Sigourney Weaver reveals why she loves showbiz: ‘It’s easy compared to being a female Wall Street trader!’

23 July 2023

Sigourney Weaver decided showbusiness was “easy” after shadowing a cut-throat female Wall Street trader.

Sigourney Weaver decided showbusiness was ‘easy’ after shadowing a cut-throat female Wall Street trader

The ‘Aliens’ actress, 73, trailed a woman called Elaine as research to play her ruthless character Katharine Parker in the 1988 rom-com ‘Working Girl’ alongside Melanie Griffith.

She told the Sunday Times about preparing for the part, which sees Katharine try and steal Melanie’s character’s ideas for a business merger: “I hung out with this woman who was a star in the mergers and acquisitions area, and she was, in the best sense, a killer.

“So smart. It was a thrill to be around her. I’m telling you, mergers and acquisitions back in those days was like pure adrenaline.

“And to be a woman in that situation where you go to a meeting and it would be like 10 guys who were all so aggressive to get ahead.

“Elaine was the smartest in the room without question. I ran back to showbusiness and thought, ‘Well, this is easy.’”

Showbiz wasn’t always easy for the actress though as she said at the start of her career she was told by one of her TV boss dad’s friends to work in a shop instead of acting – and pounded “dangerous” and drug-addled New York streets in search of work at auditions.

She said about asking a pal of her father Sylvester ‘Pat’ Weaver – who created America’s first cable channel as well as the ‘Today’ and ‘Tonight’ shows – for help when she was first battling to get into acting: “I called one of his friends once who gave me a role as an extra in a soap opera.

“He told me, ‘Do yourself a favour kid, get a job at Bloomingdale’s.’

“I never called a friend of my father’s again.”

Sigourney added about hitting the pavements of Lower Manhattan while going from audition to audition in the 1970s: “It was very dangerous and very druggy back then.

“I’d take the subway to Times Square and then run as fast as I could for several blocks to get to the theatres, then I’d do the same on the way back.”