With a career spanning over 50 years, Sigourney Weaver has showcased her versatility across Broadway, television, and film, creating iconic heroic characters in both dramatic and comedic roles. Her remarkable talent has earned her three Academy Award nominations.
Born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949, in New York City, she adopted the name Sigourney at age 14, inspired by a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby.
Weaver graduated from Stanford University and obtained a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama. Even as she found fame and success on the screen, she would maintain her love for the stage throughout her career. Her many theater credits include four Broadway productions: Sir John Gielgud’s production of The Constant Wife in 1975, the groundbreaking 1984 production of David Rabe’s Hurlyburly opposite William Hurt, Harvey Keitel and a newcomer named Cynthia Nixon, and the 1996 production of Sex and Longing, written by her lifelong friend Christopher Durang. She would re-team with Durang in 2013 on the smash hit Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, costarring David Hyde Pierce, Kristine Nielsen and another newcomer, Billy Magnussen.
Weaver made her film debut with a 6-second walk-on role in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall before achieving her breakthrough role two years later as Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi thriller Alien. She reprised the iconic character in James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), earning an Academy Award nomination for her performance as the xenomorph-slaying heroine. Weaver continued to play Ripley in David Fincher’s Alien 3 (1992) and as a human/alien hybrid clone in Alien Resurrection (1997).
In 1988, Sigourney Weaver continued her winning streak of great roles and received two Academy Award nominations: one for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist, and another for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl.
She shifted gears to comedy, starring alongside Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd in the Ghostbusters franchise as the vampy Dana Barrett, first in 1984’s Ghostbusters and later in Ghostbusters II (1989)
Notable films that followed included Dave (1993); Copycat (1995); The Ice Storm (1997); Galaxy Quest (1999); James Cameron’s Avatar (2009); Master Gardener (2022) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
Take a look back at Sigourney Weaver’s groundbreaking journey in film and television.
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TITANIC, 1976 – THEATRE
Kate McGregor-Stewart, Stefan Hartman, Richard Peterson, and Sigourney Weaver, Vandam Theatre
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THE BEST OF FAMILIES – 1977
Sigourney Weaver and Victor Garber
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CONJURING AN EVENT, 1978 – THEATRE
Sigourney Weaver and Michael Cristofer, American Place Theater, New York
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ALIEN – 1979
Sigourney Weaver
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SORROWS OF GIN (aka 3 BY CHEEVER: THE SORROWS OF GIN) – 1979
Sigourney Weaver and Edward Herrmann
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BEYOND THERAPY, 1981 – THEATRE
Stephen Collins and Sigourney Weaver, Marymount Manhattan Theater, New York, 1981 (photo by Martha Swope)
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AS YOU LIKE IT, 1981 – THEATRE
Sigourney Weaver, Shakespeare Festival of Dallas
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EYEWITNESS – 1981
William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver
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THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY – 1982
Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson
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DEAL OF THE CENTURY – 1983
Chevy Chase and Sigourney Weaver
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HURLYBURLY, 1984-1985 – THEATRE
Front from left: Ron Silver, William Hurt, Sigourney Weave, Cynthia Nixon, Judith Ivey, rear from Left: Harvey Keitel, and Jerry Stiller
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GHOSTBUSTERS – 1984
Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis
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ONE WOMAN OR TWO, (aka UNE FEMME OU DEUX) – 1985
Sigourney Weaver and Gerard Depardieu
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ALIENS – 1986
Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn
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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, 1986 – THEATRE
Kristine Nielsen and Sigourney Weaver, CSC Repertory
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HALF MOON STREET – 1986
Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver
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GORILLAS IN THE MIST- 1988
Sigourney Weaver
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WORKING GIRL – 1988
Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver
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GHOSTBUSTERS II -1989
Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver
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ALIEN 3 – 1992
Sigourney Weaver
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1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE – 1992
Sigourney Weaver as Queen Isabella I
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DAVE – 1993
Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline
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JEFFREY – 1995
Sigourney Weaver and Steven Weber
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COPYCAT – 1995
Sigourney Weaver, Dermot Mulroney and Holly Hunter
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SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR – 1997
Sam Neill and Sigourney Weaver
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THE ICE STORM – 1997
Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline
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ALIEN: RESURRECTION – 1997
Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder
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A MAP OF THE WORLD – 1999
Sigourney Weaver
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GALAXY QUEST – 1999
Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver
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COMPANY MAN – 2000
John Turturro, Doug McGrath, Alan Cumming and Sigourney Weaver
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HEARTBREAKERS – 2001
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver
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TADPOLE – 2002
Bebe Neuwirth, Aaron Stanford and Sigourney Weaver
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THE GUYS – 2003
Anthony La Paglia and Sigourney Weaver
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HOLES – 2003
Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf
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THE VILLAGE – 2004
Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt
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IMAGINARY HEROES – 2004
Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch
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SNOW CAKE – 2006
Sigourney Weaver
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THE TV SET – 2006
Ioan Gruffudd and Sigourney Weaver
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THE GIRL IN THE PARK – 2007
Kate Bosworth and Sigourney Weaver
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VANTAGE POINT – 2008
Dennis Quaid, Leonardo Nam and Sigourney Weaver
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BABY MAMA – 2008
Tina Fey, Sigourney Weaver and Amy Poehler
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ELI STONE – 2008
Sigourney Weaver, ‘The Path’, (Season 2, episode 1, aired October 14, 2008)
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PRAYERS FOR BOBBY – 2009
Sigourney Weaver (center), and Susan Ruttan (right)
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AVATAR – 2009
Sigourney Weaver
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YOU AGAIN – 2010
Betty White, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman and Kristen Bell
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ABDUCTION – 2011
Sigourney Weaver
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RED LIGHTS – 2012
Sigourney Weaver and Toby Jones
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THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY – 2012
Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver
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POLITICAL ANIMALS – 2012
Carla Gugino and Sigourney Weaver, ‘Pilot’, (Season 1, ep. 101, airing July 15, 2012)
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VAMPS – 2012
Krysten Ritter, Alicia Silverstone and Sigourney Weaver
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VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, 2013 – BROADWAY
Genevieve Angelson, Billy Magnussen, Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce, Kristine Nielsen & Shalita Grant during the Broadway Opening Night Performance of ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at the Golden Theatre in New York City
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CHAPPIE – 2015
Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver
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A MONSTER CALLS – 2016, ph: Quim Vives / © Focus
Lewis MacDougall and Sigourney Weaver
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THE ASSIGNMENT – 2016
Sigourney Weaver
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THE DEFENDERS, (aka MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS) – 2017
Elodie Yung, Sigourney Weaver, ‘The H Word’, (Season 1, ep. 101)
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MY SALINGER YEAR – 2020
Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley
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THE GOOD HOUSE – 2021
Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
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CALL JANE – 2022
Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver
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MASTER GARDENER – 2022
Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver
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AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER – 2022
Kiri, voiced by Sigourney Weaver
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THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART – 2023
Leah Purcell, and Sigourney Weaver, (Season 1, premiered Aug. 4, 2023)