Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is known especially for the lead role of Ellen
Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. She is also
well known for her roles in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, Gorillas in the Mist, Working
Girl, and Avatar. Her 1986 Academy Award nomination for Aliens
is considered as a landmark in the recognition of science fiction, action, and horror genres,
as well as a major step in challenging the gender role in cinema. Weaver progressively
received fame for her numerous contributions to the science fiction film history and gained
the nickname of "The Sci-Fi Queen". She also played the lead role as Secretary of State
Elaine Barrish on USA Network's Political Animals miniseries.
Weaver has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actress for Aliens and Gorillas
in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl.
She also won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Ice Storm, and
Saturn Awards for Aliens and Avatar. She also earned Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Tony
Award nominations. She has been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and won both
Best Actress in Drama and Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for Gorillas in the Mist and
Working Girl, becoming the first person ever to have won two acting Golden Globe Awards
in the same year.
Early life Weaver was born Susan Alexandra Weaver in
Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Elizabeth Inglis, an English actress, and
the NBC television executive and television pioneer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver. Her uncle,
Doodles Weaver, was a comedian and actor. She has English, Scottish, and Ulster-Scots
ancestry, including roots in New England. Weaver began using the name "Sigourney Weaver"
in 1963 after a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.
Weaver attended the Ethel Walker School, a girls' preparatory school in Simsbury, Connecticut.
She also attended The Chapin School and The Brearley School. Sigourney was reportedly
5′ 10½″ tall by the age of 14, although she only grew another inch during her teens
to her adult height of 5′ 11½″. In 1967, at the age of 18, Weaver visited Israel and
volunteered on a kibbutz for several months. Weaver attended Sarah Lawrence College as
well as Stanford University where she first began her involvement in acting, by living
in Stanford's co-ed Beta Chi Community for the Performing Arts. Weaver earned her Master
of Fine Arts degree at the Yale University School of Drama in 1974, where one of her
appearances was in the chorus in a production of Stephen Sondheim's musical version of The
Frogs, and another was as one of a mob of Roman soldiers alongside Meryl Streep in another
production. Weaver later acted in original plays by her friend and classmate Christopher
Durang. She later appeared in an "Off-Broadway" production of Durang's comedy Beyond Therapy
in 1981, which was directed by the up-and-coming director Jerry Zaks.
Film career
Weaver's first role is often said to be in Woody Allen's 1977 comedy Annie Hall playing
a minor role opposite Allen, whereas she appeared at least in Sidney Lumet's Serpico three years
before. Weaver appeared two years later as Warrant Officer/Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in
Ridley Scott's blockbuster 1979 film Alien, in a role initially designated to co-star
Veronica Cartwright, until a late change in casting. She reprised the role in the three
sequels of the Alien movie franchise, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection. Ty Burr of
The Boston Globe states, "One of the real pleasures of "Alien" is to watch the emergence
of both Ellen Ripley as a character and Sigourney Weaver as a star." In the sequel Aliens directed
by James Cameron, critic Roger Ebert writes, "Weaver, who is onscreen almost all the time,
comes through with a very strong, sympathetic performance: She's the thread that holds everything
together." Weaver followed the success of Alien appearing opposite Mel Gibson in The
Year of Living Dangerously released to critical acclaim and as Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters
and Ghostbusters II.
By the end of the decade, Weaver appeared in two of her most memorable and critically
acclaimed performances in 1988 as Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist. The same year she
appeared opposite Harrison Ford in a supporting role as Katharine Parker in the film Working
Girl. Weaver won Golden Globe awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for her
two roles that year. She received two Academy Award nominations in 1988, for Best Supporting
Actress for her role in Working Girl and Best Actress for Gorillas in the Mist, making her
one of the few actors nominated for two acting awards in the same year. By the early 1990s,
Weaver appeared in several films including Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, earning her another
Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress and winning a BAFTA Award, followed
by Dave opposite Kevin Kline and Frank Langella. She played the role of agoraphobic criminal
psychologist Helen Hudson in the 1995 movie Copycat. Weaver also concentrated on smaller
and supporting roles throughout the decade such as Jeffrey, Galaxy Quest, and A Map of
the World earning her another Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
In 2001, she appeared in the comedy Heartbreakers playing the lead role of a con artist alongside
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Gene Hackman and Anne Bancroft. She appeared in several
films throughout the decade including Holes, the M. Night Shyamalan horror film The Village,
Vantage Point, and Baby Mama. Weaver also returned to Rwanda for the BBC special Gorillas
Revisited. She was voted 20th in Channel 4's countdown of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars
of All Time, being one of only two women in the Top 20.
