The Famous Faces of Clan Anderson

Born in Chicago in 1968, actress Gillian Anderson is most famous for her role as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, which she starred in from the age of just 24. The science fiction TV show ran for 9 seasons, during which time Anderson won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Saturn Award. She’s the first actress ever to win an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award in the same year. Phew - that’s quite an achievement!

Another American Anderson, Wes was born in Houston, Texas in 1969. The film director is well-known for his kooky and quirky films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Fantastic Mr Fox which are all filmed in a distinctive style making use of symmetrical imagery, a small colour palette and highly stylised settings. He’s been nominated for many awards, and was the winner of both a BAFTA and Golden Globe award for The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014.

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia in 1897, and was a contralto who performed a range of music including classical and spiritual. She was a key figure in the fight for equality for African-American artists during the mid-twentieth century, and in 1939 she performed an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. after she was denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall under a “white performers only” clause. In 1955, Anderson was the first African-American singer to perform with the Metropolitan Orchestra in New York.

Clive Anderson is an English comedian and former barrister, best known for his work on the long-running TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?He hosted the comedy improvisation show, which began as a radio programme before successfully transitioning to television, for ten seasons from 1988 to 1999. The show won a BAFTA award in 1990, and Anderson won awards for ‘Top Entertainment Presenter’ and ‘Top Radio Comedy Personality’ at the British Comedy Awards in 1991.

This smart Anderson was an American physicist, responsible for his discovery of the positron in 1932, and the muon in 1936. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the positron, an award which recognises outstanding contributions in the field and is widely regarded as the most highly regarded award a scientist can receive.

Gary Anderson is a professional darts player who was born in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh and goes by the nickname ‘The Flying Scotsman’. He’s a former world champion, having won the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Darts Championships twice, in 2015 and 2016. Anderson is widely regarded as one of the greatest darts players in the industry.

An American make-up and prosthetics artist, David Leroy Anderson is well-known for his work on a wide range of films such as The Nutty Professor and Men In Black, both of which secured him an Academy Award win for Best Makeup. He runs AFX Studio with his wife, Heather Langenkamp Anderson, through which he works on several TV series including American Horror Story, as well as films.

You might not have realised that his surname is Anderson, but if you’ve ever had a Myspace profile, you’ll know Tom. Tom Anderson founded the social networking platform with Chris DeWolfe in 2003, and Tom was automatically assigned as a friend to every new Myspace user. In 2005 the platform was sold to NewsCorp for $580 million, and Anderson remained in his role as president until 2009. Since then, it seems that he’s been enjoying his retirement and has become a prolific photographer.

James Anderson is an English cricketer who currently plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club and the English international cricket team. He’s currently ranked 8th in the International Cricket Council Test Bowling Player Rankings, and has previously ranked in the top spot. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket in 2015, and received his OBE at Buckingham Palace the following year.