There are a few actresses who can disappear into a role while somehow remaining the most interesting person in the room. Sigourney Weaver is one of them. For many moviegoers, she’ll always be Ellen Ripley, the ultimate “please stop opening that door” heroine of the Alien franchise. But Weaver’s career goes way beyond spaceships, acid blood, and people making catastrophically bad decisions in dark hallways. She’s played scientists, executives, mothers, villains, eccentrics, and everything in between. And the really fun part? Some of her best performances came when she wasn’t busy fighting something with over 47 teeth.
She possesses a knack for making all of her characters feel totally believable. And let’s not forget she was nominated for two Oscars in the same year. In 1989, Weaver was nominated for Best Actress for Gorillas in the Mist and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl. That’s two very different performances and one very busy awards season. So, outside of Ripley, which Weaver performances stand tallest? Let’s count down five of her best.
Weaver’s performance in Galaxy Quest proves she knows exactly how to have fun with her own sci-fi image. In this movie, she got meta and played Gwen DeMarco, an actress famous for playing a ship’s communications officer, Tawny Madison, on a cheesy space TV show. But Gwen isn’t just the punchline. Weaver gives her frustration, confidence, and enough self-awareness to make her feel like a real actress stuck inside a ridiculous situation.
There’s a lot to like about Gwen DeMarco being a hybrid of Nyota Uhura from Star Trek and other female characters across ’60s sci-fi shows. She also tackles the important theme of how most token female characters were treated reductively within a series. Her deadpan delivery is perfect, particularly when the movie’s absurdity starts escalating. She’s funny without turning Gwen into a cartoon, which makes the performance one of the movie’s secret weapons. Hopefully, one day a Galaxy Quest sequel will be possible—at least one star from the movie has talked about it.
Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm gave Weaver a role that was almost the exact opposite of Ripley. As Janey Carver, she’s a suburban mother whose marriage and family life are slowly coming apart. Weaver keeps the performance deliberately restrained. Janey’s unhappiness comes through small gestures, uncomfortable silences, and the sense that she’s emotionally checked out. There’s no need for much dialogue because Weaver expresses the character’s dissatisfaction visibly.
The performance works because of how different it feels from Weaver’s more famous roles. Janey isn’t simply fighting aliens or saving the world. She’s struggling to hold her family together. Weaver captures that quiet desperation without overplaying it and makes Janey’s emotional distance feel painfully real. It’s a smaller role, but arguably one of her most human. Janey isn’t easy to like, but Weaver makes her understandable, which is much more nuanced. After seeing Weaver battle monsters and command a spaceship, watching her portray someone losing a much more ordinary battle is surprisingly powerful.
Copycat lets Weaver turn one of her greatest strengths—her imposing screen presence—into something much more complex. She plays a criminal psychologist who becomes terrified of the world after a traumatic attack. It’s especially tragic since Helen is brilliant, sarcastic, and fiercely independent. Yet Weaver keeps her character balanced. Helen isn’t simply a helpless victim waiting to be rescued. And she’s constantly trying to overcome her own fear.
Weaver makes Helen so compelling by stripping away the confidence she usually brings to her characters. Her fear doesn’t make her weak, but it changes how she sees everything around her. Weaver makes that struggle believable, especially when Helen’s intelligence and stubbornness clash with the fear holding her back. Weaver also gives her a wonderfully prickly personality, making Helen’s interactions with the people trying to help her tense, vulnerable, and occasionally darkly funny. Compared to all Weaver’s best sci-fi movie roles, this is one of her most grounded—and that’s a great thing.
This is one of Weaver’s performances you definitely must see. She gets to have plenty of fun being awful in Working Girl. As Katharine Parker, she plays a polished, successful executive. At first, Katharine appears to be the perfect mentor for Tess McGill. But we all know how that goes. Weaver gives Katharine an icy confidence that makes even her nicest smile feel suspicious.
Katharine is such a great villain because Weaver never plays her as completely evil. She understands why Katharine has gotten so far and gives her enough charm to make the betrayal feel believable. Weaver clearly enjoys playing someone this ruthless, and that makes every scene with Katharine even more entertaining. Katharine is also smart, charming, and capable, which makes her character’s twist all the more satisfying. Weaver’s comic timing is just as sharp as her dramatic work, and the Academy noticed. There’s no doubt that Weaver put in the work for this role.
This is Weaver at her most commanding outside of Ripley. She plays real-life primatologist Dian Fossey, a woman whose dedication to studying and protecting mountain gorillas gradually becomes an all-consuming obsession. The first thing you’ll notice about this role is how deeply Weaver disappears into Fossey. There are moments when her determination becomes uncomfortable to watch—a true testament to a stellar performance. Weaver brings both strength and vulnerability to Fossey, creating a performance that feels powerful without losing sight of the woman behind the obsession.
Weaver doesn’t turn Fossey into a flawless hero. She’s passionate, stubborn, and difficult—sometimes all at once. There’s also a physical quality to the role that helps distinguish it from her work in Alien. Weaver communicates Fossey’s growing connection to the gorillas with a natural flair. The Academy recognized her performance in Gorillas in the Mist with a Best Actress nomination. She didn’t win, but if she had won, it would have been bananas.
Ripley might be the character most closely associated with Sigourney Weaver, but her career has plenty of evidence that she was never a one-role actor. She recently played a badass leader in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
