Talk:Gillian Anderson

Postnomial “OBE”

While the OBE is honorary per the article, Anderson remains an American citizen. Using “OBE” following her name is inappropriate. For consistency across Wikipedia, imagine the Rudy Giuliani article used “Sir Rudy Giuliani” - as he was also awarded that honorary title. Americans do not use honorary postnomials beyond academic/professional qualifications and “rtd” for senior military. 2601:8C3:8600:D00:163:D78D:AC55:9691 (talk) 12:21, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

British

Gillian Anderson is both British and American and I feel this should be acknowledged in the opening sentence, rather than simply listing her as an American actress. Although born in the US, she lived in England from the ages of 2 to 11, moved back there in her 30s, and has lived there ever since. She has spent more of her life in the United Kingdom than in the United States, and even speaks naturally with an English accent except when she is back in the US. While she may not have British citizenship (this much I'm not sure about), I still think her English nationality is an important part of her and the opening sentence should refer to her as as both American and British. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 18:16, 19 October 2025 (UTC)

England isnt a nationality. There is no such thing as an English passport. She's also not English or British. Sanbear (talk) 15:39, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

In what way is she not English or British? Just curious. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 17:26, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Well, she's not a British citizen. So, she's not British.

Just because she's lived in the UK for a long time doesn't make her British. Sanbear (talk) 08:41, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

She spent the first decade of her childhood in England. Does that not mean anything? IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 21:54, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

It means she lived in the UK. It doesn't grant her UK citizenship.

She was born in the US, went to school there and is America. She's not British. Sanbear (talk) 23:47, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Hmmm... should you and I have a good old fashioned edit war about this? 😉 2001:569:FC7F:AD00:2094:5B10:7738:FE4A (talk) 23:58, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Oopsie... forgot to log in. Anyway, never mind. I rescind my challenge. Wikipedia is a pedantic place IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 00:01, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

It certainly is a pedantic place, but this isn't pedantry, this is just facts Sanbear (talk) 14:31, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Tying identity solely to legal nationality doesn't seem like the best path to me. I suggest you go push for all people described as English, Welsh, or Scottish to be called British instead and see how far you get. After all, as you say, there's no such thing as an English (or Welsh or Scottish) passport.

Except we still call some people English, Welsh, or Scottish, rather than British, because passports aren't everything. I'm sure there are similar examples for other stateless nations. The fact that she doesn't hold British citizenship (if indeed she doesn't) is irrelevant if she identifies as British or British-American. Though I would say we need at least one source saying she does in fact identify as such.

On the flip-side, many countries offer a citizenship by investment scheme. Yet I've never seen anyone describe, say, Andrew Tate as Vanuatuan. Again, legal nationality is not everything. TheLegendofGanon (talk) 22:13, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure she does identify as British as well as American. If I can dredge up a social media post written by her where she calls herself British is that good enough? IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 04:30, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Under the guidelines for self-published sources, as long as:

1. it is not unduly self-serving;

2. it does not involve claims about third parties;

3. it does not involve claims about events not directly related to the subject;

4. there is no reasonable doubt as to its authenticity; and

5. the article is not based primarily on such sources.

It's a perfectly acceptable source.

However, I would recommend trying to build a broader consensus first, if possible. It has occurred to me that another option is to include no nationality in the lede at all, as with Russell Crowe. He seems to be a similar case to Anderson, in that he was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, yet only holds New Zealand citizenship.

But I would suggest that something like this should be commented on by as many contributors as possible. TheLegendofGanon (talk) 16:11, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Honestly that might make more sense. Russell Crowe's not the only example of this on Wikipedia. Elon Musk, a South African who lives in the US and has citizenship in both countries as well as Canadian citizenship, is referred to without a nationality in the first sentence of his article. I agree that that's what we should do for Gillian. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 17:38, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Now, I don't have any concrete source, but perusing interviews with her it seems she identifies as being both British and American but doesn't really use either term on its own to describe herself - in one interview, which I'll try to find again, she says she feels her "soul is British and her cells are American".

If we can't incorporate both nationalities into the opening sentence, probably best to leave them both out. "Gillian Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an actress." IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 23:10, 3 January 2026 (UTC)