Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She was nominated for the award for four films before that, and has received other recognition for her work. She is also noted for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes.
Contents
Early life
Sarandon, the eldest of nine children in a Roman Catholic family, was born as Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York City, the daughter of Leonora Marie (née Criscione) and Phillip Leslie Tomalin (26 Sep 1917 - 26 Mar 1999), who worked as an advertising executive, television producer, and nightclub singer during the big band era.[1][2] Sarandon's father was of English, Irish, Welsh, and German ancestry, and her Italian American mother's ancestors emigrated from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily.[3][1][4] 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.[4]
Sarandon grew up in Edison, New Jersey,[5][6] 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.
Career
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). Between the years 1970 and 1972, Sarandon appeared on the short-lived soap opera A World Apart, playing Patrice Kahlman, and on Search for Tomorrow, in the role of Sarah Fairbanks. She also appeared in Lady Liberty (1971) by Mario Monicelli opposite Sophia Loren.
In 1974 she co-starred in The Front Page with the comedy duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and Lovin' Molly with Anthony Perkins. She appeared in the cult favorite musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). That same year, she played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. In 1978, Sarandon played the mother of a child prostitute, played by Brooke Shields, in Pretty Baby.
Her most controversial film appearance was in The Hunger in 1983, a modern vampire story in which she had a lesbian sex scene with Catherine Deneuve. The film was a critical and commercial flop, but gained a cult following. Sarandon played one of the leads in the 1987 dark comedy/fantasy film The Witches of Eastwick opposite Jack Nicholson. Sarandon starred in the 1988 film Bull Durham, which became a huge commercial and critical success. In 1989 she co-starred with Marlon Brando in A Dry White Season.
Sarandon received five Academy Award nominations for best actress, in Atlantic City (1980), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and The Client (1994). In 1995 she won the award for her performance in Dead Man Walking.
Additional performances in film include Compromising Positions, 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.[7]
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.[8][9]
In June 2010 Sarandon joined the cast of new HBO pilot The Miraculous Year. She will play the role of Patty Atwood, a Broadway director/choreographer.[10]
Personal life
Sarandon began a relationship with fellow college student Chris Sarandon in 1964, and they married on September 16, 1967.[11] After their separation, Sarandon discussed their relationship in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine in 1978, in which she stated "I no longer believe in marriage."[12] They divorced in 1979 and she retained Sarandon as her stage name.[13]
In the late 1970s, Sarandon had a two-year relationship with director Louis Malle, who directed her in Pretty Baby and Atlantic City.[11]
In the mid-1980s, Sarandon dated director Franco Amurri, with whom she had a daughter in 1985, actress Eva Amurri.[13]
From 1986 to 2009,[14] Sarandon was in a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while filming Bull Durham. They had two sons — Jack Henry (born 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born 1992).[13]
Sarandon and Robbins often worked together on the same social and political causes. In 2006, Sarandon received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award.[15] 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.[16]
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.[17]
Political activism
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[18] to participating in a 1983 delegation to Nicaragua sponsored by MADRE, an organization that promotes "social, environmental and economic justice."[19] Sarandon has also expressed support for various human rights causes that are similar philosophically to ideas found among the Christian left.[20]
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. In that capacity has actively supported the organization's global advocacy, as well as the work of the Canadian UNICEF Committee.
