Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon biography

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 (1970). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got the major role of the daughter of an advertising executive. Dad kills her drug dealer boyfriend and befriends an opinionated assembly line worker who collects guns. Five years later 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 Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975). More than 15 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 "Bull Durham" supporting actor, Tim Robbins, had produced two sons by 1992 and put Sarandon in the position of leaving her domestic paradise only to accept 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).

Trivia

Former "Ford" Model.

Is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador

Caught pneumonia after they shot the pool scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

Has a daughter from relationship with Franco Amurri (Eva Amurri, born 1985).

Quote

"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."