Jacki Weaver

Jacki Weaver Biography

Jacqueline Ruth "Jacki" Weaver (born 25 May 1947) is an Australian theatre, film, and television actress. She is known internationally for her performances in Animal Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook, for which she was nominated for the 2011 and 2013 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Weaver is a symbol for the Australian New Wave that began in the 1970s through her work in the films such as Caddie, for which she tied for the very first AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress, Petersen, and Stork, for which she won the second ever AFI Award for Best Lead Actress.

Weaver also won a Logie Award (Australia's Emmy Award) for her work in the 1976 television movie Do I Have to Kill My Child?

Early life

Weaver was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her mother, Edith (née Simpson), was a migrant from northern England, and her father, Arthur Weaver, was a Sydney solicitor. She attended Hornsby Girls' High School.

Career

Weaver has been working in Australian film, stage and television since the 1960s. The turning point in her career came in 1965 just before she was about to go to university and was cast in the Australian TV series Wandjina!.

Singing

In 1964 at the Palace Theatre in Sydney, Weaver and a number of other Australian singers such as The Delltones and her then-boyfriend Bryan Davies performed a satire on the Gidget movies, in which Weaver performed as "Gadget."

In the mid-1960s, she appeared on the Australian music show Bandstand. In one appearance, she sang a 1920s-style pastiche, the novelty song "I Love Onions."

Film

Weaver's film debut came with 1971's Stork for which she won her first Australian Film Institute Award. In the 1970s, Weaver gained a sex-symbol reputation thanks to her performances in the likes of Alvin Purple (1973). Other notable films during this time include a small role in Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), and a more substantive appearance in Caddie (1976) for which she won her second Australian Film Institute Award.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Weaver found it increasingly hard to find roles on screen or television and devoted much of her energy to the Australian stage, starring in plays including A Streetcar Named Desire, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Death of a Salesman, Reg Cribb's Last Cab to Darwin, and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya alongside Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in 2010-11.

In 2010, Weaver also starred in the Melbourne-set crime thriller Animal Kingdom playing a gang family matriarch. Her performance was praised and earned her an Academy Award nomination as well as winning the Australian Film Institute Award, the National Board of Review, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and a Satellite Award.

Weaver made her Hollywood debut with the comedy The Five-Year Engagement, alongside Emily Blunt and Jason Segel, and starred in Park Chan-Wook's English-language debut, Stoker, alongside fellow Australian actors Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, and British actor Matthew Goode.

On 10 January 2013, Weaver was again nominated for an Academy Award for her role opposite Robert De Niro in the film Silver Linings Playbook. In April the same year, she was cast in the adaptation of Richard Alfieri's play 6 Dance Lessons in 6 Weeks opposite Gena Rowlands.

Personal life

Weaver had a relationship with director Richard Wherrett and is divorced from media figure Derryn Hinch. She has a son, Dylan, and two grandchildren. She is currently married to actor Sean Taylor.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1971	Stork	Anna	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1974	Petersen	Susie Petersen
1975	Picnic at Hanging Rock	Minnie
1975	'	Fiona Carter
1976	Caddie	Josie	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1982	Squizzy Taylor	Dolly
1983	Abra Cadabra	Primrose Buttercup	Voice
1987	'	Barbara Gunn
1996	Cosi	Cherry
1997	'	Old Alice	Short film
2007	Hammer Bay	Aileen Blakely
2009	Three Blind Mice	Bernie
2009	Early Checkout	Cleaner	Short film
2010	Animal Kingdom	Janine 'Smurf' Cody	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture Nominated "? Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? London Film Critics Circle Award for Supporting Actress of the Year Nominated "? Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010	Summer Coda	Jen
2012	The Five-Year Engagement	Sylvia Dickerson-Barnes
2012	Silver Linings Playbook	Dolores Solitano	AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actress Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Nominated "? Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Performance Nominated "? San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2013	Stoker	Aunt Gwendolyn 'Gin' Stoker
2013	Parkland	Marguerite Oswald	Filming
2014	The Voices		Post-production
2014	Untitled Woody Allen project		Filming

Television

Wandjina! (1966)
The Schoolmistress (1967)
Homicide (1967)
The Comedy Game (1971)
Polly My Love (1975)
Alvin Purple (1976)
Do I Have to Kill My Child? (1976)
Up the Convicts (1976)
Rush (1976)
The Dick Emery Show in Australia (1977)
Trial by Marriage (1980)
Water Under the Bridge (1980)
Tickled Pink (1981)
Sarah (1982)
The Girl from Moonooloo (1984)
The Challenge (1986)
House Rules (1988)
The Two-Wheeled Time Machine (1997)
Satisfaction (2009)

Stage

The Falls (Griffin Theatre Company)
Fred (Beatrix Christian) (Sydney Theatre Company)
After The Ball (Sydney Theatre Company)
Navigating (Katherine Thompson; 1997; directed by Richard Wherrett; Queensland and Melbourne Theatre companies)
They're Playing Our Song (early 1980s) " won Variety Club Award
Three Sisters and The Seagull (Anton Chekhov)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
Love's Labour's Lost (William Shakespeare)
Bedroom Farce
Reunion (rock musical)
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Neil Simon)
The Real Thing
Emerald City
Blithe Spirit
Six Degrees of Separation
Away
Girl Talk
A Hard God (Peter Kenna) (Sydney Theatre Company)
David Williamson's play Soulmates (2002) with Sean Taylor (Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre).
Last Cab to Darwin (2004) (Reg Cribb) with Sean Taylor and Barry Otto
Entertaining Mr Sloane (2010) (Joe Orton) (State Theatre Company of South Australia)
Uncle Vanya (2010) as Nana (Marina) with John Bell, Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving

Other awards

Best Actress Awards for Joy Gresham in Shadowlands and Dr Georgeous in The Sisters Rosensweig
Variety Club Award for They're Playing Our Song