About

Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award winning American actress.

Born Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York, New York, she attended The Catholic University of America in 1964, where she met and married fellow student Chris Sarandon, whom she would divorce fifteen years later while still retaining her married name as her stage name.

After the 1968 Democratic National Convention, she went to a cattle call for the film Joe with Chris and, although he did not get a part, Susan received the major role of the disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld (the film was released in 1970). She did not follow up on the success of that movie, taking roles in lesser films such as Lovin' Molly; it was five more years before she appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the cult classic. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford.

She was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Atlantic City, but was still not a "household name" until the 1988 film Bull Durham. It was while filming that movie that she met actor Tim Robbins, with whom she established a relationship that continues to this day (as of 2005).

Sarandon received four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s, finally winning in 1996 for Dead Man Walking.

Her recent movies include Stepmom (1998), Anywhere But Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock (1999) (portraying Mussolini's mistress), The Banger Sisters (2002) and Shall We Dance (2004).

Sarandon has three children: actress Eva Amurri (born 1985) by Franco Amurri; and John Henry (born 1989 and named for noted murderer/writer Jack Henry Abbott) and Miles (born 1992) by Robbins.

Sarandon and Robbins are also noted for their involvement in leftist political causes.

Academy Awards and nominations

1996 Won Dead Man Walking
1995 Nominated The Client
1993 Nominated Lorenzo's Oil
1992 Nominated Thelma and Louise
1981 Nominated Atlantic City

