USA Weekend
10.21.01

Is new "X-Files" star Annabeth Gish related to those legendary acting Gish sisters, Lillian and Dorothy? -- Don Laughlin, Indianapolis
 

Yes. Gish, who plays FBI agent Monica Reyes, tells us they're from different branches of the same family tree. "It's a pretty nice legacy," says Gish, 30, a New Mexico native reared in Iowa. When she was 12, she wrote to Lillian Gish, the star of The "Birth of a Nation" (1915) and dozens of movies in the '20s. "I told her I wanted to be an actress," says Annabeth, who keeps Lillian's response framed at home. "Basically, she said, 'Stay where people love you. There's too much talent and not enough work.' She discouraged me." But, like Lillian, Annabeth Gish was acting at 13. Her first film was "Desert Bloom" with Jon Voight; later she starred in "Mystic Pizza" with the then-little-known Julia Roberts. Gish went to Duke University, earning a degree in English literature. But she has never worked as hard as on The "X-Files" -- and, yes, it's spooky: "I get chills when we play the creepy aspects of the script."