Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon (October 4, 1946) is an American actress. She played Janet Weiss (A Heroine) in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Biography

Sarandon was born in New York City as Susan Susan Abigail Tomalin. Her father was a television producer and advertising exec. The eldest of 9 children, Susan attended High School at Edison High School in Edison, New Jersey where she was a cheerleader. For college, she attended the Drama Department of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, from 1964-1968, where she met and subsequently married Chris Sarandon, in 1967.

Her professional acting career began in 1969, when she went on an audition with her husband for the film Joe. While Chris was passed over, Susan landed a leading role opposite Peter Boyle. She next appeared on the Soap Operas A World Apart and Search for Tomorrow while pursuing other film roles. Her list of credits was already growing when she took the role of Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and things never slowed down. Her first Best Actress Oscar nomination came in 1980, for her role in the feature film Atlantic City. She had 3 more nominations (Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo's Oil and The Client) before winning the award in 1995 for her role in Dead Man Walking, for which she also won the Golden Globe Award. Sarandon has been nominated for an Emmy Award 6 times, though has not yet won.

Susan divorced Chris Sarandon in 1979, and was soon after linked to relationships with Louis Malle (who directed her in Pretty Baby and Atlantic City) and musician David Bowie around the time they worked together on the film The Hunger. From 1988 to 2009, Sarandon was in a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while they were filming Bull Durham. They have two sons — Jack Henry (born May 15, 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born May 4, 1992).

Susan Sarandon is noted for her active support of many progressive and liberal political causes. Among other activities, she was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 and appeared in publicity materials for Heifer International. In May 2015, Sarandon launched a campaign with fundraising platform Represent.com to sell T-shirts to help finance the documentary Deep Run, the story of a poor North Carolina teen undergoing a gender transition. Donors were rewarded with a graphic T-Shirt of two head-shots of Janet Weiss (pre and post Floor Show) between the words “Embrace Change.”

