Sigorney Weaver as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley
When commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, heading back to Earth, intercepts an SoS signal from a nearby planet, the crew are under obligation to investigate. After a bad landing on the planet, some crew members leave the ship to explore the area. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a call for help. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew do not know the danger they are in until it is too late.
Biography for Sigourney Weaver
Date of birth
8 October 1949
New York, New York, USA
Birth name
Susan Alexandra Weaver
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Sigourney Weaver was born as Susan Alexandra Weaver, on 8 October 1949, in Leroy Hospital of New York City. Her father, TV producer Sylvester L. Weaver Jr. originally wanted to name her Flavia, because of his passion for Roman history. He had already named her elder brother, Trajan. Her mother, Elizabeth Inglis was a British actress who had sacrificed her career over a happy family. Sigourney grew up in a virtual bubble of guiltless bliss, being taken care by nannies and maids. Up until 1959, the Weavers resided in thirty different households. On 1961, Sigourney started attending the Brearly Girls Academy, but her mother moved her in another New York private school, Chapin. Sigourney's extreme height made her classmates constantly laughing at her and in order to gain their sympathy, she accepted the role of class clown. However, her degrees were remarkable.
By the age of 13, in 1962, Sigourney was already a 5 feet 10 inches girl. That same year, her family moved to San Francisco briefly, an unpleasant experience for Weaver. Later, they moved to Connecticut, where she became a student in the Ethel Walker School, facing the same problems. 0n 1963, Susan changed her name to 'Sigourney', after a character called 'Sigourney Howard', in Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'. Her own birthname, Susan, was in honour of her mother's best friend name, explorer Susan Pretzlik. Sigourney had already starred in a school drama production, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. In 1965, she worked during summer with a stock troupe, being cast in the plays 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'You Can't Take It With You', though she didn't star in the latter, because she was taller than the lead actor! After graduating from school in 1967, she spent some months in a kibbutz at Israel.
At the same time, she became engaged to reporter Aaron Latham, but they soon broke up. In 1969, Sigourney became a student of English Literature in Stanford University. She also participated in school plays, especially Japanese Noh plays. By that time, she was living in a treehouse, alongside a male friend, dressed in elf-like clothes! After completing her studies in 1971, she applied for Yale School of Drama, in New York. Despite appearing at the audition reading a Brecht speech and wearing a rope-like belt, she was eventually accepted. But her professors rejected her, because of her height, and kept typecasting her as prostitutes and old women, whereas classmate Meryl Streep was treated almost reverently. However, in 1973, whilst launching her theatrical debut with 'Watergate Classics', she met up with a team of brilliant playwrights and actors and began hanging around with them. She befriended Christopher Durang, but also Kate McGregor-Stewart and Albert Innaurato. On 1974 she starred in various plays, including Aristophanes' 'Frogs' and Durang's 'The Nature and Purpose of the Universe' and 'Daryl and Carol and Kenny and Jenny', as Jenny.
After finishing her studies that very year, she started chasing roles, but her height kept being a hindrance. However, she continued working on stage with Durang, as in 'Titanic'(1975) and Innaurato, and in 'Gemini' (1976). Other 70s stage works of hers include 'Marco Polo Sing a Song', 'The Animal Kingdom', 'A Flea in Her Ear�,� The Constant Husband�,� The Conquering Event' and others. But the one that probably took her off was 'Das Lusitania Songspiel', a play she co-wrote with Durang and in which she starred for two seasons, from 1979 to 1981. She was also up for a Drama Desk Award for it.
During the mid-seventies, she appeared in several TV spots and even starred as Avis Ryan in 1976 soap opera "Madman" (1978) . In 1977, she was cast in the role Shelley Duvall finally played in Annie Hall (1977), after rejecting the part due to prior stage commitments. But in the end, Woody Allen still offered her a six-seconds part. Then followed Madman (1978) and of course, Alien (1979). The role of the tough, uncompromising Ripley made her an overnight star and even brought her a British Award Nomination. Later, she played in Eyewitness (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). The latter was a great Australian success that even won an Oscar and brought Sigourney and co-star Mel Gibson to Cannes '83. The same year, Weaver delivered an honorary EMMY award to her father, a few months before her uncle, actor Doodles Weaver, committed suicide. That year's fall, Sigourney started having a romance with Jim Simpson.
