Susan Alexandra Weaver was born October 8, 1949, in New York City, New York, where she went to high school with Meryl Streep. She and her brother Trajan were born into a minor showbiz royalty; her father Sylvester "Pat" Weaver was an ex-NBC president and his wife Elizabeth Inglis was a former Hitchcockian actress.

When a young Susan -- who already possessed a flare for the dramatic -- read The Great Gatsby at the age 14, she fell in love with one character's name and from then on wanted to be known as "Sigourney."

Sigourney Weaver went on to receive a bachelor's degree in English at Stanford University, and then, with a hectic case of the acting bug, went to Yale University's prestigious School of Drama. The six-foot actress took on some parts on the stage before landing the lead in the 1978 film Madman and a bit part in Woody Allen's Annie Hall, also released in 1978.

However, in 1979, she landed the part that would launch her career as a star; after only one audition, Sigourney Weaver landed the role of Lt. Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's groundbreaking Alien, a role that she would of course revisit after earning an Academy Award nomination in James Cameron's classic 1986 flick Aliens, and in two more sequels.

Sigourney Weaver went on to land roles in 1981's Eyewitness with William Hurt and 1982's The Year of Living Dangerously with Mel Gibson. In 1984, she married her husband Jim Simpson and costarred in the comic sci-fi masterpiece Ghostbusters opposite Bill Murray, which proved to be a blockbuster and officially gave Sigourney Weaver the title of "superstar."

After receiving her first Oscar nomination for Aliens in 1986, Sigourney Weaver earned two nominations in 1988 for Best Supporting Actress in Working Girl and Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist. Sigourney Weaver never brought home the Oscar, but she did come away with two Golden Globes to add to her mantle.

Although she hasn't received any Oscar nominations since, Sigourney Weaver has remained a force in Hollywood thanks to a slew of critical and comical hits like 1993's Dave, 1997's The Ice Storm , 1999's Galaxy Quest, 2001's Heartbreakers, 2002's Tadpole, and 2004's The Village.

Sigourney Weaver has set herself up to end the first decade of the 21st century with a slew of successful projects. Aside from the poorly received Be Kind Rewind (2008), Sigourney Weaver racked up appearances in the box-office success stories Vantage Point, a non-linear thriller about an assassination attempt on the president, and Baby Mama (2008), a comedy starring a Tina Fey and Amy Poehler about a less-than-desirable surrogate mother. Sigourney Weaver also landed parts in two surefire blockbusters that are bound to keep her on people's minds for the foreseeable future: First, Sigourney Weaver lent her voice to Pixar's mammoth robot tale, WALL*E (2008); and, second, she landed a part in James Cameron's highly anticipated follow-up to Titanic (1997), the sci-fi epic Avatar (2009).