Sigourney Weaver's height stopped her getting acting work when she was younger.
Sigourney Weaver says her height made it difficult for her to get acting work
The 74-year-old actress is just under 6 foot tall, and she admitted her unconventional appearance meant she struggled to get an agent, and producers were reluctant to cast her because their male leads would “look short”.
She told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “I could not get an agent. If I walk into your office and I’m [nearly] six feet tall, they’re not going to sign me up.
“It took me four years to get an agent and I got my first job, with Ingrid Bergman, through the publication ‘Backstage’.
“Casting me was not a conventional decision. Often in Hollywood, as soon as I walked into a room, all the producers would sit down. Al Pacino would sit down.
“Nobody wanted to look short and that was how I took the temperature of the room.”
Sigourney – who got her big break in ‘Alien’ at the age of 29 – was determined to be “someone people wanted to work with again”.
She explained: “I thought, ‘That way, I’ll stay employed.’”
While the actress is known for the likes of the ‘Alien’ franchise and ‘Gorillas in the Mist’, she prefers comedies.
She said: “I don’t want to sound conceited, but I’m good at comedy.
“I think you’re either born with it or you’re not.
“I think that’s a very hard thing to teach. And I’m very grateful.”
Sigourney can next be seen in horror ‘Dust Bunny’ and she’s hailed the movie an “instant classic”.
She said: “I play a not-so-nice person in it.
“I don’t know what America will think of it. To me, it’s an instant classic.”
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