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Susan Sarandon (born October 4,
1946) is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since
1970, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the
1995 film Dead Man Walking. She is also noted for her social and political
activism for a variety of liberal causes.
Sarandon, the eldest of nine children, was born Susan Abigail Tomalin in
New York City, the daughter of Lenora Marie (née Criscione) and Phillip
Leslie Tomalin, who worked as an advertising executive, television
producer, and nightclub singer during the big band era. Sarandon's father
was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry and her mother was of
Sicilian/Italian descent; the family was Roman Catholic. In 2006, Sarandon
and 10 of her relatives (including her then-partner Tim Robbins and her
son Miles) traveled to Wales to trace her family's Welsh genealogy. Their
journey was documented by the BBC Wales program, Coming Home: Susan
Sarandon.
Sarandon grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where she graduated from Edison
High School in 1964. She then attended The Catholic University of America
from 1964 to 1968, earning a BA in drama, and working with noted drama
coach and master teacher, Father Gilbert Hartke.
In 1969, Sarandon went to a casting call for the motion-picture Joe with
her then husband Chris Sarandon. Although he did not get a part, she was
cast in a major role of a disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy
underworld (the film was released in 1970). In 1970 and 1971, she appeared
on the short lived soap opera A World Apart, playing Patrice Kahlman and
in Lady Liberty by Mario Monicelli opposite screeen legend Sophia Loren.
Five years later, she appeared in the cult favorite The Rocky Horror
Picture Show. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great
Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. Her most controversial film
appearance was in The Hunger in 1983, a modern vampire story which turned
out to be a critical and box office flop. However, Sarandon did not become
a "household name" until her breakthrough in the 1988 film Bull Durham,
which became a huge commercial and critical success.
Sarandon received five Academy Award nominations for best actress, in
Atlantic City (1981), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and
The Client (1994), finally winning in 1995 for Dead Man Walking. Her other
movies include Stepmom (1998), Anywhere but Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock
(1999), The Banger Sisters (2002), Shall We Dance (2004), Alfie (2004),
Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Elizabethtown (2005) and Enchanted (2007).
Sarandon has appeared in two episodes of The Simpsons, one as herself
("Bart Has Two Mommies"), and another as a ballet teacher, "Homer vs.
Patty and Selma". She has made appearances on comedies such as Friends,
Malcolm in the Middle, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live, Chappelle's Show, and
Rescue Me.
Sarandon has contributed the narration to some two dozen documentary
films, many dealing with social and political issues; in addition, she has
served as the presenter on many installments of the PBS documentary
series, Independent Lens. In 2007 she hosted and presented Mythos, a
series of lectures by the late American mythology professor Joseph
Campbell.
Sarandon joined the cast of the adaptation of The Lovely Bones, opposite
Rachel Weisz, and appeared with her daughter, Eva Amurri, in Middle of
Nowhere; both of the movies were filmed in 2007.
Most recently, Sarandon joined the cast of Peacock starring opposite Ellen
Page, Cillian Murphy, Bill Pullman and Josh Lucas. Filming will take place
in Des Moines, Iowa.
While in college, she met and married fellow student Chris Sarandon in
1967. They divorced in 1979 and she retained Sarandon as her stage name.
In the mid-1980s, Sarandon dated director Franco Amurri, with whom she had
a daughter in 1985, actress Eva Amurri. From 1988 to 2009, Sarandon was in
a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while filming Bull
Durham. They have two sons — Jack Henry (born 1989) and Miles Guthrie
(born 1992). Sarandon's relationship with Robbins publicly ended at the
end of 2009.
Sarandon and Robbins were often involved in the same social and political
causes. In 2006, Sarandon received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian
Award. She was honored for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, an
advocate for victims of hunger and HIV/AIDS, and a spokesperson for Heifer
International.
Sarandon also participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local
New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films for children
between the ages of 3 and 18. One of her favorite hobbies is playing table
tennis. She is involved in a New York Table Tennis Club, Spin; a club she
frequents when not filming.
Sarandon is noted for her active support of progressive and left-liberal
political causes, ranging from donations made to organizations such as
EMILY's List to participating in a 1983 delegation to Nicaragua sponsored
by MADRE, an organization that promotes "social, environmental and
economic justice." Sarandon has also expressed support for various
tolerance and human rights causes that are similar philosophically to
ideas found among the Christian left.
In 1995 Sarandon was one of many Hollywood actors, directors and writers
who were interviewed for the documentary The Celluloid Closet, which
looked at how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuality.
In 1999, she was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and in that capacity
has actively supported the organization's global advocacy, as well as the
work of the Canadian UNICEF Committee.
During the 2000 election, Sarandon supported Ralph Nader's run for
President, serving as a co-chair of the National Steering Committee of
Nader 2000. However, during the 2004 election campaign, she withheld
support for Nader's bid, being among several "Nader 2000 Leaders" who
signed a petition urging voters to vote for Democratic Party candidate
John Kerry. After the 2004 election, Sarandon called for US elections to
be monitored by international entities.
