Susan Alexandra Weaver was born inNew York City on October 8, 1949,[6][7] the daughter of English actressElizabeth Inglis (1913–2007)[8] and American television executivePat Weaver (1908–2002).[9] Her father served as president ofNBC from 1953 to 1955, during which time he createdThe Today Show.[10] Pat's brother,Doodles Weaver, was a comedian and contributor toMad.[11] She is of Dutch, English, German, Irish and Scottish descent through her father.[12][13]
At the age of 14, Weaver began using the name "Sigourney" after she took it from a minor character inThe Great Gatsby.[14][15] She briefly attended theBrearley School andChapin School in New York before arriving at theEthel Walker School inSimsbury, Connecticut, where she developed an early interest in performing.[16] One of her early roles was in a school adaptation of the poem "The Highwayman", and on another occasion she played aRudolph Valentino character in an adaptation ofThe Sheik. She was also involved in theatrical productions ofA Streetcar Named Desire andYou Can't Take It with You during one summer inSouthbury, Connecticut.[16] Known for her height, she reportedly reached 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) by the age of 11, which had a negative impact on her self-esteem; she recalled feeling like "a giant spider" and never having "the confidence to ever think [she] could act".[17]
In 1967, shortly before turning 18, Weaver visitedIsrael andvolunteered on a kibbutz for several months.[18] Upon returning to the United States, she attendedSarah Lawrence College. After her freshman year, she transferred toStanford University as an English major.[19] At Stanford, she was extensively involved in theater. She performed with a group inPalo Alto namedThe Company,[18] doingShakespeare plays and "commedia dell'arte in a covered wagon" around theBay Area,[18] the nature of which she considered "outrageous". She "dressed like an elf and lived in a tree house"[18] and avoided Stanford's drama department as she believed their productions were too "stuffy" and "safe".[18][19] She had planned to enter Stanford's Ph.D. English program and eventually pursue a career as a writer or a journalist, but changed her mind after getting frustrated by the "deadly dry" honors courses. She eventually graduated in 1972 with aBA in English.[16][19] She subsequently applied to theYale School of Drama, performingBertolt Brecht'sSaint Joan of the Stockyards at her audition, and was accepted.[18]
Weaver admitted that she had a difficult time at Yale. She was not fond of the shows atYale Repertory Theatre,[16] and had little luck getting lead roles in school productions.[20] Some of her acting teachers referred to her as "talentless" and advised her to stick to comedy.[21] She later said she pulled through due to her time at theYale Cabaret, and with the help of friends such asChristopher Durang, who kept casting her in his plays.[16] She graduated from Yale with anMFA in 1974.[18]
"One of the real pleasures ofAlien is to watch the emergence of both Ellen Ripley as a character and Sigourney Weaver as a star."
- Ty Burr,The Boston Globe, 29 October 2003
Weaver appeared two years later as Warrant Officer / LieutenantRipley inRidley Scott'sblockbuster filmAlien (1979), in a role initially designated to co-star British-born actressVeronica Cartwright until a late change in casting. Cartwright stated to World Entertainment News Network (WENN) that she was in England ready to start work onAlien when she discovered that she would be playing the navigator Lambert in the project, and Weaver had been given the lead role ofEllen Ripley.[28] Reviews of the film were initially mixed, but it has since been ranked among the greatest science fiction horror films and is Weaver's first film to be inducted into theNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress.[29][30] Film criticGene Siskel called Weaver "an actress who should become a major star,"[31] andPeter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian said that Weaver "begins the action looking girlish and serious, but changes into the toughly self-reliant woman who defined her subsequent roles. Her career evolves before our very eyes."[32] Among other accolades, she was nominated forMost Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles at the33rd British Academy Film Awards.[33]
Weaver returned to the big screen withAlien 3 (1992) and Ridley Scott's1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) in which she played the role of Queen Isabella. In the early 1990s, Weaver appeared in several films includingDave oppositeKevin Kline andFrank Langella. In 1994, she starred in Roman Polanski's dramaDeath and the Maiden as Paulina Escobar.[43] She played the role of agoraphobic criminal psychologist Helen Hudson in the filmCopycat (1995).[44] Weaver also concentrated on smaller and supporting roles such asJeffrey (1994) with Nathan Lane and Patrick Stewart.[45]
In February 2002, she featured as a guest role in theFuturama episode "Love and Rocket", playing the female Planet Express Ship.[53] In 2006, she was the narrator for the American version of the BBCEmmy Award-winning documentary seriesPlanet Earth; the original British series version was narrated byDavid Attenborough.[54] In 2007, Weaver returned to Rwanda for the BBC specialGorillas Revisited, in which Weaver reunites with the Rwandan apes from the filmGorillas in the Mist, some 20 years later.[55]
In 2008, Weaver was featured as the voice of the ship's computer in the Pixar and Disney releaseWALL•E.[56][57] Also in 2008, she voiced a narrating role in the animated filmThe Tale of Despereaux (2008), based on thenovel byKate DiCamillo. The film opens with Weaver as narrator recounting the story of the pastel-hued Kingdom of Dor.[58] She also made a rare guest appearance on television playing herself in season 2 episode of the television seriesEli Stone in the fall of 2008.[59]
