Gillian Anderson Thanks The Crown's 'Extraordinary' Hair and Makeup Team for Her 'Thatcher Helmet'
Helena Bonham Carter, Gillian Anderson, Annie Murphy, Julia Garner and Cynthia Nixon were all vying for the award
A royal honor!
Gillian Anderson won the trophy for best supporting actress in a series, miniseries or television film at the 2021 Golden Globes on Sunday night for The Crown. This is the second win for Anderson, 52, who previously won best TV drama actress for The X-Files back in 1997.
"You're so relaxed," Anderson began her virtual acceptance speech, "and then all of a sudden you start to freak out."
"Firstly, thank you very much to the Hollywood Foreign Press, and to my fellow nominees and to Peter Morgan for imagining that I could inhabit Mrs. T," she continued. Anderson played British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the most recent season of The Crown.
She gave series creator Morgan another shout-out, thanking him for "writing an exquisitely multidimensional character against the odds."
Anderson also thanked the series' "extraordinary" hair and makeup team for transforming her into the former prime minister, calling her look the "Thatcher helmet thing."
Also nominated in the category were Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown), Julia Garner (Ozark), Annie Murphy (Schitt's Creek) and Cynthia Nixon (Ratched).
To play Thatcher on The Crown, Anderson explained to Harper's Bazaar in November that she had to get to a point where the part had "nothing to do with my opinions of her policies, of her actions." She said her portrayal is "only about her as a human being and her motivation as a politician and as a mother."
"I feel like I have an opportunity as somebody in the public eye to draw attention to things, but I don't comment; I don't offer my opinion on social media on a regular basis," she said. "It's not my world. I'm an actor, I'm not a politician, I'm not a social worker."
Anderson's costars Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin also took home awards for their roles on The Crown, which won best television series — drama.
The 78th Annual Golden Globes Awards are airing live on NBC from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET.