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Susan Sarandon

Susan Abigail Sarandon (/səˈrændən/; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946)[1] is an American actor.[2] She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a Daytime Emmy Award, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and nine Golden Globe Awards. In 2002, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Susan Sarandon

Susan Abigail Tomalin

(1946-10-04) October 4, 1946
New York City, U.S.
  • Actor
  • activist

1970–present

(m. 1967; div. 1979)

3, including Eva Amurri and Miles Robbins

Sarandon began her acting career in the drama film Joe (1970), the soap opera A World Apart (1970–1971), and the television film F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974). She gained prominence for her role as Janet Weiss in the cult classic musical comedy horror film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Sarandon went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for Dead Man Walking (1995). Her other Oscar-nominated roles were in Atlantic City (1980), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and The Client (1994). Her other notable films include Pretty Baby (1978), The Hunger (1983), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Bull Durham (1988), Little Women (1994), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Stepmom (1998), Enchanted (2007), Speed Racer (2008), The Lovely Bones (2009), Cloud Atlas (2012), The Meddler (2015), and Blue Beetle (2023).


Sarandon made her Broadway debut in the play An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972) and went on to receive Drama Desk Award nominations for the off-Broadway plays A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (1979) and Extremities (1982). She returned to Broadway in the 2009 revival of Exit the King, and to off-Broadway in the 2019 play Happy Talk. On television, she is a six-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, including for her guest roles on the sitcoms Friends (2001) and Malcolm in the Middle (2002) as well as her portrayals of Janet Good in the HBO film You Don't Know Jack (2010), Doris Duke in the HBO film Bernard and Doris (2008), and Bette Davis in the FX miniseries Feud (2017).


Also known for her social and political activism, Sarandon was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 and received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award in 2006.

Early life[edit]

Sarandon was born in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City.[3] She is the eldest of nine children of Lenora Marie (née Criscione 1923–2020)[4][5] and Phillip Leslie Tomalin (1917–1999), an advertising executive, television producer, and one-time nightclub singer. She has four brothers: Phillip Leslie Jr., Terry (an outdoorsman, journalist, and community leader), Timothy, and O'Brian (owner of Building 8 Brewery in Northampton, Mass.); and four sisters: Meredith (or "Merry"), Bonnie Priscilla, Amanda, and Melissa (or "Missy").[6][7] Her father was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry.[8] His English ancestors came from Hackney in London and his Welsh ancestors from Bridgend. On her mother's side, she is of Italian descent, with ancestors from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily.[6][9][10] Her father worked for WOR-TV in New York City.[11]


When she was four years old,[11] her family moved from New York City to the newly developed Stephenville community, located in the northern area of Raritan (now Edison) Township, New Jersey.[12][13] The family was raised Roman Catholic and she and her sisters attended Saint Francis Grammar School in nearby Metuchen,[11][14][15] while her brothers attended Saint Matthews Grammar School in Edison Township.[16][17] Her mother was a member and board director of the Stephenville Women's Club and the Terra Tova Garden Club.[18][13] The family was also member to the Woodside Swim Club, a private swimming club and park in the Stephenville community,[11] where Sarandon and her sisters won many swimming competitions.[11][19][20][21] Sarandon graduated from Saint Francis Grammar School in 1960.[22]


Sarandon attended Edison High School, a public school located in Edison Township.[23][24][11] In 1962, while still in high school, she joined a band and dance group to entertain sick children at a nearby rehabilitation hospital.[25] As a high school junior, she performed the lead in the play Lady Precious Stream.[11][26] As a senior, she played the title character in the comedy My Sister Eileen, earning mentions in the local newspapers.[27][28] In 1964, Sarandon was inducted into the National Honor Society.[29]


In May 1964, the family moved to the newly developed Chandler Hill community, east of Stephenville in Edison.[30][11][31][26] Sarandon graduated from Edison High School in 1964.[32] She attended the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. from 1964 to 1968,[33] earning a Bachelor of Arts in drama, and studying under the drama coach Gilbert V. Hartke.[34] During and shortly after college, she supported herself by emptying bedpans in a hospital,[35] cutting hair, cleaning houses, and working as a switchboard operator.[36]

Personal life[edit]

While in college, she met fellow student Chris Sarandon; they married on September 16, 1967.[108] They announced a trial separation in 1975[35] and divorced in 1979,[24] but she retained his surname. From 1977 until 1980, Sarandon had a live-in relationship with director Louis Malle,[109][110] after which she was sporadically involved with musician David Bowie[111] and, briefly, actor Sean Penn.[112]


In the mid-1980s, Sarandon dated Italian filmmaker Franco Amurri, with whom she had a daughter, Eva Amurri (born March 15, 1985).[113][114] They met on the set of Tempest in 1981, but didn't get together until she returned to Italy to shoot Mussolini and I three years later.[115] In 2017, Sarandon revealed that she had had an affair with British actor Philip Sayer, who she further revealed had been gay.[116]


Beginning in 1988, Sarandon lived with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while they were filming Bull Durham. They have two sons: John "Jack" Henry (born May 15, 1989) and Miles (born May 4, 1992). Sarandon, like Robbins, is a lapsed Catholic,[117][118] and they share liberal political views. They broke up in 2009.[119][120]


Following the end of her relationship with Robbins, Sarandon soon began a new one with Jonathan Bricklin, son of Malcolm Bricklin. They helped establish a chain of table tennis lounges named SPiN. Sarandon is the co-owner of its New York[121] and Toronto locations.[122] Sarandon and Bricklin broke up in 2015.[123]


In 2006, Sarandon and ten relatives, including her son Miles, traveled to the United Kingdom to trace her family's Welsh genealogy. Their journey was documented by the BBC Wales programme, Coming Home: Susan Sarandon.[10] Much of the same research and content was featured in the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? She also received the Ragusani Nel Mondo prize in 2006; her Sicilian roots are in Ragusa, Italy.[124]


Sarandon identified herself as bisexual, seemingly coming out during a September 2022 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[125] She also previously told Pride Source in 2017 that her sexuality was "open" and "up for grabs",[116] and on a 2021 episode of the Divorced Not Dead podcast said of her dating interests, "I don't care if it's a man or a woman. I mean, I'm open to all age, all color. And those for me, those things are just details."[126]

Best Actress in a Leading Role, nomination, Atlantic City (1981)

54th Academy Awards

Best Actress in a Leading Role, nomination, Thelma & Louise (1991)

64th Academy Awards

Best Actress in a Leading Role, nomination, Lorenzo's Oil (1992)

65th Academy Awards

Best Actress in a Leading Role, nomination, The Client (1994)

67th Academy Awards

Best Actress in a Leading Role, win, Dead Man Walking (1995)

68th Academy Awards

Sarandon received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Stockholm International Film Festival, was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010,[127] and received the Outstanding Artistic Life Award for her Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 2011 Shanghai International Film Festival.[128] In 2013, she was invited to inaugurate the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.[129] In 2015, Sarandon received the Goldene Kamera international lifetime achievement award.[130]


Sarandon has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the following films:

at IMDb 

Susan Sarandon

at the Internet Broadway Database

Susan Sarandon

at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Susan Sarandon

at AllMovie

Susan Sarandon

at the New Jersey Hall of Fame

Susan Sarandon

in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory

Susan Sarandon

at the TCM Movie Database

Susan Sarandon

at TV Guide

Susan Sarandon

on C-SPAN

Appearances