Sigourney Weaver, (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October
8, 1949 in New York, New York) is an American actress
perhaps best known for her portrayal of Ripley in Alien
(1979) and its sequels. Weaver is also notable for her
stature, standing 5 ft 11½ in tall.
Biography
Susan began using the name Sigourney Weaver in 1963,
after a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great
Gatsby. She attended high school in New York City with
fellow-actress Meryl Streep. During the 1970s, Weaver
studied English at Stanford University and then drama
at Yale, where she appeared in original plays by friend
and classmate, Christopher Durang.
She played the role of Lieutenant
Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien. She
then reprised the role in all of the sequels: Aliens,
Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection. She was nominated
for a Best Actress Academy Award for portraying Ripley
in Aliens. She is also remembered for playing Dana
Barrett in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.
She is one of only ten thespians to
receive two Academy Award nominations in the same
year. Weaver received a Best Actress nomination for
her role as gorilla obsessed Dian Fossey in Gorillas
in the Mist and a Best Supporting Actress nomination
for her role as the bitchy trustfund baby (who gets
her comeuppance) Katharine Parker in Working Girl,
opposite Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith. She did
not win either one, but she did win a Golden Globe
for each role.
She is the daughter of the late NBC
television executive Pat Weaver, and his wife, Elizabeth.
She is also a niece of comedian and actor, Doodles
Weaver. Since 1984 she has been married to theater
director Jim Simpson (of The Flea Theater), and has
one child, Charlotte Simpson (born 1990).
Partial filmography
1977: Annie Hall
1979: Alien
1981: Eyewitness
1982: The Year of Living Dangerously
1984: Ghostbusters
1985: Une femme ou deux
1986: Half Moon Street
1986: Aliens
1988: Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey
1988: Working Girl
1989: Ghostbusters II
1992: Alien³
1992: 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1993: Dave
1994: Death and the Maiden
1995: Copycat
1995: Jeffrey
1997: Alien: Resurrection
1997: The Ice Storm
1999: Galaxy Quest
2001: Heartbreakers
2002: Tadpole
2003: Holes
2004: The Village
2004: Imaginary Heroes
2005: Snow Cake (post-production)
2005: Happily N'Ever After (post-production; voice)
2006: The TV Set (filming)
2006: Infamous (post-production)
2006: Awake (pre-production)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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