Sigourney had broken up two years before with James M. McClure and needed someone close to her. In the end, they got married on 1 October 1984. Sigourney had meanwhile, played in Deal of the Century (1983) and the great hit Ghostbusters (1984) . She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her tour de force in theatrical 'Hurly Burly'. Then followed Une Femme ou deux (1985) , Half Moon Street (1986) and Aliens (1986). The latter was a massive success, with her being nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar. She was also named 'Star of the Year'. Sigourney entered her most productive career and literally took off after snatching Academy Award nominations, in both Leading and Supporting Actress category, for her intense portrayal of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) and for her bitchy performance in Working Girl (1988). She ended up losing in both, but was compensated by winning both Golden Globes.
After posing as herself in a documentary about Helmut Newton, entitled Frames from the Edge (1989) and appearing in Ghostbusters II (1989), she discovered she was pregnant and retired from public life for a while. She gave birth to Charlotte Simpson, on 13 April 1990. Sigourney Weaver returned to movies as a now skinhead Ripley in Alien� (1992) and a gorgeous Queen Isabel in 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), her second work with director Ridley Scott, after the original famed Alien movie. She rolled on to comedy Dave (1993), alongside Kevin Kline, and a Roman Polanski thriller, Death and the Maiden (1994).
In 1995, she could be seen in Jeffrey (1995) and Copycat (1995). In 1996 she starred in 'Sex and Longing', yet another Durang play. Sigourney hadn't acted in theater for ages before that play, as she had abandoned it after a successful run in the 80s, with the plays 'As You Like It' (1981), 'Beyond Therapy' (1981), 'The Marriage of 'Bette and Boo' (1985) and 'The Merchant of Venice' (1986). In 1997, she was the protagonist in Grimm�s Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997), The Ice Storm (1997) and Alien Resurrection (1997) .
Her performance in The Ice Storm achieved a BAFTA prize and another Golden Globe nod. She also offered excellent performances in A Map of the World (1999) and the sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest (1999). Her next comedy, Company Man (2000), wasn't equally welcomed, however. Sigourney played a sexy con in Heartbreakers (2001) and had a voice role in Big Bad Love (2001).
Her father died recently, at the age of 93. Sigourney herself, has already starred in Tadpole (2002) and is planning a cinematic version of Guys, The (2003) , the enthralling 11-September one-act drama she played on stage on late 2001. She remains a remarkable and enormously talented actress, as well as a true beauty, even at the age of 52.
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Trivia
Attended the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT.
Her dad Sylvester L. Weaver Jr. ("Pat" Weaver), NBC-TV president (1953-55), pioneered the desk-and-couch talk show format that still survives on two programs he created - NBC's "Today" (1952) and "Tonight Show, The" (1954) shows.
Changed her name after reading "The Great Gatsby".
Debuted in Woody Allen 's Annie Hall (1977), duration: 6 seconds.
Daughter of NBC-TV executive Sylvester L. Weaver Jr. ("Pat" Weaver) and actress Elizabeth Inglis.
Niece of actor Doodles Weaver.
Afraid to travel in elevators.
Speaks fluent French and German.
Graduated from Stanford University in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in English.
Has one daughter, Charlotte Simpson, born 13 April 1990
Is one of the elite eight thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year. The other seven are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, and Julianne Moore.
Her salary for Alien: Resurrection (1997) was more than the entire cost of the original Alien (1979) movie.
Suffered nightmares for two weeks after reading the script for The Village (2004).
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Personal quotes
"I'd rather have a small part in a movie I love than a bigger part in one I don't care about."
"Well, I've always admired Margaret Rutherford. Like her I'd like to play Miss Marple when I'm eighty."
"I'm having a wonderful time producing. There are good producers and bad producers. I've learned the hard way what not to do. The ultimate aim is to produce things I'm not actually in. I'm not looking for vehicles for myself. It's not a vanity company."
"Some of the most intense affairs are between actors and characters. There's a fire in the human heart and we jump into it with the same obsession as we have with our lovers."
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Most moviegoers will probably remember this striking, patrician leading lady for her characterization of Ripley, the besieged protagonist of the Alien movies, but she's shown herself to be capable of much more than blasting slimy monsters into atoms. Born in New York to an affluent family (her father is broadcasting executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver; her uncle was comedian Doodles Weaver), Sigourney, who adopted her name from a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," attended Yale Drama School and worked on stage before landing a lead in Madman (1976) and a bit in Annie Hall (1977, as Woody's date at the end of the film). Her role as the tough astronaut in Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) made Weaver a recognizable screen player. Having graduated to starring parts, Weaver appeared as a reporter in both Eyewitness (1981, opposite William Hurt) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1983, opposite Mel Gibson). Those films bolstered her standing as a compelling lead, but the immense success of Ghostbusters (1984), in which she played a comically possessed New Yorker romanced by Bill Murray, did more for her career.
