All About Sigourney Weaver's Child, Shar Simpson

Mar. 15, 2025

Sigourney Weaver and Charlotte Simpson attend the Dior show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2020/2021 on February 25, 2020 in Paris, France.Photo:Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

No matter how many sci-fi franchises she stars in or how many accolades she collects,Sigourney Weaverhas always made it clear that her greatest role is being a mother to her only child, Shar Simpson.

“My [child] [Shar] is absolutely the most important thing to me,” the Golden Globe-winning actress toldThe Guardianin 2010. “My family comes first, and I’m so grateful to them that they let me go off and make films. But, you know, I find it very difficult to leave them. I hate it. I have had therapy and found it helpful in dealing with the guilt I’ve felt about leaving them. Going to New Zealand to makeAvatarwhen my [child] was applying to colleges almost killed me.”

Weaver met her husband, theater directorJim Simpson, while she was at a bar with friend and fellow actorChristopher Walkenin 1983. According to a 2023 interview withThe Sunday Times, theAlienactress later invited him to a party and, after he stayed late to help her clean up, asked him out to dinner.The couple got marriedon Oct. 1, 1984, just three months later, and welcomed their first and only child, Shar, on April 13, 1990, in New York City. Weaver toldThe Sunday Timesin 2023 that her child is nonbinary.

Though their mother has been in the spotlight for decades, Shar keeps a much lower profile working as a professor, interactive writer and creative producer.

Here’s everything to know about Sigourney Weaver’s child, Shar Simpson.

They were born in N.Y.C.

Charlotte Simpson and Sigourney Weaver attend the Bottega Veneta fashion show during the Milano Fashion Week on February 22, 2020 in Milan, Italy.Jacopo M. Raule/Getty

Jacopo M. Raule/Getty

Like their mother, Shar was also born in N.Y.C. Their father, Jim, co-foundedThe Flea Theaterin lower Manhattan in 1996 and stepped away from the role in 2015.

“I’m a New Yorker, so we stayed in New York City,” Weaver toldEdge Magazinewhen asked about where her family quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic. “New Yorkers really do watch out for each other — even though it may not look like it.”

According totheir Instagram bio, Shar still resides in the city and refers to themselves as a “nyc based shrimp.”

They’re an only child

Sigourney Weaver, Jim Simpson, and Charlotte Simpson arrive for the opening ceremony and “My Salinger Year” premiere during the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival on February 20, 2020.Andreas Rentz/Getty

Andreas Rentz/Getty

Shar is an only child. Weaver toldThe Guardianthat she didn’t get married until she was 34 and didn’t want to have kids right away, and in 2007, the actress wrote inEsquirethat it took her and her husband “a while” to become parents.

“By the time [Shar] arrived 11 years ago, [they were] so welcome,” Weaver wrote. “[They’ve] been a huge source of joy for us. If I have any regrets, it’s that I would have liked to have had more children. But you can’t have everything. I’m thrilled beyond belief to have [them].”

They’re a professor

Shar Simpson speaks onstage during Unfinished Live at The Shed on September 23, 2022 in New York City.Roy Rochlin/Getty

Roy Rochlin/Getty

Shar is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Digital Storytelling Lab at Columbia University School of the Arts. Weaver toldThe Sunday Timesthat her child teaches “digital storytelling, bots, misinformation” and is “someone who is excited about AI and not frightened about it.”

According to a 2019 interview the actress gave toParade, Shar also got a dual master’s degree at the California Institute of the Arts in writing and interactive media.

“[They’re] not in the industry, bless [their] heart,” Weaver said. “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.”

According totheir university bio, Shar has also written two Choose Your Own Adventure books —Eighth Grade WitchandBrooklyn Mermaid— under the name C.E. Simpson.

They toldVoyageLAin 2021 that they’ve also designed extreme haunted houses and collaborated on immersive experiences that deal with artificial intelligence.

“I feel like my work is about those in-betweens, the undefined, messy and frazzled parts of existence,” Shar said. “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’ve acted in Weaver’s movies

Charlotte Simpson, Sigourney Weaver, and im Simpson attend the 30th Annual American Cinematheque Awards Gala on October 14, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.Barry King/Getty

Barry King/Getty

Shar may not have followed in their parents' footsteps to Hollywood, but they did play a part in at least one of their movies.Playbillreported in 2003 that Weaver and Simpson featured their child inThe Guys, a film adaptation of an Anne Nelson play that tells the story of an editor who helps a fire captain write eulogies for his firefighters who died in the 9/11 attacks.

Shar played Weaver’s onscreen child in the movie, and Simpson played her husband.

“It was a very short shoot, and we don’t usually work together, so we can take turns with our [child],” Simpson, who also directed the drama, toldIndieWirein 2003. “We also like to complain about whom we’re working with when we get home, and you can’t do that when you’re working together because you’re looking at ’em.”

Shar Simpson and Sigourney Weaver at The New York Botanical Garden Conservatory Ball on June 1, 2023.Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com/Shutterstock

Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com/Shutterstock

“Years after the success ofAlien, I remember a friend saying to my [child]: ‘Don’t you know that your mom is a huge feminist icon for all women?’ " Weaver toldThe Guardian.  “And [they] said: ‘That goes in the little box of things I don’t need to know.’ In our family that’s as it should be. Acting is a thing I do on the side.”

Weaver has been open about having working mom guilt

Charlotte Simpson and Sigourney Weaver ‘Dior and I’ documentary premiere on April 7, 2015.Joe Schildhorn/BFA/Shutterstock

Joe Schildhorn/BFA/Shutterstock

TheGhostbustersactress maintains a fairly busy filming schedule, and in 2008, she toldABC Newsthat the guilt of juggling work and motherhood was “enormous.”

“To actually be able to work and not feel that tug all the time, would be great,” Weaver said. “It’s worse for me than for her. She’s fine without me.”

Weaver and Shar did get to spend some quality time together during the COVID-19 pandemic. The actress toldThe Sunday Timesthat her child became her hair stylist during lockdown.

source: people.com