Who is Jacki Weaver?
Jacki Weaver is an Australian actor, born in Sydney in 1947, who earned Academy Award nominations for Animal Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook after a long career in Australian theatre, film and television.
Weaver began acting as a teenager and became a familiar face in Australian television and films of the 1970s, including Stork, Alvin Purple and Picnic at Hanging Rock, in which she played Minnie, a maid.
She worked extensively on the Australian stage for decades, becoming one of the country's most respected theatre actors.
Hollywood in her sixties
Her chilling role as crime matriarch Janine Smurf Cody in Animal Kingdom in 2010 brought international acclaim and her first Oscar nomination, when she was in her sixties.
Two years later, she received a second nomination for playing Robert De Niro's wife and Bradley Cooper's mother in Silver Linings Playbook. She later appeared in the film Bird Box and the US series Yellowstone, while the American television version of Animal Kingdom cast Ellen Barkin as Smurf.
Weaver has received many Australian awards for her stage and screen work, and her late-career success has been held up as an inspiration for older actors. She continues to work in both Australian and American productions.
Did You Know?
Weaver has said she was surprised to find fame in Hollywood after more than four decades of acting in Australia.