She played an intelligent hooker in Half Moon Street (1986), and reprised her Ripley characterization-even tougher and more commanding than before-in Aliens (1986, and earned her first Oscar nomination) before pulling off the nifty trick of snagging two Oscar nominations-Best Supporting Actress for her comic turn as the bitchy businesswoman in Working Girl and Best Actress for her portrayal of the devoted anthropologist in Gorillas in the Mist-in 1988. She appeared in the lightweight Ghostbusters II (1989), and returned to Ripley (with a shaved head!) in Aliens3 (1992). She then costarred with Kevin Kline in Dave (1993) as an aloof First Lady who falls in love with the President's "double" and took on the demanding role of a former torture victim who confronts her tormentor in Death and the Maiden (1994).
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Links:
Every Word Is True (2005) (filming) .... Babe Paley
Happily N'Ever After (2005) (post-production) (voice) .... Frida
Imaginary Heroes (2004) .... Sandy Travis
The Village (2004) .... Alice Hunt
... aka M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (USA: promotional title)
Holes (2003) .... The Warden
The Guys (2002) .... Joan
Wedding Contract, The (2003)
Tadpole (2002) .... Eve
Big Bad Love (2001) (voice) .... Voice of Betti DeLoreo
Alien Evolution (2001) (TV) .... Herself/Lt. Ellen Ripley
VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin (2001) (TV) .... Herself
73rd Annual Academy Awards, The (2001) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter
Heartbreakers (2001) .... Maxine Conners/Angela Nardino/Olga Yevanova
Speak Truth to Power (2000) .... Various
Company Man (2000) .... Daisy Quimp
... aka Company Man (2000) (France)
Why Dogs Smile & Chimpanzees Cry (1999) (TV) .... Narrator
Galaxy Quest (1999) .... Gwen DeMarco/Lieutenant Tawny Madison
Map of the World, A (1999) .... Alice Goodwin
Get Bruce (1999) .... Herself
... aka Get Bruce! (1999) (USA: promotional title)
Alien: Resurrection (1997) .... Lt. Ellen Ripley
... aka Alien 4 (1997)
Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) .... Lady Claudia Hoffman
... aka Grimm Brothers' Snow White, The (1997)
... aka Snow White (1997) (USA: short title)
... aka Snow White in the Black Forest (1997)
... aka Snow White in the Dark Forest (1997)
Ice Storm, The (1997) .... Janey Carver
Copycat (1995) .... Helen Hudson
Jeffrey (1995) .... Debra Moorhouse
Death and the Maiden (1994) .... Paulina Escobar
... aka Jeune fille et la mort, La (1995) (France)
Dave (1993) .... Ellen Mitchell
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) .... Queen Isabel
... aka 1492: Christophe Colomb (1992) (France)
... aka 1492: La conqu�te du paradis (1992)
... aka 1492: la conquista del para�so (1992) (Spain)
Alien� (1992) .... Ellen Ripley
Frames from the Edge (1989) .... Herself
Ghostbusters II (1989) .... Dana Barrett
Gorillas in the Mist (1988) .... Dian Fossey
Working Girl (1988) .... Katherine Parker
Half Moon Street (1986) .... Lauren Slaughter
Aliens (1986) .... Lt. Ellen Ripley
Une femme ou deux (1985) .... Jessica Fitzgerald
... aka One Woman or Two (1987) (USA)
... aka Woman or Two, A (1985) (International: English title)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Ripley (segment "Alien")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Ghostbusters (1984) .... Dana Barrett/Zuul (the Gate Keeper)
Deal of the Century (1983) .... Catherine DeVoto
Year of Living Dangerously, The (1982) .... Jill Bryant
Eyewitness (1981) .... Tony Sokolow
... aka Janitor, The (1981)
3 by Cheever: O Youth and Beauty! (1979) (TV)
3 by Cheever: The Sorrows of Gin (1979) (TV)
Alien (1979) .... Ripley
Madman (1978)
Annie Hall (1977) .... Alvy's Date Outside Theatre
"Somerset" (1970) TV Series .... Avis Ryan (1976)
... aka "Another World: Somerset" (1970) (original title)
... aka "Somerset: Bay City" (1970) (original title)
Other Sigourney Weaver pages on Women of Horror:
Alien Resurrection
Snow White
