Foxy Hunter
by Katherine Hassell

As the search for Mulder heats up, new recruit Annabeth Gish brings a fresh dimension to The X Files...

When relative unknowns Annabeth Gish and Julia Roberts joined forces to play sisters in the 1988 female buddy movie Mystic Pizza, critics predicted they'd both go far. And while Gish may not be Hollywood's highest paid actress or have an Academy Award on the mantelpiece like her former co-star, her career has just taken its own out-of-this-world turn... in the latest episode of The X Files she joins the hunt for alleged alien abductee Agent Fox Mulder.

Based at the FBI's New Orleans field office, Agent Monica Reyes is an expert in satanic cults and ritualistic crimes. She's called in by her old colleague John Doggett to assist the missing persons investigation which takes a dramatic turn for the worse in the episode This Is Not Happening.

'Reyes is not psychic, but she is sensitive to subtle energies and very intuitive,' explains Gish of her screen persona - who is neither sceptical of alien life nor a believer. 'She's left of center and, like me, interested in the metaphysical. I like to meditate and I'm curious about religions. If you look at my bookshelves it's such an eclectic display of spiritual searching and science. Being able to bring it into The X-Files is really exciting.'

As was beating ex-Melrose Place resident Daphne Zuniga and Primary Colors actress Stacy Edwards to become part of the global sci-fi phenomenon for four pivotal episodes. The 30-year-old, who won early plaudits aged 13 as the daughter of Jon Voight's violent war veteran in 1986's Desert Bloom, admits to being an early fan of The X-Files.

'I got caught up in the first wave of the show's popularity,' she says. 'Now I am educating myself on the folklore. I downloaded an 80-page mythology and I'm in a marathon to catch up. I had to fire up some new brain synapses to get the technical jargon going.'

And Gish could be grappling with more tongue-twisters in coming months. If the series continues for a ninth year, Agent Reyes will return too. It has even been rumored she and Doggett might keep the X-Files flag flying on TV, while Mulder and Scully are abducted to the movie franchise. Whatever happens, Gish's X Files stint has certainly raised her profile and critics suggest that, yet again, her star is on the ascent. But the down-to-earth Albuquerque native isn't likely to follow in Robert's footsteps.

'I've been acting for a long time, but on a pretty low radar fame-wise,' concedes the star who nonetheless played Kevin Costner's wife in Wyatt Earp, Anthony Hopkins' daughter in Nixon, the second Mrs. Rhett butler in Scarlett, and 'the other woman' in Double Jeopardy. 'There's a tendency to equate fame with success. And that's so hard because fame is so elusive. I went to college and have been a working actress. I'm perfectly happy doing it the way I do it. I'm able to have a life at the same time.'

"This Is Not Happening" airs in the UK on May 10 (Sky 1, 9pm)

Source: Dreamwatch, Typed by me , and all transcripts are my exclusive property (you can link to this article)