Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (1)

Trade Mark (5)

Often plays women of enormous strength and stature



Often plays fiercely independent, driven characters



Deep husky yet smooth voice



Delicate high cheekbones



Statuesque, model-like figure



Trivia (46)

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#81). [1995]



Attended the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conneticut.



Ranked #71 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]





Changed her name after reading F. Scott Fitzgerald 's novel "The Great Gatsby".

Despite gaining fame for action roles, she has a strong dislike of guns; she's also afraid to travel in elevators.



Ranked #13 of Sci-Fi's Sexy 50, by Femme Fatales magazine. [1997]



Speaks French and German fluently.



Received her Bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University in Stanford, California. [1972]



Received her Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut. [1974]





Suffered nightmares for two weeks after reading the screenplay for The Village - Das Dorf (2004).



Was nominated for Broadway's 1985 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for David Rabe 's "Hurly Burly", but lost to a co-star, Judith Ivey

Was a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998.



Is a supporter of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and now its honorary chairperson.





In Alien - Die Wiedergeburt (1997), Sigourney actually managed to sink the basketball into the hoop backwards on the first take, even though she was not supposed to or intended to. The shot was almost ruined because Ron Perlman broke character because he was so amazed.



Her performance as Ellen Ripley in Aliens - Die Rückkehr (1986) is ranked #58 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. [2006]

Her performance as Ellen Ripley in the Alien quadrilogy is ranked #8 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.





Injured her knee during the shooting of Snow Cake (2006) and has been forced to stop exercising for a year.



Ranked #20 on E4's 100 Greatest Movie Stars. She was the second highest female on the list behind #13 Audrey Hepburn



Singer/songwriter Mike Garrigan wrote a song entitled "Sigourney Weaver" that pays tribute to the actress.



Her character in the Ghostbusters movies, Dana Barrett, is the only character among the leads who did not appear in the animated adaptation, Die Echten Ghostbusters (1986).

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#74). [2007]



Studied acting with Michael Howard in New York City.



Currently resides in New York City and Santa Barbara, California.



Her character from the Alien series, Ellen Ripley, inspired the "Metroid" video game heroine, Samus Aran.



She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 16, 1999.





Her first job was as understudy in Sir John Gielgud 's production of "The Constant Wife" starring Ingrid Bergman

Her American father had English, as well as Dutch and Scottish, ancestry. Her mother was English.





She jumped at the chance to appear in the movie Paul - Ein Alien auf der Flucht (2011), as she felt this was a love letter to science fiction fans, and a genre that has been very good to her in her career. Simon Pegg even had a crush on Sigourney, and even wrote a poem about her at Bristol University. He would get his wish when he would work with her in one scene in this movie.



Fans have often mistaken her for Susan Sarandon or Geena Davis , who both starred in Thelma & Louise (1991). What's ironic is that no one would ever get Susan and Geena mixed up with each other.



Her mother Elizabeth Inglis once attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) with Vivien Leigh

Personal Quotes (24)

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.



I'd rather work with a first-time director who's passionate about the material. I've done enough movies with old and jaded people who are just like "Let's get this over with".



In Hollywood, if you are a man and speak your mind openly, you're considered a man in full. But if you are a woman and do the same, you're nothing but an annoying bitch.





Usually, all Hollywood wants you to do is what you just did. After Der Eissturm (1997), I was offered a thousand "Ice Storms" and so on. You always get offered the same thing again and again, if you're not very careful. It's up to you to swing back and forth.

These deep sea trawlers are operating beyond the reach of the law. It's up to all of us to change that.



Most people think somebody, somewhere is looking out for the deep oceans, but they aren't.



I've lost a lot of roles because of my height. I'm 6 feet 3 inches in heels. Producers are short and I was never their sexual fantasy. As for actors, if I enter a room and an actor stands up then immediately gets self-conscious and sits back down, I hear myself saying, "This job isn't for me". I once offered to paint my shoes on my bare feet to get one part because it made me appear shorter.



I don't have ambitions, I believe in taking what comes. I have that philosophy about life in general. I go in and try to transform it into the best it can be.



It took me a while to let my hair down in the business because I was kind of a shy person. I was from New York and never really felt at ease in Hollywood. I don't really now either but I don't care, it's not important that I do. Filmmakers find me or I find them.



[1992: on the possibility of performing in a fourth Alien movie] I am sure there will eventually be an Alien 4, it just won't have me in it.





[1992: working on Alien 3 (1992)] Okay, the crew have not enjoyed being here until ten o'clock at night, but you know, that's the way it is.



[1992: on Alien 3 (1992)] [David] Fincher is very dry. He is the only director I can think of who can come up with so many jokes, considering the pressure he has been under.

[on hoping to do another Alien movie] I could definitely kick that alien's ass again. And while I can't speak for them, I think Fox, once you're 60, you're not going to be starring in an action movie. I think it's too bad that that's the case. I would have liked to do one last story where we go back to the planet, where Ripley's history is resolved. But I do feel like her story is unfinished.



[on her role as a student activist] Napalm was invented at Stanford University, so one of the reasons we were protesting was to make sure that didn't continue. I think we stopped the university and we helped stop that war.





[on her television series Political Animals (2012)] I was offered this show just as I was realizing that TV was a cool place to work. A series can really take the time to build and layer and tell a different kind of story. It's delicious. It's like a stew instead of a little vegan meal.



[on her television series Political Animals (2012)] When I finally got to this material, to my great surprise, I felt I had been eating salad for a number of years and was finally offered a big, juicy hamburger. Because it's so different from what's going on in movies, which are dominated by effects and action and comic-book characters. To sink my teeth into these relationships has been just fantastic.

I had such great teachers in high school who made me feel like I could do anything. Then I go to Yale, where these drama teachers made me feel like shit--if I had any advice for young people, it would be "Don't listen to teachers who say, 'You're really not good enough'." Just teach me. Don't tell me if you think I'm good enough or not. I didn't ask you. Teachers who do that should be fired.



I changed my name when I was twelve because I didn't like being called Sue or Suzie. I felt I needed a longer name because I was so tall. So what happened? Now everyone calls me Sig or Siggy.



[on the changing approach to action roles by female actors] There isn't that thing that used to drive me crazy whenever I read the part: those scenes where the woman stops being effective and has a little breakdown to show you she's still a female entity. Now they just get on with it.





I'd send out an intergalactic invitation to other species. I guarantee they would not be like the aliens in the movies I did. I think if they can get here, they could be charming. Stephen Hawking said aliens would come for our resources. Well, I don't know what planet he's talking about, we don't have any resources to give them! We're plundering our own planet. Unless garbage and plastic is something they need, in which case, we could work out a great deal.

Salary (7)