Before They Were Stars: 17-Year Old Gillian Anderson Recites Poetry on a Public Access Show

Gillian Anderson was born in America, but spent much of her childhood living with her family in the United Kingdom. As a result, she is bidialectal, which means that depending on the situation, she will alternate between speaking in an American and English accent. Anderson’s first television appearance came at the age of 17 when she and her boyfriend sneaked onto the set of some British public access show. When the program started running short, they asked Anderson to fill some time by appearing on the show and reciting weird poetry her boyfriend had written for her.