Annabeth Gish

Gish was born to Robert and Judy Gish. Her grandmother was named Lillian, but Annabeth is not related to the early silent film actress sisters Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish. When she was 2, her family moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she grew up with her brother Tim and sister Robin. Her father was an English professor at the University of Northern Iowa; her mother was an elementary school educator.

Gish is married to former X-Files stuntman Wade Allen and the two have a son named Cash Alexander Allen born on 12 January 2007.

During her youth, Gish accumulated significant acting experience that culminated with a starring role in the 1986 teen film Desert Bloom. During this time she was active in the Lutheran denomination and became fluent in Spanish. Gish went to Northern University High School in Cedar Falls, Iowa where she graduated in 1989. She attended Duke University where she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and focused her energies on the drama program, film studies and women's studies. She received a BA in English in July 1993. Numerous television and film appearances followed, building on her previous teen acting experiences.

In 1989, Gish got her first major TV film role in When He's Not a Stranger as a rape victim Lyn McKenna.

Gish portrayed Anne Hampton, the doomed second wife of Rhett Butler in 1994 in the TV mini series Scarlett.

In 2001, Gish joined the cast of The X-Files as Special Agent Monica Reyes after series star David Duchovny announced his intention to leave the show. During the eighth and ninth seasons, Gish and fellow newcomer Robert Patrick became the show's principal characters and it was presumed that the two could carry on the show even after Gillian Anderson left. While it is generally agreed their performances were good, ratings continued to drop with the departure of Duchovny and his dynamic with Gillian Anderson; the ninth season of The X-Files became the show's last.

In 2003, Gish guest-starred on The West Wing playing Elizabeth Bartlet Westin, eldest daughter of President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen). She appeared several times over the following seasons, rounding out the fictional Bartlet family also consisting of First Lady Abigail Bartlet (Stockard Channing) and daughters Ellie (Nina Siemaszko) and Zoey (Elisabeth Moss).

In 2006, Gish played the role of Julia in the independent movie The Celestine Prophecy and costarred in Candles on Bay Street alongside Eion Bailey and Alicia Silverstone. In the same year, Gish began a continuing major role in the eleven-episode Showtime drama Brotherhood. There she plays fictional Rhode Island State Representative Tommy Caffee's wife Eileen, who strives to maintain a model political family while struggling with adultery and drug abuse. Gish has said her portrayal of Eileen Caffee is the best role she's had in 22 years as an actress. Brotherhood has been picked up for a second season of 10 episodes to air in Fall 2007, and Gish reprises her Eileen Caffee role.