Sarandon and Robbins both took an early stance against the 2003 invasion
of Iraq, with Sarandon stating that she was firmly against the concept of
the war as a pre-emptive strike. Prior to a 2003 protest sponsored by the
United for Peace and Justice coalition, she said that many Americans "do
not want to risk their children or the children of Iraq." Sarandon was one
of the first to appear in a series of political ads sponsored by
TrueMajority, an organization established by Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
founder Ben Cohen. Also in 2003, Sarandon appeared in a "Love is Love is
Love" commercial, promoting the acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender individuals.
In 2004, she served on the advisory committee for the group 2004 Racism
Watch. She hosted a section of the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh, Scotland,
in 2005.
In 2006 she was one of eight women selected to carry in the Olympic flag
at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy
Along with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Sarandon took part in a 2006
Mother's Day protest sponsored by Code Pink; she has expressed interest in
portraying Sheehan in a movie. In January 2007, she appeared with Robbins
and Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. in support of a
Congressional measure to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.
In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sarandon and her partner Tim
Robbins, campaigned for John Edwards in New Hampshire cities, Hampton,
Bedford and Dover. When asked at We Vote '08 Kickoff Party "What would
Jesus do this primary season" Sarandon said, "I think Jesus would be very
supportive of John Edwards."
On May 29, 2008 Sarandon announced that she would consider moving to
Canada or Italy if John McCain were to be elected President of the United
States. |
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"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."
"I think one of the reasons I haven't married Tim is that I hate
that couples assumption - that once you're committed to someone you
stop treating each other as individuals. I like getting up knowing I
am choosing to be with that person."
"I look forward to being older, when looks become less of an issue
and who you are is the point." Family Circle, 4-18-06
"You have to be careful not to be upstaged by your breasts. I've
gotten curvier as I've gotten older. Directors cast the men they
want to be and the women they want to have."
"I think I've survived because I've gone through a number of
incarnations. Sometimes they need somebody sexy. Sometimes they need
somebody smart. I've managed to be able to morph myself into parts." |
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The Big Valley (2010) ....
Victoria Barkley
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) .... Sylvia Moore
You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV) .... Janet Good
Peacock (2010) .... Fanny Crill
The Lovely Bones (2009) .... Grandma Lynn
Solitary Man (2009) .... Nancy
Leaves of Grass (2009) .... Daisy Kincaid
"Saturday Night Live" .... Mother #1 (1 episode, 2009)
... aka NBC's Saturday Night (USA: complete title)
... aka SNL (USA: informal title)
... aka SNL 25 (USA: alternative title)
... aka Saturday Night (USA: first season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live '80 (USA: sixth season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live 15 (USA: fifteenth season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live 20 (USA: twentieth season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live 25 (USA: twentiefifth season title)
- Justin Timberlake/Ciara (2009) TV episode (uncredited) .... Mother
#1
"ER" .... Nora (1 episode, 2009)
- Old Times (2009) TV episode .... Nora
The Greatest (2009) .... Grace Brewer
Middle of Nowhere (2008) .... Rhonda Berry
Speed Racer (2008) .... Mom Racer
... aka Speed Racer (Germany)
... aka Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
Classical Baby (I'm Grown Up Now): The Poetry Show (2008) (TV)
Enchanted (2007) .... Queen Narissa
Emotional Arithmetic (2007) .... Melanie Lansing Winters
... aka Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning (USA: DVD title)
Mr. Woodcock (2007) .... Beverly Farley
In the Valley of Elah (2007) .... Joan Deerfield
"Rescue Me" .... Alicia Green (5 episodes, 2006-2007)
- Solo (2007) TV episode .... Alicia Green
- Chlamydia (2006) TV episode .... Alicia Green
- Sparks (2006) TV episode .... Alicia Green
- Torture (2006) TV episode .... Alicia Green
- Discovery (2006) TV episode .... Alicia Green
Bernard and Doris (2006) .... Doris Duke
Irresistible (2006) .... Sophie Hartley
"Independent Lens" .... Host / ... (2 episodes, 2005-2006)
- Taking the Heat: The First Women Firefighters of New York City
(2006) TV episode .... Narrator
- Vietnam: The Next Generation (2005) TV episode .... Host
Romance & Cigarettes (2005) .... Kitty Kane
... aka Romance and Cigarettes (Australia)
Elizabethtown (2005) .... Hollie Baylor
