Sci-Fi Icon Sigourney Weaver, 76, and Jim Simpson, 69, Have Been Married for Over 4 Decades: Here’s How They’ve Made It Work
The 'Alien' star has been married since 1984—and she even cofounded a theater with her husband!
Sigourney Weaver has long been known for the power she brings to the screen, and her trailblazing role as Ripley in the Alien franchise established her as a sci-fi icon. Decades into her career, Weaver remains busy, as the statuesque star can currently be seen in the James Cameron blockbuster Avatar: Fire and Ash and will be making her much-anticipated debut in the Star Wars universe with the upcoming film The Mandalorian and Grogu.
While Weaver is associated with intense roles, her offscreen life is surprisingly low-key, and she’s been married to Jim Simpson, who works behind the scenes in film and theater, for over 40 years. In the fickle world of Hollywood, four-decade marriages are a rarity—here’s how Weaver and Simpson have made it work.
A theatrical meet-cute in the early ’80s
Sigourney Weaver and Jim Simpson met at a theater festival in 1983. Weaver was starring in one of the plays while Simpson was directing other productions in the festival and working as a bartender. After appearing onstage, Weaver stopped at the bar where Simpson was working and took off her shoes to dance, leading the Galaxy Quest star and her future husband to have a meet-cute when she went up to him to ask where her shoes were.
In a conversation with Interview magazine, Weaver recalled her early days with Simspon, saying, “He was so cute. I remember thinking, ‘Well, he’s going to be a bachelor for many years. I can see that.’ So I didn’t really think about him. And I had a boyfriend at the time. But within six months, I had invited him to a party, and he stayed late to help me put away the decorations, and then I asked him out to dinner, and three months later we decided to get married. That’s how it happens.” Fast forward over 40 years later, and they’re still a happy couple!
Sigourney Weaver and Jim Simpson’s creative collaborations
While Weaver’s career has been higher-profile than Simpson’s, their marriage is rooted in the intimate world of the stage, and they’ve collaborated together on a few intriguing projects. In 1996, the couple was among the cofounders of the Flea Theater, an experimental theater in New York City. Talking about the Flea in Interview, Weaver said, “I must give Jim all the credit for the Flea . . . I feel very proud of what Jim has done.”
In 2001, Simpson directed Weaver in the Flea’s production of The Guys, a play inspired by the aftermath of 9/11. The next year, he adapted the acclaimed drama into a low-budget independent film, which he directed and cowrote. Weaver reprised her role from the play, with Simpson playing her husband and their child, Charlotte (who now identifies as non-binary and goes by Shar), as their daughter. Simpson also directed an episode of Tales From the Crypt in 1990 and served as an assistant director on Spice World and Event Horizon in 1997, but remains most known for his theater work.
Even though it’s been a while since Weaver and Simpson have worked together, they’ve continued to inspire one another creatively, and in 2024, they delivered a joint commencement speech at Monmouth College and received honorary Doctors of Letters. In the speech, the Ghostbusters actress lovingly acknowledged her husband’s influence, saying, “It has been a great advantage to have a partner who’s also doing something they love. This happy partnership has allowed us to achieve much more than we could have done on our own.”
In an interview with the Smartless podcast, the Working Girl star elaborated on just how much she admires her longtime husband, saying, “He is an absolutely amazing director. I feel very fortunate—since we hardly knew each other when we got married—that I ended up marrying someone who totally got what I did, respected the time it took, really enjoys working with me on the occasional script . . . I can run lines with him, we can talk about stuff.”
It’s clear that Sigourney Weaver and Jim Simpson’s marriage is filled with shared creativity and mutual respect, and we love that the sci-fi queen has been in such a solid relationship for so many years.
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