Filmography

  • A Whale in Montana (2005)
  • Mr. Woodcock (2006) .... Beverly Farley
  • Doris and Bernard (2006) .... Doris
  • Irresistible (2005)
  • Romance & Cigarettes (2005) .... Kitty Kane
  • Elizabethtown (2005) .... Hollie Baylor
  • The Exonerated (2005) (TV) .... Sunny
  • Alfie (2004) .... Liz
  • Shall We Dance (2004) .... Beverly Clark
  • Noel (2004) .... Rose Harrison
  • Ice Bound (2003) (TV) .... Dr. Jerri Nielsen
    ... aka Ice Bound: A Woman's Survival at the South Pole (Canada: English title)
    ... aka Prison de glace (Canada: French title)
  • "Children of Dune" (2003) (mini) TV Series .... Princess Wensicia Corrino
    ... aka Dune - Bedrohung des Imperiums (Germany: second part title)
    ... aka Dune - Der Messias (Germany: first part title)
    ... aka Dune - Die Kinder des Wüstenplaneten (Germany: third part title)
    ... aka Dune - Krieg um den Wüstenplaneten (Germany: cut version)
    ... aka Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (USA: complete title)
  • "Independent Lens" (2002) TV Series .... Host
  • Moonlight Mile (2002) .... Jojo Floss
  • The Banger Sisters (2002) .... Lavinia Kingsley
  • Igby Goes Down (2002) .... Mimi Slocumb
  • Cats & Dogs (2001) (voice) .... Ivy
  • Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II (2000) (voice) .... Coco LaBouche
    ... aka Rugrats in Paris - Der Film (Germany)
    ... aka Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (USA: short title)
  • Joe Gould's Secret (2000) .... Alice Neel
  • Anywhere But Here (1999) .... Adele August
  • Cradle Will Rock (1999) .... Margherita Sarfatti
  • Earthly Possessions (1999) (TV) .... Charlotte Emory
  • Our Friend, Martin (1999) (V) (voice) .... Mrs. Clark
  • Stepmom (1998) .... Jackie Harrison
  • Illuminata (1998) .... Celimene
    ... aka Illuminata (Spain)
  • Twilight (1998) .... Catherine Ames
  • The Need to Know (1997) (voice) .... Narrator
  • James and the Giant Peach (1996) (voice) .... Spider
  • Dead Man Walking (1995) .... Sister Helen Prejean
  • Safe Passage (1994) .... Margaret Singer
  • Little Women (1994) .... Mrs. March
  • The Client (1994) .... Reggie Love
  • Lorenzo's Oil (1992) .... Michaela Odone
  • Bob Roberts (1992) .... Tawna Titan
  • Light Sleeper (1992) .... Ann
  • Thelma & Louise (1991) .... Louise Elizabeth Sawyer
  • White Palace (1990) .... Nora Baker
  • A Dry White Season (1989) .... Melanie Bruwer
  • January Man (1989) .... Christine Starkey
    ... aka The January Man (USA: poster title)
  • Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) .... Sandra Boon
  • Bull Durham (1988) .... Annie Savoy
  • The Witches of Eastwick (1987) .... Jane Spofford
  • Women of Valor (1986) (TV) .... Col. Margaret Ann Jessup
  • Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985) (TV) .... Edda Ciano
    ... aka Ich und der Duce (West Germany)
    ... aka Io e il duce (Italy)
    ... aka Mussolini and I
  • Compromising Positions (1985) .... Judith Singer
    "A.D." (1985) (mini) TV Series .... Livilla
    ... aka A.D. - Anno Domini
  • The Buddy System (1984) .... Emily
  • "Oxbridge Blues" (1984) (mini) TV Series .... Natalie
  • The Hunger (1983) .... Sarah Roberts
  • Tempest (1982) .... Aretha
  • Who Am I This Time? (1982) (TV) .... Helene Shaw
    ... aka American Playhouse: Who Am I This Time? (USA: series title)
  • Loving Couples (1980) .... Stephanie
  • Atlantic City (1980) .... Sally Matthews
    ... aka Atlantic City (USA)
  • Something Short of Paradise (1979) .... Madeline Ross
    ... aka Perfect Love (USA: video title)
  • Pretty Baby (1978) .... Hattie
  • King of the Gypsies (1978) .... Rose
  • The Last of the Cowboys (1977) .... Ginny
    ... aka The Great Smokey Roadblock (USA: new title)
  • The Other Side of Midnight (1977) .... Catherine Alexander Douglas
  • Checkered Flag or Crash (1977) .... C.C. Wainwright
    ... aka Crash
  • Dragonfly (1976) .... Chloe
    ... aka One Summer Love (USA: reissue title)
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) .... Janet Weiss
  • The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) .... Mary Beth
  • The Front Page (1974) .... Peggy Grant
  • The Whirlwind (1974) (TV)
  • Lovin' Molly (1974) .... Sarah
  • The Rimers of Eldritch (1974) (TV) .... Patsy Johnson
  • June Moon (1974) (TV) .... Eileen
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974) (TV) .... Ailie Calhoun
  • The Satan Murders (1974) (TV)
  • "Search for Tomorrow" (1951) TV Series .... Sarah Fairbanks (1972)
  • Fleur bleue (1971) .... Elizabeth Hawkins
    ... aka The Apprentice
  • Mortadella, La (1971) .... Sally
    ... aka Lady Liberty (USA)
    ... aka The Sausage (Italy)
  • "A World Apart" (1970) TV Series .... Patrice Kahlman (1970-1971)
  • Joe (1970) .... Melissa Compton

    Trivia

  • Her partner is Tim Robbins (1988-present)
  • Ranked #35 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
  • Attended Catholic University of America Drama School, 1964-1968. Met and married Chris Sarandon there (by priest who was head of Dept.).
  • Former "Ford" Model.
  • Has a daughter from relationship with Franco Amurri (Eva Amurri, born 1985).
  • Has two children by Tim Robbins, Jack Henry Robbins (b. May 1989) and Miles Guthrie Robbins (b. May 1992).
  • Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful in the world [1996]
  • Landed her first Hollywood role when her then-husband, Chris Sarandon, took her along on one of his auditions.
  • As co-presenters of the Academy Awards in 1993, Susan and her partner, Tim Robbins, seized a chance to bring public attention to the plight of a few hundred Haitians with Aids who had been interned in Guantanamo Bay.
  • Is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador
  • Supported Ralph Nader during the 2000 presidential election.
  • Was arrested for disorderly conduct during a protest in New York over the unarmed shooting African immigrant Amadou Diallo by 4 policeman. [30 March 1999]
  • Is of Italian and Welsh heritage.
  • Graduated from Edison High School in Edison, New Jersey where she was a cheerleader.
  • She keeps her Oscar in the bathroom.
  • Sang in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975); recorded a duet with Eddie Vedder which played over the end credits of "Cradle Will Rock".
  • Was involved in the effort to have Dr. Laura Schlessinger's television show taken off the air in 2000, because of her disagreement with Schlessinger's conservative views. The effort was successful in leading many sponsors to drop their support of the show, which was ultimately cancelled less than a year after its premiere.
  • Measurements: 37C-26-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
  • For the past ten years she has been involved with Heifer International, an organization that donates farm animals to needy families who need the animals for work.
  • Is the first actress to win an Oscar for playing a nun.
  • Is listed along with Geena Davis, on the 24th place in AFI's hero top 50.
  • Caught pneumonia after they shot the pool scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

