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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2016
Sigourney Weaver Receives Indianapolis Prize Honor
Award-winning actor earns Jane Alexander Global Wildlife
Ambassador Award
INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Prize officials have announced that award-winning actor
Sigourney Weaver is the 2016 recipient of the Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador
Award.
The Indianapolis Prize — the world’s leading award for animal conservation — created the
award to honor individuals who have been powerful, effective, credible, and consistent
voices for wildlife conservation. Working with field conservationists and scientists, the Global
Wildlife Ambassadors use their communications skills to tell the stories of threatened and
endangered species, connecting them with the public, with businesses, and with policymakers.
“Sigourney Weaver is a wonderfully effective conservationist,” said Michael I. Crowther,
President and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, which administers the award. “She
is both a force of nature and a force for nature. She commits herself to thoroughly
understanding issues, and then is hugely effective at influencing others to take action and
create change.”
Weaver has captivated audiences worldwide through a wide range of memorable characters,
winning acclaim as one of the most accomplished actresses on stage and screen. But it was
her starring role as primatologist Dian Fossey in the 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist that
inspired her to become a conservationist.
As Honorary Chair of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI), Weaver has been at
the center of one of the most remarkable conservation success stories of the past halfcentury. Mountain gorillas are the only great ape subspecies in the world to be increasing in
number. With fewer than 900 individuals, their sustainability is still fragile, but the research,
anti-poaching, and other techniques pioneered by Dian Fossey have resulted in huge gains in
knowledge and a critical population rebound.
The power of Weaver’s celebrity may help gain the attention needed to tell the story of
gorillas in the wild, but she is not just a name on a letterhead, according to Crowther.
“Sigourney is an active participant in DFGFI and understands the factors affecting gorillas and
their habitats,” he noted. “She helps carry on the legacy of Dian Fossey and shows others
how they, too, can make a difference.”
Seventeen years after Gorillas in the Mist was released, Weaver returned to Rwanda in 2005
to star in Gorillas Revisited for BBC and Animal Planet and remind the public of Dian Fossey’s
groundbreaking impact.
“Playing Dian brought me into her world and the world of gorillas and made it abundantly
clear to me just how much of a difference one individual can make,” Weaver said. “Our
children deserve to inherit a world of wildlife. And if countries and politicians can join forces
to save the great apes and their habitats, then there is hope that gorillas will be around for
generations to come.”
Weaver’s environmental commitment became further evident at the United Nations General
Assembly in October 2006, when she joined more than 60 conservation organizations and
ambassadors in calling for a moratorium on high-seas bottom trawling and outlined the
practice’s widespread threat to marine habitats. She also lent her voice to the National
Resources Defense Council’s “Acid Test,” a documentary exploring ocean acidification and its
effects on key species in the food chain.
Weaver continues to take roles that exemplify conservation action, including narrating BBC’s
hit television series Planet Earth and playing Dr. Grace Augustine in James Cameron’s 2009
blockbuster Avatar.
Her involvement has earned several honors, including the Explorer’s Club Communication
Award and Audubon’s Rachel Carson Award.
The Indianapolis Prize Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award was named in
recognition of Tony and Emmy-winning actor Jane Alexander, whose advocacy for wild things
and wild places has included involvement with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the
Audubon Society and Panthera. Alexander is and Honorary Chair of the Indianapolis Prize and
received the inaugural Global Wildlife Ambassador award in 2012.
“I am thrilled that Sigourney Weaver will be receiving the second Global Wildlife Ambassador
Award. Her voice has made a significant difference in the protection of mountain gorillas,
and she is an outstanding conservationist in our entertainment world,” Jane Alexander said.
“The Indianapolis Prize has made a huge difference in conservation by bringing attention to
endangered animals, and highlighting the positive efforts of scientists, philanthropists, actors
and activists everywhere to change the equation.”
Weaver will receive the award on Oct. 15, 2016 at the Indianapolis Prize Gala presented by
Cummins Inc., to be held in downtown Indianapolis. This inspirational black-tie event honors
conservationists’ selfless dedication, scientific expertise and lasting success, while an
influential audience enjoys an awe-inspiring evening of storytelling with films shot on
location around the world. Tickets for the Gala can be purchased online here.
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ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS PRIZE
The Indianapolis Prize recognizes and rewards conservationists who have achieved major
victories in advancing the sustainability of an animal species or group of species. Winners
receive the Lilly Medal and an unrestricted $250,000 award. Remaining Finalists each receive
$10,000. The Indianapolis Prize has received support from the Eli Lilly and Company
Foundation since its inception.
MEDIA NOTE
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