Jacki Weaver
Jacki Weaver is an acclaimed Australian actor known for her diverse roles across film and theater. Born on May 25, 1947, in Hurstville, Sydney, she initially faced shyness but overcame it to embark on an acting career that began in local theater. Weaver gained recognition in the early 1970s with her lead role in the film *Stork*, which won her an Australian Film Institute Award. She continued to achieve critical success with notable performances in films such as *Animal Kingdom* (2010), where she portrayed a crime family matriarch, and *Silver Linings Playbook* (2012), for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
Throughout her career, Weaver has also navigated personal challenges, including periods of depression and alcoholism, but made a significant comeback in the 2010s with high-profile roles in both Australian and international productions. In addition to her film work, she has appeared in various television series and has been recognized for her contributions to the arts, winning multiple awards. Off-screen, Weaver has been an advocate for gay rights and has had a colorful personal life, marked by several marriages and relationships. Her enduring talent and versatility have solidified her status as a respected figure in the entertainment industry.
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Subject Terms
Jacki Weaver
Actor
- Born: May 25, 1947
- Place of Birth: Sydney, Australia
Contribution: Jacki Weaver is an Academy Award–nominated Australian actor best known for her roles in Stork (1971), Animal Kingdom (2010), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
Background
Jacqueline Ruth Weaver was born on May 25, 1947, in the suburb of Hurstville in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her father, Arthur Weaver, became a lawyer after flying bombers for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II; her mother, Edy, stayed home and took care of Weaver and her brother. Although she was intensely shy as a teenager, Weaver overcame her inhibitions enough to audition for local theater and soon began landing parts.
Career
When Weaver was fifteen years old, she was cast in a stage play as Cinderella, alongside Bryan Davies, who at the time was a popular teen singing sensation in Australia. She entered what was to be a short relationship with him, the beginning of a string of love affairs that would come to define much of her life and career.
Over the next few years, Weaver appeared in small roles in Australian television shows such as Wandjina!, The Schoolmistress, and Homicide. Her first film role was in 1971’s Stork, a comedy about a woman trying to discover which of four men impregnated her. The film was well received by critics, and Weaver won an Australian Film Institute Award for her performance in the lead role.
Weaver followed her early success with lead roles in two more acclaimed pictures, the 1973 comedy Alvin Purple and the 1974 drama Petersen. Both pictures received critical acclaim, with Alvin Purple becoming one of Australia’s highest-grossing films of all time. After appearing in the 1975 mystery drama Picnic at Hanging Rock, Weaver had a supporting role in the 1976 blockbuster Caddie, set in Great Depression–era Sydney. She won another Australian Film Institute Award for her universally praised performance.
Weaver next appeared in stage productions of the Neil Simon play They’re Playing Our Song and the Garson Kanin play Born Yesterday. She also had roles in the films Squizzy Taylor (1982), Abra Cadabra (1983), and The Perfectionist (1987).
During the early 1990s, Weaver took a break from acting while she coped with the death of her parents. By the next decade, she had begun to struggle with alcoholism. Weaver still appeared in a few supporting film roles in the late 1990s, including the acclaimed Australian musical drama Cosi (1996) and the short film The Two-Wheeled Time Machine (1997).
After taking several more years off to deal with her ongoing depression and alcoholism, Weaver published her autobiography, Much Love, Jac, in 2005. Several years later, Australian director David Michôd cast her in what would become her comeback film, the crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010). Weaver played Janine “Smurf” Cody, the matriarch of an Australian crime family, loosely based on the real-life Melbourne-based Pettingill crime family.
Animal Kingdom was universally acclaimed by critics, who praised the sharp script, the perfect pacing, and the on-screen talent. Weaver’s performance in particular was hailed as outstanding. She won her third Australian Film Institute Award for best leading actress and was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress, among a host of other award nominations, including a Golden Globe.
Weaver then began receiving offers to act in high-profile Hollywood productions. In 2012, she appeared in the romantic comedy The Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt. Later that year, she received further critical praise and a second Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in David O. Russell’sSilver Linings Playbook, a drama starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro. In 2013, Weaver appeared in the thriller Stoker and the drama Parkland.
Weaver has taken on roles in several award-winning projects since the early 2010s. These include the Australian crime thriller Goldstone in 2016; the Chicago crime feature Widows in 2018; and the television series Bloom, also in 2019. Her other notable projects during this period include the TV miniseries Gracepoint (2014), the series Blunt Talk (2015–16), the Australian series Secret City (2016–19), and Perpetual Grace, LTD (2019).
Weaver continued her prolific career into the 2020s, starring in the films Never Too Late (2020) and Father Stu (2022). She also appeared in several TV shows, including seven episodes of the popular series Yellowstone in 2021 and 2022 and the miniseries Clipped in 2024.
Impact
Though Weaver’s career has occasionally been overshadowed by her tumultuous personal life, she has consistently garnered praise for her performances, along with high-profile awards and nominations. As a versatile actor who has succeeded in a variety of genres, Weaver is a formidable talent not only in her native Australia but internationally as well.
Personal Life
When she was eighteen years old, Weaver married television director David Price. In 1970, she made national news when she had a child, Dylan Walters, with John Walters. Shortly after, Weaver began a relationship with Richard Wherrett, the openly gay director of the Sydney Theatre Company. She ended their relationship several years later and married sound engineer Max Rensser, then left him in 1982 to marry New Zealand journalist Derryn Hinch. Weaver and Hinch divorced and remarried in the 1990s, making Hinch both her third husband and her fourth. In 1998, Weaver ended her relationship with Hinch for good, and she married South African actor Sean Taylor in 2003. They remained married into the 2020s. Weaver has two grandchildren and is a staunch supporter of gay rights.
Bibliography
"Jacki Weaver." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0915865/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Price, Holly Cara. “Jacki Weaver: Second Time Nominee for Best Supporting Actress in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook.” Huffington Post, 11 Feb. 2013, www.huffpost.com/entry/jacki-weaver-silver-linings-playbook‗b‗2658215. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Vilkomerson, Sara. “Jacki Weaver.” Entertainment Weekly 4 Feb. 2011: 66. Print.
Weaver, Jacki. “How Oscar Nominee Jacki Weaver ‘Saved’ Silver Linings Playbook.” Interview by Alexandra Kaptik. Wall Street Journal, 10 Jan. 2013, www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-73104. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Weaver, Jacki. “Jacki Weaver Interview: Animal Kingdom.” Interview by Sheila Roberts. Collider, 14 Aug. 2010, collider.com/jacki-weaver-interview-animal-kingdom/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.