    Personal Quotes

    "I choose projects I can talk about for days because now you do publicity for as long as it took you to shoot the movie."

    "I feel I've always been on the outside and always on the edge of an abyss. The women I portray, and the woman I am, are ordinary but maybe find themselves in extra-ordinary circumstances, and what they do is at great cost."

    "Sexuality ... is something that develops and becomes stronger and stronger the older you get... If you can continue to say yes to life and to maintain a certain generosity of spirit, you become more and more of who you are."

    "I think the only reason I remain an actor is that you can never quite get it right. So there is a challenge to it."

    "If I were 22 and trying to build a career, I don't know who'd be watching the kids as happily as I do. It takes so much to get me to break out of domestic paradise. There's hardly anything that interests me as much as my family."

    On Thelma & Louise after her nomination for best actress, 1992, "I was surprised that the film struck such a primal nerve. I knew when we were filming that it would be different, unusual and hopefully entertaining. But shocking? I guess giving women the option of violence was hard for a lot of people to accept."

    "People will like you for the wrong reasons your entire life, even if you don't have parents who are celebrities. They will like you because you have a car or you have money or your breasts are big."

    "You're so lucky in Ireland, England and Spain. Everyone there already knows what it's like to have inexplicable terrorist violence."

    "The thing that's bad about breasts is that you have to choose between having a mind and having breasts. It'd be nice if you could have both. Anyway, I think my breasts have been highly overrated."

    "The largest party in the United States is the 50 percent who don't vote."

    "It's always so painful to watch yourself. That never changes. I still sit there and think, 'Oh, that scene is missing? Wasn't I good? What happened there?'"

    "I haven't yet had any plastic surgery, but I won't knock it. I think women have the right to do anything they want to their bodies that makes them feel good about themselves. It's hard to be in this business and be viewed on a screen that's huge. You can see every single line. But I think it's an aesthetic choice for the individual. I don't like it when surgeons take a perfectly interesting looking woman and she ends up looking like a female impersonator with these gigantic breasts. It's just so extreme and that worries me. I think everyone is looking the same."

    "My children were embarrassed at my Lincoln Center Tribute. I forgot they would show film clips and my children hadn't seen anything. Every time something a little racy would come on like 'The Hunger,' I'd look at my 13-year-old, who was shielding his eyes."

    "I'm certainly not an expert, but Tim and I just celebrated 17 years together, which in Hollywood years I think is 45. I think the key is just focusing on this one person and not keeping one eye on the door to see who might be better."

    "I never think about humiliating myself. I keep focusing on wanting to do a good job."

    "I remember going to great lengths to celebrate disappointments like not getting a job. I'd take whatever little cash I had and go out to dinner. I saw loss as an opportunity to change direction."

    "It's still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women. I do a lot of smaller parts that I find interesting - as opposed to the big, splashy movies that you get paid more money for."

    "I didn't realize that everything was supposed to fall apart at 40. So I just slid past 40 and 50. When you're an outsider and not paying attention to the rules the hurdles are a little lower."

    "I think the good news and the bad news is Hollywood's not political. The only thing they punish you for is getting old and fat."

    Source: wikipedia.org, imdb.com

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