October 8 – Happy Birthday, Sigourney Weaver

October 8, 2020

Posted October 8, 2020

There are some actors who are just famous-famous, not necessarily for one role or one kind of film, but just – well, movie stars! Other actors are clearly associated with a single role or maybe with a certain kind of movie.

October 8 - Happy Birthday, Sigourney Weaver

Even though Sigourney Weaver has been in LOTS of different kinds of movies and lots of different kinds of roles, she is often associated with sci fi and adventure, and she is even thought of as a bit of a pioneer – because so many people assumed those genres to be the special province of men!

The 1979 movie Alien was Weaver’s big breakout into fame. There have been other Alien movies, and Weaver was also featured in multiple Ghostbuster movies, in Galaxy Quest, and in Avatar. It hasn’t been all sci fi all the time: Weaver played the scientist who lived with gorillas, Dian Fossey, and she became the honorary chairwoman of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

And she played the “bad guy” in Holes and the First Lady in Dave (these two are definitely my favorite Weaver flicks!).

Did you know…?

Sigourney Weaver, who was born on this date in 1949, was named Susan Alexandra Weaver. She took the name Signourney from a character in The Great Gatsby.

Weaver was 5 foot 10 and a half inches (178 cm) by the time she was 14! Her adult height is just a smidge under 6 feet tall.

At age 18, Weaver volunteered on a kibbutz in Israel for several months. She attended some really amazing universities: Sarah Lawerence, Stanford (earning her BA), and Yale (earning her Master’s of Fine Art in the esteemed School of Drama).

Weaver was the first person to win two acting Golden Globes in the same year.