Bio
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress best known for her role as Lt. Ellen Ripley in the Alien film series: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997).
She also had a starring role as former first lady Elaine Barrish in the television mini-series Political Animals, in 2012.
Weaver has had memorable characters in such feature films as Copycat, Death and the Maiden, Avatar, which received a Golden Globe for Best Picture and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture; 1492, Ghostbusters II, One Woman or Two, Vantage Point, The Village, Eyewitness, and You Again, with her Political Animals co-star James Wolk.
She received three Oscar nominations for her performances in Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl and Aliens; and won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist and Best Supporting Actress in Working Girl.
She has also received Golden Globe nominations for A Map of the World, The Ice Storm and Aliens.
In television, Weaver has received Screen Actors Guild and Emmy nominations for Snow White: A Tale of Terror and Prayers for Bobby, which was also Emmy and Golden Globe nominated for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, and for which she received a fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.
Weaver also has several theatre credits including The Nature and Purpose of the Universe, The Merchant of Venice, Sex and Longing and Titanic. She co-wrote Das Lusitania Sonspiel with Christopher Durang, which earned them both Drama Desk nominations.
She additionally received a Tony nomination for her starring role in Hurlyburly, which was directed by Mike Nichols.
She has also lent her voice to such animated films as, Wall-E and Tales of Despereaux.
Weaver was born in New York City. She graduated from Stanford University and went on to receive a Masters degree from the Yale School of Drama.