Susan Alexandra Weaver (born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise. Weaver won both Best Actress in Drama and Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her work in the films Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl. In 2003, Weaver was voted Number 20 in Channel 4’s countdown of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time.
About Sigourney Weaver in brief
Susan Alexandra Weaver (born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise. Weaver is of Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish ancestry. In 2003, Weaver was voted Number 20 in Channel 4’s countdown of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time, being one of only two women in the Top 20. Weaver won both Best Actress in Drama and Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her work in the films Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl. She also received Academy Award nominations for both films. For her role in the film The Ice Storm, she won the BAFTA Award for Best actress in a Supporting Role. Weaver’s other film roles include Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Dave, Galaxy Quest, Holes, WALL-E, Avatar, Prayers for Bobby, Paul, The Cabin in the Woods, and A Monster Calls ; and the television miniseries Political Animals and The Defenders. She has also appeared in a number of plays in New York and New England. She was briefly an understudy in a John Gielgud production of Captain Brassbound. She acted in the first production of the Stephen Sondheim musical The Frogs, alongside fellow students Meryl Streep and Larry Blyden and fellow students Christopher Durang. She graduated from Yale University with a Master of Fine Arts in 1974. Her father, Sylvester \”Pat\” Weaver, was an American television executive born in Los Angeles, who served as president of NBC between 1953 and 1955 and created NBC’s Today Show in 1952.
Her uncle,\’Doodles\’ Weaver, was a comedian and contributor to Mad. She began using the name ‘Sigourney’ at the age of 14, taking it from a minor character in The Great Gatsby. She attended the Brearley School and Chapin School before arriving at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut, where she developed an early interest in performance art. In 1967, shortly before turning 18, Weaver visited Israel and volunteered on a kibbutz for several months. She had planned to enter Stanford’s Ph. D. English program and eventually pursued 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 a B. A. in English. Weaver admitted that she had a difficult time at Yale Repertory Theatre, and had little luck in lead roles in her time. Some acting teachers referred to her as ‘talentless’ and her friends advised her to stick to comedy, as well as helping her pull as crucial plays through her time at the Yale Cabaret. She later went on to star in the hit Broadway play Hurlyburly, which won her a Tony Award nomination.
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