Sigourney Weaver was born Susan Alexandra Weaver after her mother's best friend, Susan Pretzlik. Her father, Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, preferred Flavia due to his obsession with the Roman Empire. Her brother was unfortunately named Trajan by her father. The president of NBC between 1953 and '55, it was Pat who created both the Today and Tonight programs, pioneering the desk'n'couch chat show format popular to this day.

Weaver graduated from the 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 and playing a bit in Woody Allen's Annie Hall.

Weaver gained almost overnight stardom as the heroine Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic, Alien. By proving her serious dramatic credentials opposite Mel Gibson in the political drama Living Dangerously, Weaver went on to become one of Hollywood's more prominent female stars of the 1980s. Continuing on track, she solidifed her stardom with Aliens (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award), and again in Alien3. Refusing to let the franchise peter out, Fox convinced the still buff actress to undertake the role again. Agreeing, she returned as a co-producer on the film.

She reached a different audience as a comic foil to Bill Murray in the hugely successful Ghostbusters and its sequel. Weaver has earned three Oscar nominations: Best Actress for "Aliens" in 1986 and two in 1989: for Best Supporting Actress as a model of WASP snobbery opposite Melanie Griffith in Working Girl and for Best Actress, portraying scientist and environmental activist Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist.

She played a glorified cameo as Queen Isabella in Ridley Scott's disastrous 1492: The Conquest of Paradise, and hooked up with Reitman again for her role as First Lady in the hit comedy Dave. She was once more in fine form as the vengeful victim of political torture in Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden and as an agoraphobic criminal psychologist opposite Holly Hunter in Copycat. Weaver also played a New Age evangelist in the comedy Jeffrey, from Paul Rudnick's play. Her most recent popular role was in the sci/fi farce Galaxy Quest.