Sigourney Weaver to receive Life Achievement Award at Venice Film Festival

June 28 (UPI) -- Alien, Avatar and Ghostbusters icon Sigourney Weaver is to receive the Golden Lion for Life Achievement at the Venice Film Festival this summer.

"I am truly honored to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from La Biennale di Venezia," Weaver said in a statement Friday.

"To be gifted this award is a privilege I share with all the filmmakers and collaborators I have worked with throughout the years. I proudly accept this award in celebration of all who have helped bring these films to life."

Weaver, 74, is a three-time Oscar nominee who is also known for her performances in Gorillas in the Mist, Galaxy Quest, Working Girl, Half Moon Street and The Year of Living Dangerously.

"An actress of the caliber of Sigourney Weaver has few rivals. Strengthened by her significant theatrical training, she won over the great film-going public with Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, soon becoming an emblematic figure of the 1980s," said festival director Alberto Barbera.

"During the course of that decade, she forged the image of a heroine unprecedented in the action film genre, able to victoriously rival the male models who, up to that point, had dominated epic and adventure movies," he said.

He continued, "Not satisfied with having blazed the trail for powerful female actors, the actress ceaselessly continued her search for a personal identity. She constantly challenged her persona through choices that ranged from genre movies to comedies, art-house films, and children's movies, side-stepping labels that sought to restrict her to the role of a triumphant icon of the Reagan era."

The lineup of screenings for the 81st edition of the festival is expected to be announced on July 23.

The event will run Aug. 28 through Sept. 7.