Sarandon, Susan

orig. Susan Abigail Tomalin

born Oct. 4, 1946, New York, N.Y., U.S.

U.S. film actress.

After reading with her husband, Chris Sarandon (divorced 1979), at one of his auditions, she was cast as the female lead in Joe (1970). After winning fans in the campy Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), she proved her talent in films such as Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1981), and The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Her later films include Bull Durham (1988), Thelma and Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995, Academy Award), Cradle Will Rock (1999), and Igby Goes Down (2002).

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▪ 1997

      After four nominations for the best actress Academy Award but no wins, Susan Sarandon finally was honoured with an Oscar in 1996 for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, the Louisiana nun whose memoirs of her experiences as the spiritual adviser for two death-row inmate formed the basis of Dead Man Walking, a moving argument against capital punishment. An actress with tremendous range who began her career with ingenue and character roles, Sarandon blossomed into one of Hollywood's most celebrated leading ladies as she entered her 40s, redefining the onscreen possibilities for mature actresses as she imbued her typically strong-willed, intelligent characters with a sensuality routinely denied to actresses over 40.

      Born in New York City on Oct. 4, 1946, Susan Abigail Tomalin, the oldest of nine children in a family of Welsh-Italian descent, was raised in New Jersey. She graduated in drama from Catholic University of America (B.A., 1968), Washington, D.C., where she met and married actor Christopher Sarandon (they divorced in 1979). With no intention of pursuing an acting career, she read with her husband at one of his auditions and soon found herself a female lead in the film Joe (1970). Small film roles and television work (notably in "A World Apart") followed until 1975, when Sarandon shone as the naive ingenue in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and starred opposite Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper. Two films directed by Louis Malle (with whom she was romantically involved) brought her even greater attention: Pretty Baby (1978) and Atlantic City (1981). As a love interest of Burt Lancaster's aging mob henchman in the latter, Sarandon earned her first Oscar nomination. She also won praise for her work onstage in A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking and Extremities and in the films Tempest (1982), The Hunger (1983), and Compromising Positions (1985).

      Sarandon's role as the sultry literature instructor and molder of men in the romantic comedy Bull Durham (1988) began both a string of unforgettable performances and her relationship with costar Tim Robbins, an actor-writer-director who shared Sarandon's longstanding commitment to political activism (together they interrupted their presentation of an Oscar at the 1993 Academy Awards to draw attention to the plight of HIV-positive Haitian refugees). Prominent among Sarandon's recent film appearances were her Oscar-nominated performances as the worldly waitress turned outlaw in Thelma and Louise (1991), the indefatigable mother searching for a cure for her son's disease in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and the compassionate lawyer who protects a young murder witness in The Client (1994).

      (JEFF WALLENFELDT)

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▪ American actress

original name  Susan Abigail Tomalin 

born October 4, 1946, New York, N.Y., U.S.

      American film actress who transcended the early roles of her career, when she often played characters who were highly sensual but little else, to become a performer of considerable versatility and emotional depth. In 1995 she won an Academy Award for her unglamorous yet engaging performance as a nun counseling death-row prisoners in Dead Man Walking.

      After graduating with a degree in drama from Catholic University of America (B.A., 1968), Washington, D.C., Sarandon worked as a model and appeared in small film roles and television work, notably in the soap opera A World Apart. In 1975 she shined as the ingenue in the cult favourite The Rocky Horror Picture Show and starred opposite Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper.

      Two films directed by Louis Malle (Malle, Louis) (with whom she was romantically involved) brought her greater attention: Pretty Baby (1978) and Atlantic City (1981). In both films Sarandon played women who are initially presented simply as objects of male desire but who later reveal their underlying intelligence and independence. Her performance in Atlantic City led to her first Oscar nomination. She next appeared as a modern-day Ariel in the comedy-drama Tempest (1982) and as a scientist-turned-vampire in the horror film The Hunger (1984), although the films were less successful.

      Her portrayal of a sultry literature instructor in the romantic comedy Bull Durham (1988) established her star status. The film also introduced her to Tim Robbins, with whom she began a family; the pair became known as active promoters of leftist causes. Sarandon won further Academy Award nominations for her roles as the worldly waitress-turned-outlaw in Thelma & Louise (1991), a mother searching for a cure for her son's disease in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), a novice lawyer in The Client (1994), and Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, which was written and directed by Robbins. Sarandon again worked with Robbins in his film about the WPA Federal Theatre Project, Cradle Will Rock (1999), in which a group of actors attempt to produce a left-leaning musical during the 1930s.

      In the early 2000s Sarandon starred in such comic dramas as Igby Goes Down (2002) and Elizabethtown (2005). Later she returned to political themes and brought her antiwar sentiments to the screen with In the Valley of Elah (2007). In it, Sarandon played the distraught mother of a soldier who disappears after returning home from a tour of duty in the Iraq War.

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