Sigourney Weaver is hugely supportive of her non-binary child Shar – everything you need to know
Shar Simpson (R) is the only child of actress Sigourney Weaver and theatre director Jim Simpson.
Actress Sigourney Weaver might be best known for portraying Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise, but she’s always said that it wasn’t her best role.
In fact, her best and favourite role of all time is that of mother to her child, Shar Simpson.
“[Shar] is absolutely the most important thing to me,” Weaver previously told The Guardian.
Simpson is the child of Weaver and her husband Jim Simpson, who is a theatre director. The couple married in 1984 and welcomed Simpson in 1990.
Simpson is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They’re currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Digital Storytelling Lab at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Weaver told The Sunday Times that Simpson teaches “digital storytelling, bots, misinformation” and is “someone who is excited about AI and not frightened about it.”
Not only is Simpson a professor, they have also dabbled in writing, publishing two Choose Your Own Adventure books – Eighth Grade Witch and Brooklyn Mermaid – under the pen name C.E. Simpson.
They also have a spooky streak, having designed haunted houses and collaborated on immersive experiences involving AI in the past.
Simpson told VoyageLA: “I feel like my work is about those in-betweens, the undefined, messy and frazzled parts of existence.
“There is so much complexity and depth to the unknown — the fragility and tenderness of ambiguity. I denied myself that space for a long time both in terms of my work and my personal identity,” they continued.
Simpson also has a dual master’s degree at the California Institute of the Arts in writing and interactive media, choosing not to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
“They’re not in the industry, bless their heart. It’s a nightmare for parents in the business when their child says, ‘I want to be in show business,’ because we really know what it entails,” Weaver told Parade in 2019.
Despite not wanting to be a part of Hollywood, Simpson has dabbled in acting before. In fact, Simpson appeared in The Guys alongside their mother. The Guys is a film adaptation of an Anne Nelson play wherein an editor helps a fire caption write eulogies for members of his team who died during 9/11.
Simpson played Weaver’s onscreen child in the movie and their father Jim play Weaver’s onscreen husband.
That was, to date, Simpson’s one and only foray into acting – they seem to prefer teaching over the spotlight.
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