Susan Sarandon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon in April 2007
Birth name Susan Abigail Tomalin
Born October 4, 1946 (1946-10-04) (age 60)
Flag of United States New York, USA
Spouse(s) Chris Sarandon (1967-1979)
Notable roles Peggy Grant in The Front Page (1974)
Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Sally Matthews in Atlantic City (1980)
Annie Savoy in Bull Durham (1988)
Louise Elizabeth Sawyer in Thelma and Louise (1991)
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1995 Dead Man Walking
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress
1995 The Client
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture
1995 Dead Man Walking

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

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Sarandon was born as Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York City to Phillip Leslie Tomalin (of English, Irish and Welsh ancestry[1]) and Lenora Marie Criscione (who was born in Ragusa, Sicily[2][3]). Susan grew up as the eldest of nine children in a large Roman Catholic family. She graduated from Edison High School in 1964, and then attended The Catholic University of America from 1964 to 1968 where she attained a BA in drama.

Sarandon, and 10 of her relatives (including her significant other Tim Robbins and her son Miles), recently travelled to Wales to track her family's Welsh genealogy. Their journey was documented by the BBC Wales programme "Coming Home: Susan Sarandon".[4]

[edit] Career

In 1969, Susan went to a casting call for the motion-picture Joe with her then husband Chris Sarandon; although he did not get a part, she received the major role of the disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld (the film was released in 1970). Susan 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, a cult classic. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. Susan was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Atlantic City. Her most controversial film appearance was in "The Hunger" in 1983, a modern Vampire story which turned out to be critical and box office flop. The film is remembered however, and has gained some cult status, for a rather graphic lesbian love scene between Sarandon and co-star Catherine Deneuve. It was the first mainstream American film to feature such a scene between two star actresses. But 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 four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s, finally winning in 1996 for Dead Man Walking. Her other movies include, Stepmom (1998), Anywhere But Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock (1999) (portraying Mussolini's mistress), The Banger Sisters (2002), Shall We Dance (2004), Alfie (2004), Romance & Cigarettes (2005) and Elizabethtown (2005).

Susan Sarandon with Goldie Hawn in The Banger Sisters
Susan Sarandon with Goldie Hawn in The Banger Sisters

Sarandon was slated to appear in The Simpsons as herself, in an episode to air in spring 2006; she has appeared on the show once before as a ballet teacher. She has also made appearances on the shows Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live, Chappelle's Show, and Rescue Me. She is also noted for portraying characters who display copious décolletage.

Sarandon spoke out against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and would like to portray "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan in a movie about Sheehan's crusade.[5]

[edit] Personal life

While in college, she met and married fellow student Chris Sarandon in 1967. They divorced in 1979 and she retained her married name as her stage name. In the mid-1980s, she dated actor Franco Amurri, with whom she had a daughter, actress Eva Amurri (born 1985).

Since 1988, Sarandon has been in a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while filming Bull Durham. The couple have two children: Jack Henry (born 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born 1992). She and Robbins are both involved in liberal social causes.

Sarandon has expressed support for various tolerance and human rights causes. In 1995 she was one of many Hollywood actors, directors and writers who were interviewed for a documentary called The Celluloid Closet which looked at how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuality.

In 2003, Sarandon appeared in a "Love is Love is Love" commercial, promoting the acceptance of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.

In 2000 she supported Ralph Nader's run for President; and in 2004 she supported efforts to persuade Nader not to run for President.

Sarandon hosted a section of the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2005. In 2006, she participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony by carrying the Olympic flag in Turin, Italy.

In 2007, Sarandon appeared at an Anti-War rally in Washington, D.C., with people such as Tim Robbins, and Jane Fonda. Her stance was, "Let us resist this war" "Let us hate war in all its forms, whether the weapon used is a missile or an airplane."

[edit] Filmography

Sarandon at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival
Sarandon at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

Features:

Upcoming:

  • Bernard and Doris (2007)
  • Enchanted (2007)
  • Emotional Arithmetic (2007)
  • Speed Racer (2008)
  • The Battle in Seattle (2008)
  • Eleanor & Colette (2008)

Documentaries:

  • When the Mountains Tremble (1983)
  • Through the Wire (1990) (narrator)
  • Wildnerness: The Last Stand (1993) (narrator)
  • The Celluloid Closet (1995)
  • Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996) (narrator)
  • The Need to Know (1997) (narrator)
  • Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins (1997) (narrator)
  • 187: Documented (1997) (narrator)
  • For Love of Julian (1999) (narrator)
  • Light Keeps Me Company (2000)
  • Iditarod: A Far Distant Place (2000) (narrator)
  • This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2000) (narrator)
  • Dying to be Thin (2000) (narrator)
  • Uphill All the Way (2001) (narrator)
  • 900 Women (2001) (narrator)
  • The Shaman's Apprentice (2001) (narrator)
  • Rudyland (2001) (narrator)
  • Ghosts of Attica (2001) (narrator)
  • Last Party 2000 (2001)
  • The Next Industrial Revolution (2002) (narrator)
  • Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (2002) (narrator)
  • XXI Century (2003)
  • The Nazi Officer's Wife (2003) (narrator)
  • Burma: Anatomy of Terror (2003) (narrator)
  • Journey of the Heart: The Life of Henri Nouwen (2003) (narrator)
  • Fragile Hopes from the Killing Fields (2004) (narrator)
  • A Whale in Montana (2005) (narrator)
  • On the Line: Dissent in an Age of Terrorism (2005)
  • Secrets of the Code (2006) (narrator)

Upcoming:

  • This Child of Mine (2007) (narrator)
  • World Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies (2007)

[edit] Academy Awards and nominations

Awards
Preceded by
Holly Hunter
for The Piano		 BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1995
for The Client		 Succeeded by
Emma Thompson
for Sense and Sensibility
Preceded by
Jessica Lange
for Blue Sky		 Academy Award for Best Actress
1995
for Dead Man Walking		 Succeeded by
Frances McDormand
for Fargo
Preceded by
Robert Mitchum		 Donostia Award, San Sebastian International Film Festival
1995		 Succeeded by
Lana Turner
Anthony Quinn
Preceded by
Jodie Foster
for Nell		 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture '
1995
for Dead Man Walking		 Succeeded by
Frances McDormand
for Fargo

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/6189848.stm News.bbc.co.uk
  2. ^ http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/7775493?view=Eircomnet Home.eircom.net
  3. ^ http://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp#little NIAF.orf
  4. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/bridgend/pages/susansarandon.shtml BBC.co.uk
  5. ^ http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1764628,00.html Observer.guardian.co.uk Retrieved on 05-01-07

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sarandon"
Personal tools