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Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver; October 8, 1949) is an American actress. She is a three-time Academy Award nominee and BAFTA Award winner. In 2006, she was one of the inaugural recipients of the Diamond Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.[1]
Weaver began her film career with one of her best known roles, playing Ellen Ripley in the 1979 film Alien. She went on to play the role in the Alien films: Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997). On stage, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the 1980 Off-Broadway play Das Lusitania Songspiel and received a Tony Award nomination for the 1984 original Broadway production of Hurlyburly. Her 1986 Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Aliens is considered 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. She progressively received fame for her numerous contributions to the science fiction film history, including minor roles in successful works such as Futurama (2002), WALL-E (2008), Paul (2011) and The Cabin in the Woods (2012), and gained the nickname of "The Sci-Fi Queen".[2][3][4][5]
Weaver starred in the box-office hits Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989). A seven-time Golden Globe Award nominee, she won both Best Actress in Drama and Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1988 films Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl, becoming the first person ever to have won two acting Golden Globe Awards in the same year.[6] These roles also earned her two further Academy Award nominations, one for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress. She won a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Ice Storm (1997) and Saturn Awards for Aliens and Avatar (2009). She has also earned three Emmy Award nominations for Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997), Prayers for Bobby (2009) and the miniseries Political Animals (2012). In 2013, she returned to Broadway for the first time in over 15 years in the original production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Her other films include The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), Dave (1993), Death and the Maiden (1994), Copycat (1995), A Map of the World (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999) and Snow Cake (2006)
Weaver was born Susan Alexandra Weaver in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Elizabeth Inglis (née Desiree Mary Lucy Hawkins; 1913–2007), an English actress, and the NBC television executive and television pioneer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver (1908–2002).[7][8][9] Her uncle, Doodles Weaver (1911–1983), was a comedian and actor. She has English, Scottish, and Ulster-Scots ancestry, including roots in New England.[10][11] Weaver began using the name "Sigourney Weaver" in 1963 after a minor character (Sigourney Howard) in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.[12]
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″ (179 cm) tall by the age of 14, although she only grew another inch during her teens to her adult height of 5′ 11½″ (182 cm). In 1967, at the age of 18, Weaver visited Israel and volunteered on a kibbutz for several months.[13]
Weaver attended Sarah Lawrence College as well as Stanford University[14] where she first began her involvement in acting, by living in Stanford's co-ed Beta Chi Community for the Performing Arts.[15] Weaver earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Yale University School of Drama in 1974,[16] 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.[17] 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.
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 (she meets Al Pacino at a party). 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."[18] 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."[19] 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 (1994), Galaxy Quest (1999), and A Map of the World (1999) 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 (2003), the M. Night Shyamalan horror film The Village (2004), Vantage Point (2008), and Baby Mama (2008). 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 (the other was Audrey Hepburn).
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,[20] Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. She also guest starred in the TV show Eli Stone in the fall of 2008.[21] 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 (avatar) program on the film's fictional moon Pandora.
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.[22] 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.[23]
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."[24] In 2014, he revealed that she would be featured in all three sequels.[25]
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.[26][27]
Weaver was engaged to reporter Aaron Latham in 1967.[28] She has been married to the filmmaker Jim Simpson since October 1, 1984.[29] They have one daughter, Charlotte Simpson, who was born on April 13, 1990.[30]
After making Rainbow Room.[33]
Weaver has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, three BAFTAs (one win) and seven Golden Globes (two wins). She has also earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her work on the stage.
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