Susan Sarandon

Susan Abigail Tomalin was born on October 4, 1946, in Jackson Heights, New York City, and is the oldest of nine children. Following her graduation from Edison High in New Jersey in 1964, she enrolled at the Catholic University of America's drama school in Washington, D.C., where she studied until 1968. While there, she met Chris Sarandon, another aspiring young actor. The pair got married in September 1967, and eventually divorced 12 years later. Sarandon's first big break came when she was cast as the defiant daughter in 1970's Joe. Feature parts in the TV drama A World Apart, Lady Liberty (a.k.a. La Mortadella, 1971), Lovin' Molly (1974), and the period picture The Front Page (1974) led to the co-starring role of Janet Weiss in one of cinema's all-time cult classics, The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975. After 1975's The Great Waldo Pepper, starring Robert Redford, Sarandon co-produced and co-starred in 1977's long forgotten The Great Smokey Roadblock (formerly known as The Last of the Cowboys). She kept busy through the remainder of the decade, appearing in films such as The Other Side of Midnight (1977), King of the Gypsies, Pretty Baby (both in 1978), Something Short of Paradise (1979), and Loving Couples (1980). Sarandon won her first Academy Award nomination for her strong performance in 1980's Atlantic City, but had to settle for Canada's Oscar equivalent, the Genie, for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress in 1981. The actress built up her resume in 1982, with roles in the made-for-TV movie Who Am I This Time? and the comedy Tempest. Susan next appeared opposite David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve in the stylish vampire flick The Hunger (1983), with Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins in the historical miniseries Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985), and in the mystery/comedy, Compromising Positions (1985). On a personal note, Sarandon gave birth to daughter Eva Amurri in 1985, stemming from a relationship with Franco Amurri. Sarandon rounded out the '80s with more prominent parts in films, including The Witches of Eastwick (1987) with Jack Nicholson and Cher, Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) with Don Johnson, and opposite Kevin Costner in the baseball flick, Bull Durham (1988). While filming the latter, Sarandon began dating co-star Tim Robbins, who remains her partner. Sarandon and Robbins have two children together, sons Jack Henry, born in 1989, and Miles Guthrie, born in 1992. Sarandon had a supporting role in A Dry White Season (1989), a social drama set in South Africa during the apartheid era, and co-starred with James Spader as a waitress who embarks on a romantic relationship with a younger man in 1990's White Palace. For their tour-de-force performances in Thelma & Louise (1991), both she and co-star Geena Davis were nominated for an Oscar, though they lost out to Jodie Foster, who won for The Silence of the Lambs. Thelma & Louise put Sarandon in a whole new category of stardom, and made her an increasingly familiar fixture on the silver screen. She made cameo appearances in two biting satires from 1992: Robert Altman's The Player, starring Robbins, and Bob Roberts, Robbins' debut as a director. She scooped up a third Oscar nod for Lorenzo's Oil (1992), but would have to wait it out again to receive the coveted award. After taking a break to have her second son, Sarandon returned in 1994 with Safe Passage, Little Women and The Client, which earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. 1995's Dead Man Walking, directed by Robbins and co-starring Sarandon's former real-life love interest Sean Penn, proved to be the lucky charm, winning her the Oscar for her fifth nomination. In 1996, the actress contributed her recognizable voice to the animated feature James and the Giant Peach and served as a narrator in Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and The American Press. In 1998, she appeared alongside veteran actors Paul Newman and Gene Hackman in the police drama Twilight, co-starred with Julia Roberts in Stepmom, and appeared in the drama Illuminata. 1999 found Sarandon in the made-for-TV movie Earthly Possessions, and on the big screen in Anywhere But Here with Natalie Portman and Cradle Will Rock, Robbins' third outing as a director. After appearing in the period drama Joe Gould's Secret (2000), the actress provided her vocal talents to two more animated features: Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000), playing Coco LaBouche, and Cats & Dogs (2001), as Ivy. In 2001 she made a guest appearance as a soap opera star on NBC's Friends, and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year she picked up another Emmy nod in the same category after guesting on Malcolm in the Middle. In 2002, she co-starred in the psychological drama Moonlight Mile with Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as the comedies Igby Goes Down and The Banger Sisters, which teamed her with Goldie Hawn as two former groupies in their 50s. In 2003, Sarandon returned to the small screen, starring in the made-for-TV movie Ice Bound, as well as in the miniseries Children of Dune. 2004 proved to be even busier, with turns in Shall We Dance, Jiminy Glick in La La Wood, Noel, and as one of Jude Law's romantic interests in Alfie. Her next film outings include 2005's Elizabethtown, Romance & Cigarettes, and the made-for-TV drama, The Exonerated. In 2007, Sarandon joined Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg in The Lovely Bones, director Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel of the same name.