gillian leigh anderson, (born august 9, 1968) is an american-british film, television and theatre actress, activist and writer. her credits include the roles of fbi special agent dana scully in the long-running and widely popular series "the x-files", ill-fated socialite lily bart in terence davies' film "the house of mirth" (2000), and dsi stella gibson on the bbc crime drama television series "the fall". among other honours, anderson has won a primetime emmy award, a golden globe award and two screen actors guild awards.