Sigourney Weaver Net Worth

What Is Sigourney Weaver's Net Worth and Salary?

Sigourney Weaver is an American actress who has a net worth of $70 million.

Sigourney Weaver has spent more than four decades moving between blockbuster franchises, prestige dramas, comedy, television, and theater while creating one of the most influential characters in science-fiction history. She became an international star as Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien," then elevated the character into an action icon in James Cameron's 1986 sequel, "Aliens." The latter performance earned Weaver an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, an unusual achievement for a science-fiction action movie. She went on to reprise Ripley in "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection," ultimately earning $11 million for the fourth film after receiving just $30,000 for the original.

Outside of "Alien," Weaver played Dana Barrett in the "Ghostbusters" franchise, primatologist Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist," corporate executive Katharine Parker in "Working Girl," Gwen DeMarco in "Galaxy Quest," and Grace Augustine in James Cameron's "Avatar." She later returned to Cameron's franchise as the teenage Na'vi Kiri in "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash." The first three "Avatar" films have earned more than $6.7 billion worldwide.

One of the most acclaimed years of Weaver's career came in 1988, when "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl" earned her two Academy Award nominations in the same year and two Golden Globe wins. She later won a BAFTA for "The Ice Storm" and received the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2024.

Early Life

Susan Alexandra Weaver was born on October 8, 1949, in New York City. Her mother, Elizabeth Inglis, was an English actress who appeared in films including Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps," while her father, Sylvester "Pat" Weaver Jr., was one of the most important television executives of the 1950s. Pat served as president of NBC and helped develop programs including "Today" and "The Tonight Show." Sigourney's uncle, Doodles Weaver, was also an actor and comedian.

Susan began calling herself Sigourney as a teenager after encountering the name of a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Having grown unusually tall at a young age, Weaver later joked that "Sue" seemed too short a name for someone approaching six feet tall.

She attended several private schools, including the Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, before studying English literature at Stanford University. Weaver initially imagined becoming a writer or teacher, but became increasingly involved with Stanford's experimental theater community.

After graduating from Stanford, she entered the Yale School of Drama. Weaver's experience there was not particularly encouraging. She has recalled that some instructors did not consider her especially talented and steered many of the best female roles toward her classmate Meryl Streep. Weaver nevertheless earned her MFA in 1974 and began pursuing theater work in New York.

Early Stage Career and "Alien"

Weaver originally intended to make the theater her career. Her first professional stage job was in a production of "The Constant Wife" starring Ingrid Bergman, and she spent much of the 1970s appearing in experimental and Off-Broadway productions. She frequently worked with playwright Christopher Durang, a friend from Yale.

Her first movie appearance was almost comically brief. Weaver had a tiny role in Woody Allen's 1977 film "Annie Hall," appearing for only a few seconds near the end of the movie. Two years later, her film career changed permanently.

Director Ridley Scott cast Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley in the 1979 science-fiction horror film "Alien." Weaver was still largely unknown and received $30,000 for the role. She later recalled thinking at the time that $30,000 was so much money that she might never need to work again.

"Alien" became a landmark of both horror and science fiction. Ripley was not presented as a conventional damsel in distress or romantic interest. Instead, she survived through competence, skepticism, and sheer determination, eventually becoming the film's central hero.

The success of "Alien" transformed Weaver from a New York stage actress into an international movie star and created a character she would remain associated with for the rest of her career.

"Ghostbusters" and "Aliens"

Weaver avoided simply repeating Ripley during the early 1980s. She appeared with Mel Gibson in Peter Weir's 1982 political drama "The Year of Living Dangerously," playing British journalist Jill Bryant.

In 1984, Weaver showed a completely different side of her screen persona as cellist Dana Barrett in "Ghostbusters." Starring alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson, the supernatural comedy became one of the defining blockbusters of the decade. Weaver returned as Dana in 1989's "Ghostbusters II."