 |
Susan Sarandon in April 2007 |
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.[21]
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.[22] After the 2004 election, Sarandon called for US elections to be monitored by international entities.[23]
Sarandon and Robbins both took an early stance against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with Sarandon's stating that she was firmly against the concept of the war as a pre-emptive strike.[24] 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".[25] 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.[26][27] 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.[28] 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;[29] she has expressed interest in portraying Sheehan in a movie.[30] 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.[31]
In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sarandon and her partner Tim Robbins, campaigned[32] for John Edwards in the New Hampshire communities of Hampton,[33] Bedford and Dover.[34] 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."[35]
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970–1971 | A World Apart | Patrice Kahlman | |
| 1971 | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Joyce | 1 episode |
| 1972 | Search for Tomorrow | Sarah Fairbanks | unknown episodes |
| 1973 | Wide World Mystery | episode The Haunting of Rosalind | |
| 1974 | F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' | Ailie Calhoun | |
| The Satan Murders | Kate | TV movie | |
| June Moon | Eileen | TV movie | |
| The Rimers of Eldritch | Pasty Johnson | TV movie | |
| 1982 | Who Am I This Time? | Helene Shaw | TV movie |
| 1984 | Oxbridge Blues | Natalie | TV mini-series |
| Faerie Tale Theatre | Beauty | 1 episode | |
| 1985 | A.D | Livilla | TV mini-series |
| Mussolini and I | Edda Mussolini Ciano | TV movie | |
| 1986 | Women of Valor | Col. Margaret Ann Jessup | TV movie |
| 1994 | All Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! | Bitsy | |
| 1995 | The Simpsons | voice of The Ballet Teacher | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Earthly Possessions | Charlotte Emory | TV movie |
| 2001 | Friends | Cecilia Monroe/Jessica Lockhart | Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Series |
| Cool Women In History | The Host | Season 1 Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series | |
| 2002 | Malcolm in the Middle | Meg | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series |
| 2003 | Frank Herbert's Children of Dune | Princess Wensicia | TV miniseries |
| 2004 | Chappelle's Show | herself | Season 3 |
| Troy: The Passion of Helen | The Host | ||
| 2005 | The Exonerated | Sunny Jacobs | TV movie |
| Mad TV | 2 episodes | ||
| 2006–2007 | Rescue Me | Alicia | |
| 2009 | ER | Nora | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Who Do You Think You Are?[36] | herself | 1 episode |
| 2010 | You Don't Know Jack | Janet Good | TV movie |
| 2010 | Chelsea Lately | Herself | Appeared 7/20/2010 |
Documentaries
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1983 | When the Mountains Tremble | |
| 1990 | Through the Wire | narrator |
| 1993 | Wildnerness: The Last Stand | narrator |
| 1994 | School of the Americas Assassins | narrator |
| 1995 | The Celluloid Closet | |
| 1996 | Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press | narrator |
| 1997 | The Need to Know | narrator |
| Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins | narrator | |
| 187: Documented | narrator | |
| 1999 | For Love of Julian | narrator |
| 2000 | Light Keeps Me Company | |
| Iditarod: A Far Distant Place | narrator | |
| This Is What Democracy Looks Like | narrator | |
| Dying to be Thin | narrator | |
| 2001 | Uphill All the Way | narrator |
| 900 Women | narrator | |
| The Shaman's Apprentice | narrator | |
| Rudyland | narrator | |
| Islamabad: Rock City | narrator | |
| Ghosts of Attica | narrator | |
| Last Party 2000 | ||
| 2002 | The Next Industrial Revolution | narrator |
| Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion | narrator | |
| 2003 | XXI Century | |
| The Nazi Officer's Wife | narrator | |
| Burma: Anatomy of Terror | narrator | |
| Journey of the Heart: The Life of Henri Nouwen | narrator | |
| 2004 | Fragile Hopes from the Killing Fields | narrator |
| 2005 | A Whale in Montana | narrator |
| On the Line: Dissent in an Age of Terrorism | ||
| 2006 | Secrets of the Code | narrator |
| Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars | narrator | |
| 2007 | This Child of Mine | narrator |
| World Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies | ||
| 2009 | PoliWood | Herself |
| 2010 | Who Do You Think You Are? | Herself |
References
- ^ a b MacKenzie, Suzie (18 March 2006). "A fine romancer". London: The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,1733454,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon biography". Film Reference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/57/Susan-Sarandon.html.
- ^ "Who Do You Think You Are - NBC Site". Nbc.com. http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/bios/susanS.shtml. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ a b "Sarandon learns about Welsh roots". BBC news. 28 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/6189848.stm.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon's Story" United Nations. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri, stated this during her appearance on the December 10, 2009 episode of the E! talk show Chelsea Lately.
