Sigourney Weaver is an American actress best known for her roles in the Alien and Ghostbusters films. She has been nominated for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and five British Academy Film Awards. Born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8th 1949 in Manhattan, New York City, she was named after a character from The Great Gatsby.
Weaver began her acting career in off-Broadway productions before appearing on Broadway in 1977’s Annie Hall. Her first major film role came with 1979’s Alien where she played Ripley – one of cinema’s most iconic female characters – earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress at the 1980 ceremony. She reprised the role twice more over the next two decades: Aliens (1986) and Alien 3 (1992). In between these sequels, Weaver appeared as Dana Barrett opposite Bill Murray in 1984’s Ghostbusters and its sequel six years later; both earned her Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical Motion Picture.
Other notable films include Gorillas In The Mist (1988), Working Girl (1988), Death And The Maiden (1994), Copycat (1995) and Avatar (2009). On television she starred as Dian Fossey alongside Anthony Hopkins’ Robert Redford in 1988’s Gorillas In The Mist: The Story Of Dian Fossey which earned her Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie; she also won a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films USA that year too.
In recent years Weaver has continued to appear regularly across both big screen films such as Paul W S Anderson’s AVP: Alien vs Predator franchise, Neil LaBute’s Possession (2002) and David O Russell’s Accidental Love (2015); while also being seen on small screen shows like Netflix series Sense8 (2016-2018). As well as acting Sigourney is also no stranger to producing credits having produced many projects including 1997 comedy thriller Snow White: A Tale Of Terror starring Monica Keena; 2002 drama Tadpole starring Aaron Stanford; 2005 horror film Heartless starring Jim Sturgess; 2017 documentary short Dream On directed by Tiffany Shlain; 2018 drama My Zoe directed by Julie Delpy plus numerous others since then.
Outside of entertainment Sigourney serves as an ambassador for Save Our Seas Foundation helping to protect marine life worldwide through research and education programs along with supporting other environmental causes throughout her career too such as Greenpeace International/USA, National Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, Population Connection among several others over time.
Today Sigourney remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars who continues to be active within both film/television industry while still using her platform promote important causes around world today making sure that future generations have opportunity enjoy same planet we live on now.
Weaver was born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8th 1949 in New York City to parents Elizabeth Inglis and Pat Weaver. She attended Stanford University where she studied English literature before deciding to pursue a career in acting. Her first prominent role was as Dian Fossey’s assistant, Rosalie Osbourne, in Gorillas In The Mist (1988). This performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Following this success came Weaver’s most famous role – Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986). This blockbuster science fiction horror classic earned her global recognition and made her a household name across the world. After Aliens came many more major roles such as Dana Barrett from Ghostbusters (1984), Katharine Parker from Working Girl (1988) and Grace Augustine from Avatar (2009).
Throughout her long-standing career Sigourney Weaver has been nominated for four Academy Awards; two Golden Globe Awards; three Primetime Emmy Awards; six British Academy Film Awards; one Tony Award nomination; four Saturn Awards nominations; five Screen Actors Guild awards nominations among many others. As well as being an award winning actor she also serves on the board of directors of The Sundance Institute which helps independent filmmakers get their projects off the ground by providing support services such as script development workshops, production grants etc.
Weaver remains active within Hollywood having recently starred opposite Melissa McCarthy in Life Of Crime (2013) alongside Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s voiceover work Ghost In The Shell (2017). With no signs of slowing down anytime soon it looks like we will be seeing much more of Sigourney Weavers talent for years to come!