The role that permanently established her as an action star, however, came in 1986. James Cameron had been hired to write and direct "Aliens," and he insisted that the sequel needed Weaver. Twentieth Century Fox initially worried that declaring her indispensable would destroy its negotiating leverage, but Cameron refused to make the movie without Ripley.

The standoff worked enormously in Weaver's favor. After receiving $30,000 for "Alien," she was paid close to $1 million for "Aliens" plus a percentage of the movie's profits. It was the largest salary of her career at that point.

Under James Cameron, Ripley evolved from the resourceful survivor of a horror film into the emotional and physical center of a large-scale action movie. "Aliens" earned Weaver her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, helping demonstrate that a performance in an action-heavy science-fiction movie could receive serious awards recognition.

"Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl"

If "Aliens" established Weaver's blockbuster credentials, 1988 demonstrated just how broad her range could be.

In "Gorillas in the Mist," Weaver portrayed real-life primatologist Dian Fossey, who devoted much of her life to studying and protecting mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The physically demanding role earned Weaver an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama.

That same year, she played ambitious Wall Street executive Katharine Parker opposite Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford in Mike Nichols' "Working Girl." Weaver's coolly manipulative performance earned another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress, along with a Golden Globe victory.

The result was one of the most remarkable awards seasons of the era. Weaver was nominated for Oscars in two separate acting categories at the same ceremony and won Golden Globes for both performances. She remains one of the relatively small number of actors ever to receive two acting Oscar nominations in a single year.

"Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection"

Weaver returned to Ripley for David Fincher's troubled 1992 production "Alien 3." The project went through numerous directors, writers, scripts, and creative concepts before filming was completed, and Weaver had become sufficiently important to the franchise that her compensation was now measured in the millions.

Sigourney's base salary for "Alien 3" has commonly been listed at $4 million plus a share of the box office. In an interview conducted when the movie was released, however, Weaver discussed her compensation as $5.5 million, indicating that the larger figure reflected her overall package.

The film ended with Ripley's death, which Weaver initially believed would conclude her involvement with the franchise. Five years later, she was persuaded to return for "Alien: Resurrection," in which scientists clone Ripley two centuries after her death.

By then, Weaver possessed enormous negotiating leverage. She earned $11 million for "Alien: Resurrection" and also received a co-producer credit. Her salary for the fourth film was nearly 367 times the $30,000 she had received for the original "Alien."

1990s Film Career

Weaver continued building a career that alternated between studio entertainment and more challenging dramatic projects. She reunited with Ridley Scott for "1492: Conquest of Paradise" in 1992 and appeared in the political comedy "Dave" in 1993.

In 1994, she starred opposite Ben Kingsley in Roman Polanski's psychological drama "Death and the Maiden." The following year brought the serial-killer thriller "Copycat" and the comedy "Jeffrey."

One of Weaver's strongest performances of the decade came in Ang Lee's 1997 drama "The Ice Storm." Playing Janey Carver, a dissatisfied Connecticut wife caught in the emotional wreckage of two suburban families, Weaver won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress and earned another Golden Globe nomination.

In 1999, she starred in two very different projects. The drama "A Map of the World" earned Weaver another Golden Globe nomination, while the science-fiction comedy "Galaxy Quest" became a beloved cult classic.

"Galaxy Quest" affectionately parodied the world surrounding "Star Trek" and other science-fiction franchises. Weaver played actress Gwen DeMarco, whose television character's primary function had been repeating information supplied by the ship's computer. The role gave Weaver the opportunity to parody both science-fiction conventions and her own status as one of the genre's most famous performers.

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2000s and "Avatar"

Weaver remained prolific throughout the 2000s. Her films included "Heartbreakers," "Holes," "The Village," "Infamous," "Vantage Point," and "Baby Mama." Financial records from "The Village" revealed that she earned $2 million for her role as Alice Hunt.