- ^ "The Shaping of Our Mythic Tradition". Joseph Campbell Foundation. http://www.jcf.org/works.php?id=680. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon set to star in 'The Lovely Bones'". DailyIndia.com. 27 July 2007. http://www.dailyindia.com/show/160761.php/Susan-Sarandon-set-to-star-in-The-Lovely-Bones.
- ^ Chupnick, Steven (25 August 2007). "Susan Sarandon on Speed Racer". Superhero Hype.com. http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6249.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon Joins HBO's The Miraculous Year". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Susan-Sarandon-Joins-1020996.aspx.
- ^ a b "Susan Sarandon Biography - Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019379/bio. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ "Moviecrazed". Moviecrazed. http://www.moviecrazed.com/outpast/susan.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ a b c "Susan Sarandon". Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Susan_Sarandon/196734#fullBio.
- ^ Triggs, Charlotte (2009-12-23). "Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Split - Breakups, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins". People.com. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20332851,00.html. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ "Stages a Glittering Million-Dollar Gala". Action Against Hunger. http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/pressroom/releases/2006/12/28. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- ^ "NYICFF Jury". NYICFF. http://gkids.com/?section=jury. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
- ^ "Illustrious Guests for Stockholm Dinner". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/stories/Stories_detail.asp?Year=&General_Catigory=general%2C+Waiting___%2C+Waiting___&ID=19828. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon's Federal Campaign Contribution Report". Newsmeat.com. http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Susan_Sarandon.php. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ "Mission and History". Madre.org. http://madre.org/about/mission.html. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
- ^ Sheahen, Laura. "'The Power of One': Interview with Susan Sarandon". BeliefNet. http://www.beliefnet.com/story/170/story_17020_1.html. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ "Becker Complaint: Becker, et al. vs. Federal Election Commission". NVRI.org. http://www.nvri.org/library/cases/Becker/beckercomplaint.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ "Nader 2000 Leaders United to Defeat Bush". press release. Truthout.org. September 14, 2004. http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091504V.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-14. [dead link]
- ^ Walls, Jeannette (2006-04-19). "Sarandon wants monitoring for U.S. elections". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12096127. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ "Iraq: Antiwar Voices". Washington Post. February 13, 2003. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/03/special/world/sp_world_sarandon021303.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
- ^ "Sarandon To Bush: Get Real On War", CBS News, February 14, 2003
- ^ Brennan, Charlie (February 8, 2003). "Cry for peace heard on web: Activists using Internet to spread word against war". Rocky Mountain News. http://www.causecommunications.com/whoweare/rockymtnnews.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
- ^ "Anti-Iraq Ad Features Leader of Bush's Church". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77195,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ "2004 Racism Watch Calls On Bush-Cheney Campaign to Change or Pull Offensive Ad". Common Dreams. http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0331-04.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ "Susan Sarandon Joins Cindy Sheehan to Protest Iraq War". Fox News. May 15, 2006. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195535,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ Asthana, Anushka. "Sarandon tells of Iraq death threat", The Observer, 30 April 2006
- ^ Hunt, Kasie (January 24, 2007). "Anti-War Actress Bored by Iraq Pitch". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/24/ap/entertainment/mainD8MRUSCO0.shtml.
- ^ Strauss, Gary (2008-01-30). "Primary time for celebs: Star power floods political arena". USA TODAY. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-01-30-celebrity-politics_N.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Lanzer, Katherine (2008-01-08). "Edwards vows to 'take back democracy'". seacoastonline.com. http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/NEWS/801080406/-1/rss01. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Alexovich, Ariel (2008-01-07). "The Early Word: Who's the Real 'Change' Candidate?". The New York Times. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/the-early-word-whos-the-real-change-candidate. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Murphy, Tim (2007-12-03). "WWJD in '08? Ask Sarandon". New York. http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/41555. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ "Info on the Susan Sarandon episode of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are?". Nbc.com. http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/bios/susanS.shtml. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Susan Sarandon 
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Susan Sarandon - Susan Sarandon at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Susan Sarandon at TV.com
- Susan Sarandon at Yahoo! Movies
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