Sigourney Weaver to Aspiring Actresses: “Read Everything You Can, Understand History and Literature”

“I don’t sort of say to myself, ‘Oh well, this year is the year I have to find some huge earth-shaking part that will win me an Oscar,’” explained Weaver

Even at age 62, Sigourney Weaver is going at her job like she’s 32 — in the past two years, she’s appeared in Avatar, Cedar Rapids and Paul; filmed scenes for upcoming flicks The Cold Light of Day and Red Lights and maintained a steady presence in the New York City theater scene.

“I don’t sort of say to myself, ‘Oh well, this year is the year I have to find some huge earth-shaking part that will win me an Oscar,’” explained Weaver in a profile piece recently published in the New York Post. “I just sort of run out and say, ‘What’s happening?’ and then I try to play in as many games as I can.”

Weaver is also reprising her starring role in 2001 play, The Guys, which centers on a journalist in post-9/11 New York, for a short run at lower Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Endearingly referring to her work as “really fun,” Weaver offered some advice to the young, aspiring actresses of today. “Read everything you can. You have to understand history and great literature to bring it to the material you are offered. Otherwise, you have to rely on other people’s tastes,” she said before looking back on her own 35-year career. “No one could make me do something I knew wouldn’t work. I believed in all the projects I chose. It didn’t matter to me if they were all successful.”

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