She also built a substantial voice-acting résumé. Weaver voiced the Axiom's computer in Pixar's "WALL-E," appeared as herself in Pixar's "Finding Dory," and contributed voice performances to television, documentaries, and video games.

Her career entered another blockbuster phase when she reunited with James Cameron for 2009's "Avatar." Weaver played Dr. Grace Augustine, a scientist leading the Avatar Program who becomes an ally of the Na'vi.

"Avatar" became a global phenomenon, ultimately generating more than $2.9 billion in worldwide box-office revenue across its original run and re-releases. For years it held the record as the highest-grossing film ever made.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" and Kiri

Grace Augustine died in the original "Avatar," but Cameron devised a very different way for Weaver to return.

In 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water," Weaver performed the role of Kiri, the adolescent Na'vi daughter mysteriously born from Grace's avatar. Instead of simply digitally de-aging Weaver, Cameron had the actress perform Kiri through performance-capture technology.

Weaver was in her 70s while portraying a character in her early teens. She studied the physical behavior and voices of teenagers and performed the role on the same motion-capture stages as the film's younger actors. Like the rest of the principal cast, she also underwent extensive underwater training for the movie's aquatic performance-capture sequences.

"The Way of Water" earned $2.32 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing movies in history. Weaver returned as Kiri in 2025's "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which earned another $1.49 billion worldwide. Combined, the first three "Avatar" films have generated more than $6.7 billion at the global box office.

"Ghostbusters" Returns

Weaver has also repeatedly returned to the other major franchise of her early career.

She made a cameo in the 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot, although she played a different character rather than Dana Barrett. Weaver then properly reprised Dana in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in 2021, sharing a memorable scene with Bill Murray's Peter Venkman.

She returned again in 2024's "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," more than 40 years after her first appearance in the franchise.

Television Career

Although Weaver is primarily associated with movies, she has accumulated a significant television résumé. Her performance in the 1997 television film "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" earned her an Emmy nomination.

She received another Emmy nomination for the 2009 television movie "Prayers for Bobby," in which she played Mary Griffith, a deeply religious mother whose gay son dies by suicide. The film also earned Weaver Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

In 2012, Weaver starred as former First Lady and Secretary of State Elaine Barrish in the USA Network miniseries "Political Animals." The role produced another Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG nomination.

She later played the villainous Alexandra Reid in Marvel's 2017 Netflix miniseries "The Defenders" and appeared as herself in the acclaimed French comedy series "Call My Agent!"

In 2023, Weaver starred as June Hart in Amazon's Australian miniseries "The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart." She also served as an executive producer and received an AACTA nomination for her performance.

Later Films and "Star Wars"

Weaver continued mixing large franchise projects with independent films. Her later credits include "Chappie," "A Monster Calls," "My Salinger Year," "Call Jane," "The Good House," and Paul Schrader's "Master Gardener."

In 2025, she appeared alongside Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy in the Apple action-thriller "The Gorge." She also starred with Mads Mikkelsen in Bryan Fuller's "Dust Bunny."

Weaver added yet another major science-fiction franchise to her résumé in 2026 when she appeared opposite Pedro Pascal in "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu." She played Colonel Ward, a veteran X-wing pilot and New Republic military leader who had spent much of her life fighting the Empire.

Stage Career

Despite becoming internationally famous through film, Weaver never abandoned the theater. In 1984, she joined the original Broadway cast of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly," appearing alongside William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, and Judith Ivey. Weaver received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Her later New York stage work included "Sex and Longing," "The Guys," "The Mercy Seat," "Mrs. Farnsworth," and "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike." Weaver and her husband, theater director Jim Simpson, were also closely involved with New York's Flea Theater.

At age 75, Weaver made her West End debut in London in a major new production of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Directed by Jamie Lloyd, the production ran at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane from December 2024 through February 2025, with Weaver taking on the traditionally male role of Prospero.

