"I had to fight for Gillian. Not because of her youth or relative inexperience, but because she didn't fit the network's or the studio's idea of the prime-time tootsie. She didn't have the usual assets they thought of in a TV man-woman relationship."

"Gillian Anderson is one of a kind. She's lovely. She's a fantastic mother. A steadfast friend. More beautiful today than she's ever been. And a natural actor who was born to her art."

"I gaze at her perfect skin, unable to suspend my disbelief. One of the more unnerving things about Anderson is that no photographer has ever done her justice; in the flesh, she is 10 times more exquisite than on the page – today, as I now point out, being no exception."

"One of the reasons why I thought she is the best actress of her generation is because she is incredibly focused, understated, truthful, detailed, intelligent, with an underpinning of emotion that she chooses, for the most part, to keep in check."

"I didn't want her to look kind of perfect, but one of the things about Gillian is that she always kind of looks stunning, just because she's got such an interesting face. There's such an intelligence going on in her acting, I think, your eye is drawn to her."

"My secret crush of a famous person that people will actually have heard of? I'm quite conventional. I really love Gillian Anderson. Like, ever since she was Scully and I wasn't even out then. It always surprised me but now I know. I love Gillian Anderson. I like red heads so I quite like Susan Sarandon and Helen Mirren. But Gillian Anderson -- totally, totally love that."

"I think she's got a wonderful stillness in her performances, so that she never seems to be acting particularly. She just brought a terrific sense of tragedy to this part, a woman who has spent her life being so contained, with almost no ability to express herself."

"She's so remarkable. She's not one of those actors who just does her usual thing every time. She's completely different in everything she does – she even has a different voice in every role."

"I was looking for someone who had that kind of period look; I wanted the film to look like Singer Sargent portraits and I saw her extraordinary face and that kind of luminosity that one associated with Greer Garson in the late 40s. I just thought... she'll never meet me; she'll never say yes."

"She's a fantastic amazing actress. That’s so evident in her work; in everything she has done – I think especially in The Fall, but she's so fun as well... For my money, she's really sweet and funny and easy and has really giggly childish side to her that comes out often on set. She's great and I can't say enough of good things about her. She's brilliant."

"I think she gets better and better and she's more and more beautiful every year. And she's just... she's a dream."

"...Gillian Anderson, the best co-star anybody could have."

"Gillian has beautiful eyes. Her eyes anchor me to the scene. They're big and they're blue and they're wet."

"Gillian's a really hard working actress. I can tell you that much. A lot of times when I give up on a scene, she stays in there. She never doesn't try to do it as well as she can. That can be pretty inspiring. And infuriating."

"Gillian is every bit as hot, and hotter. It's somewhat shocking."

"There's a recognition, an animal recognition, of meeting your match. Stanley is not going to give up and neither is Blanche. That’s what’s exciting about what Gillian has done is empower Blanche. Her performance is very strong – she's a warrior – a glamorous warrior."

"[She's] one the of the most elegant and savage performers I've worked with. We're boxing each other off the stage every night, with love."

"There is such a clever quality to Gillian's performance where she's balancing so much in terms of tone that she goes from these very serious pontificating scenes about the nature of what they’re doing to virtually a broader comedy of sorts."

"What self-respecting gay man doesn't want to be Gillian Anderson?"

"I think that’s the fun of playing with such an iconic actress like Gillian Anderson who really expands to fill the vessel of whatever role she’s inhabiting. Working with her has been such a joy: A, I love her as a human being and find her to be such a bright spark of light, and B, it’s a ball to throw some absolutely ridiculous dialogue her way and see how it spins off the edge of her bat. If you are watching the show and you see a particularly bloated piece of dialogue, chances are it’s a direct quote from one of the Thomas Harris books that I’ve fetishized over in the process of making the show, and there are some doozies where I'm like, 'this is such a great line — I want to make it dialogue but it’s so over the top... I’ll give it to Gillian!' So that’s a joy."

"Just saw Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire at St Ann's warehouse. She was remarkable, powerful, funny, tragic."

"I mean I was OBSESSED with The X-Files and I wanted to marry... She was the one person who I was like, 'We're gonna get married. One of these days, she and I will finally meet and this will finally happen.' So last night I was just sitting next to her like, [whispers] 'It's Gillian Anderson, oh my God.' I don't even know what I said or how I answered the questions; I was just looking at her like, 'She's so beautiful.'"

"Just finished watching the utterly compelling series The Fall on Netflix. What an amazing and beautiful actress. That's Gillian Anderson of course. I knew she was amazing when she was in Bleak House, but she gets better and better."

"G-Money, as I call her."

"... Gillian Anderson. One of the nastiest actors I have run into in all these years in the business. David was just the sweetest, and kept me from walking off the job."

"Who wouldn't be infatuated by Gillian Anderson?! Gillian Anderson could play a rabbit and I would be totally be infatuated by her."

"You are our most censored guest ever... But it was my fault; I asked you what was your favorite curse word and you continued to use it like 48 times."

"I thought Gillian Anderson was amazing in The House of Mirth, also adapted from a Wharton novel. She should certainly have been nominated for an Oscar. Will you put that in, please? Every now and then I think there is huge injustice in our business."