Born Susan Alexandra Weaver in New York City; educated at Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA) and Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT). Tall (6' 0"), handsome actress who began using the name Sigourney (after a character mentioned in The Great Gatsby) in the early 1960s. The daughter of former NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver (who pioneered the "desk-and-couch" talk show format) and actress Elizabeth Inglis, Weaver graduated from Yale drama school one year before Meryl Streep and cut her teeth on the New York stage before making her film debut in the Israeli-produced feature MADMAN (1976). She gained almost overnight stardom as the tenacious heroine of Ridley Scott's sci-fi thriller, ALIEN (1979), and proved her serious dramatic credentials opposite Mel Gibson in the political drama, THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1983). Weaver went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest female stars of the 1980s. She reached her widest audience as a comic foil to Bill Murray in the hugely successful GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) and made the cover of Time magazine with one of her co-stars of the blockbuster sequel, ALIENS (1986). Weaver has earned three Oscar nominations, two of them in 1989: for best supporting actress (as a model of WASP snobbery) opposite Melanie Griffith in WORKING GIRL; and for best actress, portraying Dian Fossey in GORILLAS IN THE MIST. Other notable credits include EYEWITNESS (1981), GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989), ALIEN3 and 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE (both 1992), DAVE (1993), DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (1994), JEFFREY and COPYCAT (both 1995), THE ICE STORM, SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR and ALIEN: RESURRECTION (all 1997), GET BRUCE, A MAP OF THE WORLD and GALAXY QUEST (all 1999), COMPANY MAN (2000), HEARTBREAKERS (2001), TADPOLE and THE GUYS (both 2002), HOLES (2003), IMAGINARY HEROES and THE VILLAGE (both 2004), SNOW CAKE, THE TV SET and INFAMOUS (all 2006), HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER (voice) and THE GIRL IN THE PARK (both 2007), BE KIND REWIND, VANTAGE POINT, BABY MAMA, THE TAKE OF DESPEREAUX and "Gypsy and Me" (TV) (all scheduled for 2008), and AVATAR (scheduled for release in 2009). Weaver speaks fluent French and German. Her uncle was actor Doodles Weaver (1911-1983) of "Feetlebaum" fame. She married stage (and sometimes, film) director Jim Simpson in 1984, and they have a daughter who was born in 1990.  Nominated for Actress 1986: ALIENS  Nominated for Best Performance by Actress in a Leading Role 1988: GORILLAS IN THE MIST  Nominated for Best Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role 1988: WORKING GIRL 3 nominations