Filmography

2016 Mothers and Daughters - Millie
2016: Spark - Bananny (voice)
2015: Kid Witness - Detective Dottie Wheel
2015: Hell and Back - Barb the Angel (voice)
2015: The Meddler - Marnie Minervini
2015: About Ray - Dolly
2015: The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (TV Mini-Series) - Gladys Mortenson
2014: The Calling Hazel Micallef
2014: Tammy - Pearl
2013-2014: Mike & Molly (TV Series) - J.C. Small
2014: Ping Pong Summer - Randi Jammer
2013: Doll & Em (TV Series) - Susan Sarandon
2013: The Last of Robin Hood - Florence Aadland
2013: Irwin & Fran - Narrator
2013: The Big Wedding - Bebe
2013: Snitch - Joanne Keeghan
2012: Dishonored (Video Game) - Granny Rags (voice)
2012: Cloud Atlas - Madame Horrox / Older Ursula / Yusouf Suleiman
2012: The Company You Keep - Sharon Solarz
2012: That's My Boy - Mary McGarricle (Present Day)
2012: The Big C (TV Series) - Joy Kleinman
2011-2012: 30 Rock (TV Series) - Lynn Onkman
2012: Arbitrage - Ellen Miller
2012: Robot & Frank - Jennifer
2011: The Miraculous Year (TV Movie) - Patty Atwood
2011: Jeff, Who Lives at Home - Sharon
2011: 3-Way (The Golden Rule) (TV Movie)
2009 & 2011: Saturday Night Live (TV Series) - Justin Timberlake's Mother (Uncredited -2x)
2011: Fight for Your Right Revisited (Short) - Mother
2010: La Mama: An American Nun's Life in a Mexican Prison (Video short) - Narrator
2010: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Jake's Mother
2010: Peacock - Fanny Crill
2010: You Don't Know Jack (TV Movie) - Janet Good
2009: The Lovely Bones - Grandma Lynn
2009: One Million Strong (Short) (voice)
2009: Leaves of Grass - Daisy
2009: Solitary Man - Nancy Kalmen
2009: ER (TV Series) - Nora
2009: The Greatest - Grace Brewer
2008: Middle of Nowhere - Rhonda Berry
2008: Speed Racer - Mom
2007: Enchanted - Queen Narissa
2007: Emotional Arithmetic - Melanie Winters
2007: Mr. Woodcock - Beverly Farley
2007: In the Valley of Elah - Joan Deerfield
2006: Who Do You Think You Are (TV - Biographical)
2006-2007: Rescue Me (TV Series) - Alicia Green
2006: Bernard and Doris - Doris Duke
2006: Irresistible: Sophie
2005: Sonnet 22 (Short) - Narrator
2005: Romance & Cigarettes - Kitty Kane
2005: Elizabethtown - Hollie Baylor
2005: The Exonerated (TV Movie) - Sunny Jacobs
2004: Alfie - Liz
2004: Shall We Dance - Beverly Clark
2004: Noel - Rose Collins
2003: Ice Bound (TV Movie) - Dr. Jerri Nielsen
2003: Children of Dune (TV Mini-Series) - Princess Wensicia Corrino
2003: Freedom: A History of Us (TV Series documentary) - Susan B. Anthony / Mary Hagidorn
2002: Little Miss Spider (Short) - Narrator
2002: Moonlight Mile - Jojo Floss
2002: The Banger Sisters - Lavinia Kingsley
2002: Igby Goes Down - Mimi Slocumb
2002: Malcolm in the Middle (TV Series) - Meg
2001: Cats & Dogs - Ivy (voice)
2001: Friends (TV Series) - Jessica Lockhart
2000: Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Coco LaBouche (voice)
2000: Joe Gould's Secret - Alice Neel
1999: Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales (TV Movie) - Narrator (voice)
1999: Our Friend, Martin (Video) - Mrs. Clark (voice)
1999: Anywhere But Here - Adele August
1999: Cradle Will Rock - Margherita Sarfatti
1999: Earthly Possessions (TV Movie) - Charlotte Emory
1998: Stepmom - Jackie Harrison
1998: For Love of Julian - Narrator (voice)
1998: Illuminata - Celimene
1998: Twilight - Catherine Ames
1997: The Need to Know - Narrator (voice)
1996: James and the Giant Peach - Spider (voice)
1995: Dead Man Walking - Sister Helen Prejean
1995: The Simpsons (TV Series) - Ballet Teacher (voice)
1994: School of the Americas Assassins (Short) - Narrator (voice)
1994: Little Women - Mrs. March
1994: Safe Passage - Margaret "Mag" Singer
1994: The Client - Reggie Love
1994: All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! (TV Movie) - Bitsy
1992: Lorenzo's Oil - Michaela Odone
1992: Bob Roberts - Tawna Titan
1992: Light Sleeper - Ann
1991: Thelma & Louise - Louise<br 1990: White Palace - Nora Baker
1989: A Dry White Season - Melanie Bruwer
1989: The January Man - Christine Starkey
1988: Sweet Hearts Dance - Sandra Boon
1988: Bull Durham - Annie Savoy
1987: The Witches of Eastwick - Jane Spofford
1986: Women of Valor (TV Movie) - Col. Margaret Ann Jessup
1985: Compromising Positions - Judith Singer
1985: Mussolini and I (TV Series) - Edda Mussolini Ciano
1985: A.D. (TV Mini-Series) - Livilla
1984: Oxbridge Blues (TV Series) - Natalie Carlsen
1984: Faerie Tale Theatre (TV Series) - Beauty (Beauty and the Beast)
1984: The Buddy System - Emily
1983: The Hunger - Sarah Roberts
1982: Tempest - Aretha Tomalin
1982: American Playhouse (TV Series) - Helene Shaw
1980: Loving Couples - Stephanie Beck
1980: Atlantic City - Sally
1979: Something Short of Paradise - Madeline Ross
1978: King of the Gypsies - Rose
1978: Pretty Baby - Hattie
1977: The Other Side of Midnight - Catherine Alexander Douglas
1977: Checkered Flag or Crash - C.C. Wainwright
1977: The Great Smokey Roadblock - Ginny
1976: Dragonfly - Chloe
1975: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Janet Weiss - A Heroine
1975: The Great Waldo Pepper - Mary Beth 1974: The Front Page - Peggy Grant
1974: The Rimmers of Eldrich (TV Movie)
1974: The Whirlwind (TV Movie)
1974: Lovin' Molly - Sarah
1972-1974: Great Performances (TV Series) - Eileen / Patsy Johnson
1973-1974: The Wide World of Mystery (TV Series) - Kate
1974: F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (TV Movie) - Ailie Calhoun
1973: Calucci's Department (TV Series) - Samantha
1972: Search for Tomorrow (TV Series) - Sarah Fairbanks
1971: Lady Liberty - Sally
1971: Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (TV Series) - Joyce
1971: Fleur Bleue - Elizabeth Hawkins
1971: A World Apart (TV Series) - Patrice Kahlman
1970: Joe - Melissa Compton

Stage Credits

2009: Exit The King [Broadway Revival]- Queen Marguerite
2001: The Guys – Joan
2000: The Exonerated
1998: Vagina Monologues
1982: Extremities – Marjorie
1979/80: A Coupla White Chicks Sittin' Around Talkin'
1972: An Evening With Richard Nixon and... [Broadway] (Multiple Roles)

Awards

• 1995 Academy Award for Best Actress in Dead Man Walking

Convention Appearances

• 1978 The Second Official Rocky Horror Show Convention (Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, Long Island, NY) - October 8
• 1985 10th Anniversary Convention (Beacon Theatre, NYC)