"Alien" Salary and Other Notable Paydays

Weaver's compensation across the "Alien" franchise provides a striking illustration of how dramatically her earning power increased after the original film.

• She earned $30,000 for 1979's "Alien."
• She received close to $1 million plus a percentage of the profits for 1986's "Aliens."
• Her base salary for "Alien 3" has been listed at $4 million plus backend participation. Contemporary interviews described her overall compensation package as $5.5 million.
• She earned $11 million and received a co-producer credit for 1997's "Alien: Resurrection."
• She earned $2 million for 2004's "The Village."

The increase from $30,000 for "Alien" to $11 million for "Alien: Resurrection" represents one of the more dramatic franchise salary escalations in Hollywood history. That $11 million payday alone was nearly 367 times her salary from the original film.

Awards and Honors

Weaver has received three Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for "Aliens," Best Actress for "Gorillas in the Mist," and Best Supporting Actress for "Working Girl."

Her 1988 performances in "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl" produced one of the defining awards-season achievements of her career. She won two Golden Globes at the same ceremony, taking Best Actress in a Drama for "Gorillas in the Mist" and Best Supporting Actress for "Working Girl."

She later won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for "The Ice Storm" and has received multiple Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, and additional Golden Globe nominations.

In 2016, the San Sebastián International Film Festival honored Weaver with its Donostia Award for lifetime achievement. In 2024, the Venice International Film Festival presented her with its prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, recognizing a career that successfully bridged blockbuster filmmaking, independent cinema, comedy, drama, science fiction, and theater.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Environmental Work

Playing Dian Fossey had a lasting impact on Weaver well beyond the production of "Gorillas in the Mist." She became deeply involved with gorilla conservation and has served for decades as an honorary chair of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Weaver has also supported environmental organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the New York Botanical Garden. In 2009, the National Audubon Society honored her with its Rachel Carson Award for her environmental work.

Personal Life

Sigourney Weaver met theater director Jim Simpson in the early 1980s, and the couple married in 1984. They have one child, Charlotte.

Simpson founded and directed the Flea Theater in Lower Manhattan, where Weaver has frequently performed and supported new theatrical work. The couple has maintained a relatively private family life in New York despite Weaver's decades of international fame.

Weaver has also remained closely connected to the theatrical community that preceded her movie career. Even after starring in some of the highest-grossing films ever made, she has continued taking relatively small parts, independent films, television projects, and stage roles when the material interested her.

That flexibility has become one of the defining characteristics of her career. Few actors have moved as comfortably between a monster movie like "Alien," a comedy blockbuster like "Ghostbusters," prestige dramas such as "Gorillas in the Mist" and "The Ice Storm," a cult comedy like "Galaxy Quest," and enormous effects-driven franchises like "Avatar" and "Star Wars."

Real Estate

Sigourney Weaver has owned homes in both New York and Hawaii. For years, she owned an apartment at One Sutton Place South, one of Manhattan's most exclusive prewar cooperative buildings. The East River-facing building has also counted fashion designer Bill Blass, socialite C.Z. Guest, and publisher John Fairchild among its residents. Weaver sold her apartment there in the early 2010s.

Weaver and her husband, Jim Simpson, have also owned property on the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi. In 2014, they paid $520,000 for a three-bedroom home in Lānaʻi City. The 1,105-square-foot house, built in 1935, sits on roughly 0.3 acres. They sold the property in 2016 for $545,000.

In July 2015, Sigourney and Jim paid $975,000 for a second Lānaʻi City property. Built in 1927, the four-bedroom home sits on just over half an acre and spans roughly 1,400 square feet. In 2020, they received a permit to construct a 750-square-foot detached garage on the property at a stated construction cost of $70,000.

While filming "Alien: Resurrection" in 1996, Weaver also leased a roughly 5,000-square-foot home in Bel-Air for about six months. The four-bedroom property featured a swimming pool, spa, and poolside gazebo and was being offered for close to $15,000 per month.

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