In 2009, Weaver starred as Mary Griffith in her firsttelevision filmPrayers for Bobby, for which she was nominated for anEmmy Award,[60] Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Also in 2009, she reunited withAliens director James Cameron for his filmAvatar, playing a major role as Dr. Grace Augustine, leader of the AVTR (avatar) program on the film's fictional moon Pandora. It became thehighest-grossing film of all time.[61][62][63]
Weaver has hosted two episodes of the long-running NBC sketch showSaturday 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 inAmy Heckerling'sVamps.[64] She was honored at the2010 Scream Awards earning The Heroine Award which honored her work in science fiction, horror and fantasy films.[65] In December 2013, Weaver was a guest narrator atDisney's Candlelight Processional atWalt Disney World.[66]
In 2014, Weaver reprised the role of Ripley for the first time in 17 years by voicing the character in the video gameAlien: Isolation. Her character has a voice cameo in the main story, and has a central role in the twoDLCs set during the events ofAlien, with most of the original cast voicing their respective characters.[76][77] Weaver appeared in the filmExodus: Gods and Kings (2014) playingTuya, directed byRidley Scott, alongsideChristian Bale,Joel Edgerton andBen Kingsley.[78] In 2015, she co-starred inNeill Blomkamp's science-fiction filmChappie, and stated that she would agree to appear in anAlien sequel, provided that Blomkamp directs.[79]
On February 18, 2015, it was officially announced that anAlien sequel would be made, with Blomkamp slated to direct.[80] On February 25, 2015, Weaver confirmed that she would reprise her role as Ellen Ripley in the newAlien film.[81] However, in a later response to a fan question on Twitter asking what the chances were of hisAlien project actually happening, Blomkamp responded "slim".[82][83] In 2015 and 2017, Weaver played an American tourist in two episodes of the British television seriesDoc Martin.[84][85]
In September 2011, it was confirmed that Weaver would be returning toAvatar: The Way of Water, withJames Cameron stating that "no one ever dies in science fiction."[91]The Way of Water, alike to its predecessor, was released to critical and commercial success.[92] Principal photography forAvatar: The Way of Water andAvatar: Fire and Ash started simultaneously on September 25, 2017; Weaver portrayed Kiri, Jake and Neytiri's daughter, and reprised her role as Dr. Grace Augustine.[93][94][95] The film becamethe third-highest-grossing film of all time, and it received a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Picture.
In 2023, Weaver starred in and executive-produced the Australian miniseriesThe Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.[96] Robert Lloyd of theLos Angeles Times wrote: "it’s a special treat to see Weaver, who does not overplay her assumed Australian accent, in such a substantial part; if the series seems a little long, one may at least appreciate the greater time it affords us to spend in her company."[97] At the13th AACTA Awards, Weaver was nominated forBest Lead Actress in a Television Drama.[98]
Weaver has been married to stage director Jim Simpson since October 1, 1984.[105] The two live in theManhattan borough of New York City, where they foundedThe Flea Theater together in 1996.[17] They have one child born in 1990, Shar, an author who as of 2024 worked as an adjunct assistant professor of the Digital Storytelling Lab at theColumbia University School of the Arts.[106][107][108] In a 2010 interview, Weaver revealed that she underwent therapy to help with the guilt she felt for frequently travelling away from her family for work, stating that "Going to New Zealand to makeAvatar when [Shar] was applying to colleges almost killed me."[108] In Simpson's 2002 film adaptation of the playThe Guys, he and Shar appear as the husband and child of Weaver's character.[108]
Weaver is close friends with fellow actressesJamie Lee Curtis andSelina Cadell.[85] In a 2015 interview, Curtis admitted to Weaver that she never sawAlien in its entirety because she was too scared.[24]
In October 2006, Weaver gave a news conference at the start of aUnited Nations General Assembly policy deliberation where she outlined the threat to ocean habitats posed bydeep-sea trawling, an industrial method for catching fish.[111]
On April 8, 2008, in theRainbow Room, Weaver hosted the annual gala of theTrickle Up Program, a non-profit organization focusing on those (mainly women and disabled people) in extreme poverty.[112]
Weaver's most positively-reviewed films, according to the review-aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes and a number of media rankings, include:[113][114][115][116][117]
Weaver has received three Academy Award nominations, three BAFTA nominations, seven Golden Globe Award nominations, one Grammy Award nomination, four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, three SAG nominations and a Tony Award nomination. From these, she has won a BAFTA, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. In addition, she has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the International Goya Award from the Spanish Film Academy, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
^"Why Sigourney Weaver gave herself a new name".CBC Archives. September 16, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2021.I was readingThe Great Gatsby and I picked it out of the book," she told CBC talk show host Bob McLean in 1981.
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