In 2009, Weaver starred as Mary Griffith in her first made-for-TV movie, Prayers for Bobby,
for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild
Award. She also guest starred in the TV show Eli Stone in the fall of 2008. She reunited
with Aliens director James Cameron for his 2009 film Avatar, with Weaver playing a major
part as Dr. Grace Augustine, leader of the AVTR program on the film's fictional moon
Pandora.
Weaver has done voice work in television and film. She had a guest role in the Futurama
episode "Love and Rocket" in February 2002, playing the female Planet Express Ship. In
2006, she was the narrator for the American version of the Emmy Award-winning series Planet
Earth. Also in 2006, Weaver narrated "A Matter of Degrees", a short film that plays daily
at The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake, New York. In 2008, Weaver
was featured as the voice of the ship's computer in the Pixar and Disney release, WALL•E.
She also voiced a narrating role in another computer-animated film, 2008's The Tale of
Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo.
Weaver has hosted two episodes of the long-running NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live: once
on the 12th season premiere in 1986, and again, on a season 35 episode in January 2010. In
March 2010, she was cast for the lead role as Queen of the Vampires in Amy Heckerling's
Vamps. She was honored at the 2010 Scream Awards earning The Heroine Award which honored
her work in science fiction, horror and fantasy films. In May 2010, there were reports that
Weaver had been cast for the lead role Margaret Matheson in the Spanish thriller film Red
Lights. In September 2011, it was confirmed that Weaver
will be returning to Avatar 2, with James Cameron stating that "no one ever dies in
science fiction." In 2014 Weaver reprised the role of Ripley
for the first time in 17 years by voicing the character in the video game Alien: Isolation.
Her character will appear in two DLCs set during the events of Alien, with most of the
original cast voicing their respective characters. Personal life
Weaver was engaged to reporter Aaron Latham in 1967. She has been married to the filmmaker
Jim Simpson since October 1, 1984. They have one daughter, Charlotte Simpson, who was born
on April 13, 1990. After making Gorillas in the Mist: The Story
of Dian Fossey, she became a supporter of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and is now the
DFGFI's honorary chairwoman.She was honored by the Explorers Club for this work. Weaver
is considered to be an environmentalist. In October 2006, she drew international attention
through a news conference at the start of a United Nations General Assembly policy deliberation.
She outlined the widespread threat to ocean habitats posed by deep-sea trawling, an industrial
method for harvesting fish. On April 8, 2008, she hosted the annual gala of the Trickle
Up Program, a non-profit organization focusing on those in extreme poverty, mainly women
and the disabled, in the Rainbow Room. Awards and nominations
Weaver has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, three BAFTAs and seven Golden
Globes. She has also earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her work on the stage.
Filmography Film
Television Documentaries
Video games Other accolades
Lifetime Achievement Other
Stage credits Better Dead Than Sorry as Jenny
Story Theatre Sarah B. Divine! as Anita, the Eternal Maid
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui as Dockdaisy The Rat Trap as Cynthia Muldoon
Once in a Lifetime as Florabel Leigh The Elephant Calf
The Tempest Watergate Classics
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny The Nature and Purpose of the Universe as
Eleanor The Frogs as member of the Chorus
The Constant Wife as Marie-Louise Durham Titanic as LidiaHarriet
Das Lusitania Songspiel Gemini as Judith Hastings
Marco Polo Sings a Solo as Freydis Conjuring an Event as Annabella
A Flea in Her Ear New Jerusalem
Das Lusitania Songspiel. Also co-authored the play with Christopher Durang.
Lone Star as Elizabeth Beyond Therapy as Prudence
As You Like It as Rosalind Animal Kingdom as Cecelia Henry
Old Times as Anna Hurlyburly as Darlene.
A Streetcar Named Desire as Stella Kowalski The Merchant of Venice as Portia
The Show-Off as Clara Sex and Longing as Lulu
The Guys as Joan The Mercy Seat as Abby Prescott
Mrs Farnsworth as Marjorie Farnsworth Crazy Mary as Lydia
Love Letters as Melissa Gardner Love Letters as Melissa Gardner
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as Masha Soundtrack discography
References
External links Sigourney Weaver at the Internet Movie Database
Sigourney Weaver at the Internet Broadway Database
Sigourney Weaver at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
BBC News article on Sigourney Weaver Daily Telegraph interview with Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver at Emmys.com