Date of Birth

4 October 1946, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Susan Abigail Tomalin

It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1969). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got a major role.

That role was as "Susan Compton", the daughter of ad executive "Bill Compton" (Dennis Patrick). In the movie, "Dad Bill" kills Susan's drug dealer boyfriend and next befriends "Joe" (Peter Boyle), a bigot who works on an assembly line and who collects guns.

In 1975, Sarandon made the film where fans of cult classics have come to know her as "Janet", who gets entangled with transvestite "Dr. Frank 'n' Furter" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Shortly after that, the Sarandons separated and subsequently divorced in 1979 after twelve years of marriage.

Nearly 20 years after beginning her career, Sarandon, at last, actively campaigned for a great role, "Annie" in Bull Durham (1988), flying at her own expense from Rome to Los Angeles. "It was such a wonderful script ... and did away with a lot of myths and challenged the American definition of success", she said. "When I got there, I spent some time with Kevin Costner, kissed some ass at the studio and got back on a plane". Her romance with the twelve-years-younger Bull Durham (1988) supporting actor, Tim Robbins, produced two sons and put Sarandon in the position of being offered roles roles that really challenged her. The result was four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s and best actress for Dead Man Walking (1995). Her first Academy Award nomination was for Louis Malle's Atlantic City (1980).

Former partner of Tim Robbins. They had been together from 1986 until 2009.

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.

Daughter from her relationship with director Franco Amurri is named Eva Amurri.

Sons from her relationship with actor Tim Robbins are named Jack Henry Robbins and Miles Robbins.

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 former 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 his 2000 Presidential Election campaign.

Was arrested for disorderly conduct during a protest in New York over the unarmed shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo by four policemen (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 (1999).

Was involved in the effort to have 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 one of two actresses who won an Oscar for playing a nun. The first was Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943).

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).

One of eight women, also among them Sophia Loren and author Isabel Allende, carrying the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Turin (10 February 2006). She and Loren co-starred 35 years earlier in the film La mortadella (1971).

Her grandmother had her mother when she was 13 years old. Her mother grew up in the care of nuns in an institute, abandoned at two.

Father was Philip Leslie Tomalin (of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry). Mother was Lenora Marie Criscione (who was born in Ragusa, Sicily).

Parents separated in 1982, after forty of marriage.

Eldest of nine children.

In 1916, her grandfather Giuseppe Criscione emigrated to the USA from Ragusa in Sicily, where he was born in 1901. Now she is honorary citizen of Ragusa and the city gave her the "Ragusani nel Mondo" award.

Received the "World Lifetime Achievement Award" at the 2006 Women's World Award in New York.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2008 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was suggested in the Worst Supporting Actress category for her performance in the film Mr. Woodcock (2007). She failed to receive a nomination however.

Has a dog named Penny, a Pomeranian Maltese. The dog appears in the movie, Bernard and Doris (2006), playing a pet of Doris, the character she portrayed.

In 1992, the National Society of Film Critics named her as their runner-up for best actress for her performance in Lorenzo's Oil (1992).

In 1991 and 1992 she was the New York Film Critics Circle's runner-up pick for their annual best actress of the year prize. In 1991, she was chosen the runner-up for her landmark performance as half of the now-iconic duo in director Ridley Scott's modern-day western "Thelma & Louise". In 1992, she was the group's runner-up for her heartbreaking turn in director George Miller's fact-based drama "Lorenzo's Oil".

Received a 1982 Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as a victimized woman who rallies and turns the tables on her would-be attacker in the hit Off-Broadway play "Extremities", by playwright William Mastrosimone.

Received a 1979 Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play for her Off-Broadway debut opposite Eileen Brennan in playwright John Ford Noonan's two-character piece, "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking.".

In 2005, she and the rest of the chief creative team behind the 11-part radio documentary, "Leonard Bernstein: An American Life," a chronicle of the legendary American musical giant's life and career, were recipients of the (George Foster) Peabody Award bestowed by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia at the 64th presentation of the honor. The Peabody is the premiere international prize given for electronic (i.e. television and radio) media.

Launched a table tennis bar called "Spin New York" in June, 2009.

She tried to have children during her first marriage, but doctors told her she was unable to reproduce. She eventually gave birth to three children after her divorce, the last at the age of 46.

She was inducted into the 2010 New Jersey Hall of Fame for her services and contributions to Arts and Entertainment.

She was born at 2:25 PM (EST).

Received "Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2009.

Revealed in December 2009 that she and partner Tim Robbins had broken up during the summer of that year.

Turned down the lead female role in Tightrope (1984) because she objected to the sexual violence against women in the film. The part went to Geneviève Bujold.

Along with Gerard Butler, Demi Moore, Ben Stiller and director Paul Haggis, she visited a camp for internally displaced persons managed by Sean Penn and his "Jenkins-Penn Humanitarian Relief Organization" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. [April 2010]

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