from their lives,” states Anderson. Though the pages are illustrated with intricate fantasies of how they want to be loved – or in some cases, in a far more intense and rough manner – there is more to this project than the bedroom. It’s about women coming into their own, on their own terms, much like Anderson did back then.
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
This autumn, the actor makes her long-awaited return to the sci-fi genre with Tron: Ares, the third instalment of the cult-favourite Tron series. “I haven’t really stepped into sci-fi since doing The X-Files,” she notes. “I was over the moon when they asked me. I loved the film when I was younger and I got the sense that the producers and director Joachim Rønnig were going to make the most of it.”
Joining Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Evan Peters, the blockbuster sequel follows the journey of AI crossing the border from the digital world into the physical. “We are beyond the precipice now and are hurtling towards an existence where AI is not in our midst but in everything we do,” she says, comparing the film to reality. The experience itself she admits was overwhelming, entering sets built with airplane hangars and futuristic looking sound stages.
Anderson’s restless ambition means she has two more projects coming out before the end of the year, one of them, The Abandons, a Netflix series and her first ever role in a Western. “I’d never even thought about doing one before they asked. It’s something different, fun and intense.” Starring alongside Lena Headey, the two play duelling matriarchs protecting their families and land – again, a feminine recentring of a stereotypical masculine genre.
Also on the way is Channel 4’s Trespasses, a series based on Louise Kennedy’s eponymous novel set in 1970s Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Here Anderson plays an alcoholic mother to Lola Petticrew’s character, caught between passion and religious allegiance. “It was a labour of love,” she says in a tone suggesting that the role may have weighed heavy on her. But that’s the thing with Anderson, she doesn’t do the expected: “I’ve done lots of different things to continue to shake it up.”
Anderson’s influence extends well beyond the lens. A quiet force behind the camera, she now helms her own production company, G Nus Media, where she is shaping new narratives. She’s in the midst of putting together a follow-up to her bestselling book that has opened up such a frank conversation about female sexuality, and even launched a non-alcoholic drinks company, G-Spot, designed with adaptogenic pleasure in mind. For all the formidable women she’s played, it’s Anderson herself who remains the most compelling – a woman unafraid to speak plainly, reinvent herself and, most importantly, continually make space for both you and me.
by Imogen Clark
Photographer: Jason Hetherington
Stylist: Martha Ward
Hair: Sandra Hahnel using L’ORÉAL PROFESSIONNEL
Makeup: Amanda Grossman
Manicurist: Chiara Ballisai
Photography assistant: Alfie Bungay
Styling assistant: Jessica Miller
Talent: Gillian Anderson
All jewellery worn throughout BOUCHERON
Look 1: Question Mark reversible necklace in 18K white gold with diamond and rock crystal BOUCHERON, Dress HERMÈS
Look 2: Untamed Nature Histoire de Style collection Avoine brooch in 18K white gold with diamond BOUCHERON, Dress ROKSANDA
Look 3: Plume De Paon ring in 18K white gold with diamond and pearl, Plume De Paon earrings in 18K white gold with diamond and pearl, both BOUCHERON, Dress DIOR
Look 4: Quatre Classique studs in 18K yellow, white and pink gold with diamond and brown PVD, Left hand: Quatre Classique two finger ring in 18K yellow, white and pink gold with diamond and brown PVD, Right hand: Quatre Classique small ring in 18K yellow, white and pink gold with brown PVD, Quatre Classique bracelet in 18K yellow, white and pink gold, diamond with brown PVD, all BOUCHERON, Jacket and skirt FENDI
Look 5: Hopi the Hummingbird ring in 18K yellow and white gold with diamond and yellow beryl BOUCHERON, Dress GABRIELA HEARST