Occupation:Actress
Date of Birth:October 4, 1946
Place of Birth:New York, NY, USA
Sign:Sun in Libra, Moon in Aquarius
Relations: Ex-husband: Chris Sarandon (actor); common-law husband: Tim Robbins (actor-director); kids: Eva Maria (with Franco Amurri), Jack Henry, Miles Guthrie (with Tim Robbins).
Education: Catholic University of America
Susan Sarandon is a phenomenal actress who happens to be extremely intelligent, sexy, outspoken and generous. Did we mention beautiful and strong? Like her life partner Tim Robbins, Sarandon has used her fame to shed light on urgent social issues; she is a down-to-earth voice that seems to cut through all the Hollywood hoopla.
When Sarandon burst into the collective mainstream consciousness in Bull Durham, she was 42. At 45, she landed an Oscar nomination for Thelma & Louise. Five years later, she finally won an Academy Award for her compassionate performance in Dead Man Walking.
Growing up in Edison, New Jersey, Sarandon (who was born Susan Tomalin) was the eldest of nine children; her father, Phillip, was a big-band singer and advertising executive. By the time Susan was eight, the nuns at her Catholic school had declared that the youngster had "an overabundance of original sin," something that seems not to have detracted from Sarandon's success in the least. She also showed early signs of an overabundance of compassion, becoming politically active in high school. Ready to tackle government evil at the eye of the storm, Susan moved to Washington, DC, to attend Catholic University. There, she met actor Chris Sarandon; the two married in 1967, just before her senior year [the two divorced in 1979].
After graduation, Sarandon landed work as a Ford model. The acting bug bit her when Chris took Susan along to an audition in 1970. Although she landed a few bit parts here and there, she didn't get a 'big break' until 1975's cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It wasn't like the film was a big hit on its release, but in terms of longevity, Rocky Horror has no peer. To put things in perspective (like, just how gracefully Sarandon has aged), her love interest in the campy film was Barry Bostwick, who now plays the mayor on Spin City. While Sarandon was becoming a cult heroine to midnight-madness aficionados, she was gaining a foothold in the mainstream, opposite Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper.
Several high-profile roles followed (Atlantic City, The Hunger), along with some less-memorable ones (Pretty Baby, Loving Couples). By the mid-'80s, when Sarandon hit 40, she was in full stride as an outstanding actress with a daring streak (see the lesbian scene in The Hunger. No, really, see it!). Her reputation was furthered by Bull Durham, during which life imitated art as Sarandon fell in love with her younger co-star, Robbins (who, it has to be said, is nothing like his character from the film). The two have been together ever since and have two sons, Jack and Miles. Sarandon also has a daughter, Ava, from a previous relationship.
Few films have generated as much discussion as 1991's Thelma & Louise, in which Sarandon co-starred with Geena Davis, landing both actresses Oscar nominations. On a personal note, this is still one of my favorite films of all time. It wasn't a particularly unique movie, except in one aspect: it was an action-adventure film about women.
1999's Anywhere But Here is another kind of chicks-on-the-road film, but this time, it's a mother-daughter team (and nobody gets killed). As single mother Adele August, Sarandon infuses a narcissistic, almost inadvertently abusive, character with a heart as big as the prairies.
MOVIES:
2000 Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
1999 Anywhere But Here
1999 Baby's in Black
1999 The Cradle Will Rock
1999 Joe Gould's Secret
1998 Twilight
1998 Illuminata
1998 Stepmom
1997 187: Documented
1997 Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins
1996 James and the Giant Peach
1996 Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press
1995 Dead Man Walking
1995 The Celluloid Closet
1994 The Client
1994 Little Women
1994 Safe Passage
1992 The Player
1992 Bob Roberts
1992 Lorenzo's Oil
1991 Thelma & Louise
1991 Light Sleeper
1990 White Palace
1989 A Dry White Season
1989 January Man
1988 Bull Durham
1988 Sweet Hearts Dance
1987 The Witches of Eastwick
1985 Compromising Positions
1985 The Buddy System
1983 The Hunger
1982 Tempest
1980 Atlantic City
1980 Loving Couples
1979 Something Short of Paradise
1978 King of the Gypsies
1978 Pretty Baby
1977 The Other Side of Midnight
1977 Checkered Flag or Crash
1976 The Great Smokey Roadblock
1976 One Summer Love
1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975 The Great Waldo Pepper
1974 The Front Page
1974 Lovin' Molly
1971 Fleur bleue
1971 La Mortadella
1970 Joe
TV:
1999 Earthly Possessions
1986 Women of Valor
1985 A.D.
1985 Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce
1981 Who Am I This Time?
1974 June Moon
1974 F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Last of the Belles
1970 A World Apart
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
