Sex Education fans are only just finding out Gillian Anderson isn’t British

Some fans of Sex Education have been getting an education of a completely different kind after realising that Gillian Anderson isn’t actually British at all.

Nope, it’s just a really convincing accent - as you can see in the below video:

This won’t be news to anyone who saw her in other TV shows and films before, unless they thought that she might just have happened to be able to produce a really convincing North American accent, as well.

In truth, the 55-year-old actor was born in Chicago, Illinois, although that doesn’t quite tell the whole story.

For example, there’s a reason why she might be particularly good at producing a British accent.

Simply put, she spent an awful lot of her time in the country when she was a child.

Despite being born in the Windy City, Anderson spent a lot of her childhood in both London and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Then, when she decided what she’d like to do with her life, she moved back to Chicago to study, then onto New York City to pursue her career fully.

Still, she considers herself to have both British and American identity, which might explain why she is so comfortable flitting between the two accents.

Netflix

Most people over a certain age will remember her proper breakout role in The X-Files in the 1990s.

Anderson played FBI Special Agent Dana Scully, alongside David Duchovny as Special Agent Mulder.

The pair were tasked with investigating all sorts of paranormal goings on, and even made an appearance in The Simpsons along the way.

From there, Gillian Anderson has played a character with a British accent on a number of occasions, including in A Cock and Bull Story back in 2004.

Oh, she was also Margaret Thatcher in The Crown and Edwina Mountbatten in TV show Viceroy’s House.

Speaking on a podcast about Sex Education, she was explaining how she ended up getting the role of Jean Milburn, but the most interesting thing – given the comments – appears to be that no-one realised she wasn’t British.

It’s a compliment on a job well done, I guess.

One person wrote: “I was so convinced she was British.”

“Why didn’t I know this was her accent?” said another.

A third wrote: “So wild to me that Gillian Anderson is British, she’s so brilliant.”

Netflix

Anyway, in case you’re wondering how she got the role, Anderson said that she was initially hesitant as to whether to take it on as she wasn’t sure it was ‘entirely her world’.

In the end, her husband noticed that there was a member of Netflix’s team that he recognised and trusted, so encouraged her to do it.

It’s fair to say it has been a success.

On top of that, another draw was the character.

Anderson said that playing a character who is ‘out there as a 50+ women getting to be sexy and fully in her own body and sexuality’ was a big appeal to her, which meant that she eventually took the role.

After that, the British accent must have been easy.