Happy 77th birthday to Sigourney Weaver, one of the most versatile performers of her generation... Not many actors can say they've battled a Xenomorph, fought ghosts alongside Bill Murray, outsmarted Melanie Griffith in a corporate office, and made fun of their own science-fiction legacy in Galaxy Quest. Sigourney Weaver can. When Alien arrived in 1979, Weaver was still relatively unknown. Ellen Ripley wasn't originally conceived as the kind of action hero Hollywood would spend decades trying to imitate. But Weaver made her intelligent, resourceful, frightened when she needed to be, and absolutely formidable when it mattered. Then came Aliens in 1986, earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, something almost unheard of for a science-fiction action performance. In 1989, she pulled off another remarkable achievement, winning two acting Golden Globes on the same night for Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl. Both performances also earned Oscar nominations. And then there's Ghostbusters, The Ice Storm, Dave, Galaxy Quest, Heartbreakers, and Avatar. What makes Weaver special isn't simply that she became one of cinema's great action heroines. It's that she never allowed Ripley to define the limits of her career. Drama, comedy, science fiction, satire. She could do all of it, often better than the actors getting top billing.