Hiroshima no pika (2005) (V) .... Narrator
"MADtv" .... Various (2 episodes, 2002-2005)
- Episode #10.14 (2005) TV episode .... Various
- Episode #7.22 (2002) TV episode .... Various
The Exonerated (2005) (TV) .... Sunny Jacobs
Alfie (2004) .... Liz
Shall We Dance (2004) .... Beverly Clark
... aka Shall We Dance? (USA: poster title)
Noel (2004) .... Rose Collins
Troy: The Passion of Helen (2004) (TV) .... Host
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) TV mini-series .... Princess Wensicia
Corrino (unknown episodes)
... 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)
"Freedom: A History of Us" .... Mary Hagidorn / ... (2 episodes,
2003)
- Revolution (2003) TV episode .... Mary Hagidorn
- Working for Freedom (2003) TV episode .... Susan B. Anthony
Little Miss Spider (2002) .... Narrator
Moonlight Mile (2002) .... Jojo Floss
The Banger Sisters (2002) .... Lavinia Kingsley
Igby Goes Down (2002) .... Mimi Slocumb
"Malcolm in the Middle" .... Meg (2 episodes, 2002)
- Company Picnic: Part 1 (2002) TV episode .... Meg
- Company Picnic: Part 2 (2002) TV episode .... Meg
Cats & Dogs (2001) (voice) .... Ivy
"Friends" .... Jessica Lockhart (1 episode, 2001)
- The One with Joey's New Brain (2001) TV episode .... Jessica
Lockhart
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
For Love of Julian (1998) (voice) .... Narrator
Illuminata (1998) .... Celimene
... aka Illuminata (Spain)
Twilight (1998) .... Catherine Ames
The Need to Know (1997) (voice) .... Narrator
James and the Giant Peach (1996) (voice) .... Miss Spider
Dead Man Walking (1995) .... Sister Helen Prejean
"The Simpsons" .... Ballet Teacher (1 episode, 1995)
- Homer vs. Patty and Selma (1995) TV episode (voice) .... Ballet
Teacher
Safe Passage (1994) .... Margaret "Mag" Singer
Little Women (1994) .... Mrs. Abigail "Marmee" March
... aka Les quatre filles du Docteur March (Canada: French title)
The Client (1994) .... Regina "Reggie" Love
All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! (1994) (TV) ....
Bitsy
... aka Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street
Forever! (USA: complete title)
School of the Americas Assassins (1994) (voice) .... Narrator
... aka School of Assassins (USA: alternative title)
Lorenzo's Oil (1992) .... Michaela Odone
Bob Roberts (1992) .... Tawna Titan
Light Sleeper (1992) .... Ann
Thelma & Louise (1991) .... Louise
... aka Thelma & Louise (France)
White Palace (1990) .... Nora Baker
A Dry White Season (1989) .... Melanie Bruwer
The January Man (1989) .... Christine Starkey
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
... aka Women of Valour (Australia: video box title) (International:
English title: alternative spelling) (UK)
Compromising Positions (1985) .... Judith Singer
Mussolini and I (1985) (TV) .... Edda Mussolini Ciano
... aka Ich und der Duce (West Germany)
... aka Io e il duce (Italy)
... aka Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce
"A.D." (1985) TV mini-series .... Livilla (unknown episodes)
... aka A.D. - Anno Domini
"Oxbridge Blues" .... Natalie Carlsen (1 episode, 1984)
- He'll See You Now (1984) TV episode .... Natalie Carlsen
"Faerie Tale Theatre" .... Beauty (1 episode, 1984)
... aka Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre (USA: alternative
title)
- Beauty and the Beast (1984) TV episode .... Beauty
The Buddy System (1984) .... Emily
The Hunger (1983) .... Sarah Roberts
Tempest (1982) .... Aretha Tomalin
"American Playhouse" .... Helene Shaw (1 episode, 1982)
- Who Am I This Time? (1982) TV episode .... Helene Shaw
Loving Couples (1980) .... Stephanie Beck
Atlantic City (1980) .... Sally Matthews
... aka Atlantic City (USA)
... aka Atlantic City, USA (Canada: English title)
Something Short of Paradise (1979) .... Madeline Ross
... aka Perfect Love (USA: video title)
King of the Gypsies (1978) .... Rose
Pretty Baby (1978) .... Hattie
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
Dragonfly (1976) .... Chloe
... aka One Summer Love (USA: reissue title)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) .... Janet Weiss - A Heroine
"Wide World Mystery" .... Kate (2 episodes, 1974-1975)
- The Haunting of Rosalind (1975) TV episode
- The Satan Murders (1974) TV episode .... Kate
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) .... Mary Beth
The Whirlwind (1974) (TV)
The Front Page (1974) .... Peggy Grant
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
... aka The Last of the Belles (Australia)
"Calucci's Department" .... Samantha (1 episode, 1973)
- Episode #1.7 (1973) TV episode .... Samantha
"Search for Tomorrow" (1951) TV series .... Sarah Fairbanks (unknown
episodes, 1972)
"Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law" .... Joyce (1 episode, 1971)
- Burden of Proof (1971) TV episode .... Joyce
Fleur bleue (1971) .... Elizabeth Hawkins
... aka The Apprentice
La mortadella (1971) .... Sally
... aka Lady Liberty (USA)
... aka The Sausage (Italy)
"A World Apart" (1970) TV series .... Patrice Kahlman (1970-1971)
Joe (1970) .... Melissa Compton |
