Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994                   TAG: 9402260178
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: 16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Lynn Elber Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                 LENGTH: Long

ACTRESS FINDS ROLE OF FBI AGENT HAS ITS OWN REWARDS

Anderson, who stars in the Fox TV series as an FBI agent assigned to cases with an otherworldly aura, may not be convincing viewers that UFOs or mutant serial killers really are out there.

But she's helped prove that a television role that allows a woman to be smart, professional, and the equal of her male partner does exist.

The chance to play FBI Special Agent Dana Scully was the series' key attraction, Anderson says.

"The X-Files," a surreal blend of crime-busting and science fiction, airs at 9 p.m. (EST) on Fridays (on WJPR/WFXR-Channel 21/27).

"I was reading something that for the first time in a long time involved a strong, independent intelligent woman as a lead character," she said by telephone from Vancouver, British Columbia, where the show films.

"I've gotten quite a few letters from young girls saying I'm a role model, and this is probably one of the best compliments I could get as an actor," Anderson said.

"It's terrific because of what the character represents: honesty, justice, hard work and dedication and passion - and if that's what they're tapping into, that's fantastic."

The petite, red-haired actress has yet to come to grips with her own sudden status as a TV heroine. Trained in the theater, she stepped before a camera for only the third time when she filmed "The X-Files" pilot episode.

"Let me tell you about tension and stress," Anderson recalls. "I was a mess. It's taken me a while, and I'm still learning every single day I work."

The 5-month-old series, which co-stars David Duchovny as agent Fox Mulder, has been deemed a success by the network in a tough Friday time slot. It's been renewed for next season.

"I had a very good feeling that this show would be successful," Anderson says. "But I don't think it's really even hit me yet. Once in a while I'll be driving down the street in Canada and think, `I'm in Canada. How did I get here?' "

The show's long work hours and location also have conspired to keep the 25-year-old from feeling the full impact of jumping from TV unknown to series lead.

"I'm not out much," Anderson says. "I work and I go home. I work on the scripts. I wake up and come to work. And in between I try to get my bills paid."

(She did find time to marry since beginning the series, but has put a "classified material" label on any details)

The very polite Canadians who recognize her from the show, which airs there, tend to keep their distance, Anderson says. But even discreet recognition can be unnerving to a fledgling TV star.

"There is something vulnerable about being in the public eye, to a certain degree," she says. "Having that feeling, hearing `Scully' whispered as you pass people. It reminds you constantly that you're not in your private little world."

Her family, she says, is "ecstatic" about the series: "My mother is completely wrapped up in the whole thing."

Anderson, who spent 10 childhood years in England when her father moved the family there to study production at the London Film School, didn't plan on a television career.

She took part in community theater as a teen-ager in Grand Rapids, Mich., then studied with the National Theatre of Great Britain at Cornell University in Ithica, N.Y.

Anderson earned a bachelor's degree at the Goodman Theater School at Chicago's DePaul University, and went on to win a Theatre World Award for her off-Broadway performance in the Alan Ayckborne play "Absent Friends."

When she moved to Los Angeles, films were her goal. But "picky agents and managers" steered worthwhile TV projects her way, including "The X-Files," she says.

"It was a very intriguing story line," Anderson says. "It was pretty intense. And I lean toward this kind of subject matter. I'm not addicted to science fiction, but I appreciate scary stories and anything about extraterrestrials and paranormal phenomenon."

That's in contrast to her character, Scully, who plays the skeptic to her FBI partner Mulder's true believer.

Anderson says she's been taken aback by the physical nature of the action-oriented show, in which her character has battled killers, aliens and malicious computers.

"It hadn't even crossed my mind that that was what I was getting into. But here I am; not much of a choice," Anderson says, with a laugh.

She paid the price in one recent scene, in which her character was supposed to be shot twice and thrown backward by the bullets' impact. Minimal padding was used because of the camera angle.

"I woke up the next day and I was so incredibly sore all over my body," Anderson says. "That kind of taught me a lesson."

Despite a bit of sexual tension between Scully and Mulder, don't expect the series to forsake action for romance.

"The show's not about that," Anderson says. "We have a good rapport on film together. I think to tamper with something that's not broken is perhaps a mistake."