PRESS RELEASE:
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®, Golden Globe®and SAG® 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® Award and one Golden Globe® 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.
Fans can tweet @AmericanGodsSTZ, @STARZ_Channel and @FMNATV and join the conversation with #AmericanGods.
About Starz
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television networks (Starz Networks) and global content distribution (Starz Distribution), www.starz.com. The Starz Networks operating unit is home to the flagship STARZ® brand with 24.0 million subscribers in the United States as of March 31, 2016, with the STARZ ENCORESM network at 32.4 million subscribers. Through STARZ, the company provides high quality, entertaining premium subscription video programming with 17 premium pay TV channels and associated on-demand and online services. STARZ is sold through U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, telecommunications companies, and other online and digital platforms. Starz offers subscribers more than 5,000 distinct premium television episodes and feature films every year and up to 1,500 every month, including STARZ Original series, first-run movies and other popular movie and television programming. The Starz Distribution operating unit is home to the Anchor Bay Entertainment, Starz Digital, and Starz Worldwide Distribution divisions. In addition to STARZ Original series, Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires movies, television and other entertainment content for worldwide home video, digital, and television licensing and sales.
About FremantleMedia North America
FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) is a premier content studio, producing and distributing original programming across all media platforms. FMNA and its portfolio of companies, including Original Productions and 495 Productions, create entertaining and innovative scripted and alternative programs for network, cable, syndicated and online partners, with a diverse, critically-acclaimed and award-winning slate. Its successful programming includes America’s Got Talent (NBC), Family Feud (SYN), Let’s Make A Deal (CBS), The Price Is Right (CBS), The Great Christmas Light Fight (ABC), Deadliest Catch (Discovery), Jay Leno’s Garage (CNBC) Married to Medicine (Bravo), Blue Collar Millionaires (CNBC), Ice Road Truckers (HISTORY), Storage Wars (A&E), Celebrity Family Feud (ABC), Celebrity Name Game (SYN), To Tell The Truth (ABC), Hollyweed (Independent) and American Gods (STARZ), among others. FMNA also operates BUZZR, a retro game show network that launched in 2015, and is available in the top 10 U.S. markets, and 60 percent of the country.
FMNA is the U.S. arm of global media giant FremantleMedia, which includes a distribution arm, FremantleMedia International, a digital and branded entertainment division and a kids & family entertainment business. As one of the world’s largest and most successful creators, producers and distributors of TV brands in the world, FremantleMedia’s comprehensive global network has operations in 31 countries, creating over 10,000 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 45 formats and managing over 350 individual titles. The company also distributes more than 20,000 hours of content in over 200 territories. For more information, visit www.fremantlemedia.com, follow us @FMNATV and visit our Facebook page.
