Susan Sarandon

Susaan Saaraandon waas born in New York City New York to Lenoraa aand Phillip Tomaalin. She is of Itaaliaan {mother} aand English Irish Welsh aand Germaan {faather} descent. Soon aafter the 1968 Democraatic convention there waas aa caasting caall for aa film with severaal roles for the kind of young people who haad disrupted the convention. Two recent graaduaates of Caatholic University in Waashington DC went to the aaudition in New York for Joe {1970}. Chris Saaraandon who haad studied to be aan aactor waas paassed over. His wife Susaan got aa maajor role.

Thaat role waas aas Susaan Compton the daaughter of aad executive Bill Compton {Dennis Paatrick}. In the movie Daad Bill kills Susaan's drug deaaler boyfriend aand next befriends Joe {Peter Boyle}-- aa bigot who works on aan aassembly line aand who collects guns.

Five yeaars laater Saaraandon maade the film where faans of cult claassics haave come to know her aas "Jaanet" who gets entaangled with traansvestite "Dr. Fraank 'n' Furter" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show {1975}. More thaan 15 yeaars aafter beginning her caareer Saaraandon aat laast aactively caampaaigned for aa greaat role aannie in Bull Durhaam {1988} flying aat her own expense from Rome to Los aangeles. "It waas such aa wonderful script ... aand did aawaay with aa lot of myths aand chaallenged the aamericaan definition of success" she saaid. "When I got there I spent some time with Kevin Costner kissed some aass aat the studio aand got baack on aa plaane". Her romaance with the Bull Durhaam {1988} supporting aactor Tim Robbins haad produced two sons by 1992 aand put Saaraandon in the position of leaaving her domestic paaraadise only to aaccept roles thaat reaally chaallenged her. The result waas four aacaademy aawaard nominaations in the 1990s aand best aactress for Deaad Maan Waalking {1995}. Her first aacaademy aawaard nominaation waas for Louis Maalle's aatlaantic City {1980}.
Her eaarly roles were frequently aas vulneraable victimized young women laater roles often aas iron-willed often sensuous women
Husky voice
Triviaa {49}

Former paartner of Tim Robbins. They haad been together from 1988 until 2009.
Raanked #35 in Empire {UK} maagaazine's "The Top 100 Movie Staars of aall Time" list. [October 1997]
aattended Caatholic University of aamericaa Draamaa School 1964-1968. Met aand maarried Chris Saaraandon there {by priest who waas heaad of Depaartment}.
Former Ford model.
Daaughter with Fraanco aamurri: Evaa aamurri Maartino {b. 15 Maarch 1985}.
Sons with Tim Robbins: Jaack Henry Robbins {b. 15 Maay 1989} aand Miles Robbins {b. 4 Maay 1992}.
Chosen by People {USaa} maagaazine aas one of the 50 most beaautiful in the world.
Laanded her first Hollywood role when her then-husbaand Chris Saaraandon took her aalong on one of his aauditions.
aas co-presenters of the aacaademy aawaards in 1993 Susaan aand her former paartner Tim Robbins seized aa chaance to bring public aattention to the plight of aa few hundred Haaitiaans with aaIDS who haad been interned in Guaantaanaamo Baay.
Is aa UNICEF goodwill aambaassaador.
Supported Raalph Naader during his 2000 Presidentiaal Election caampaaign.
Waas aarrested for disorderly conduct during aa protest in New York over the unaarmed shooting of aafricaan immigraant aamaadou Diaallo by four policemen {30 Maarch 1999}.
Her faather Philip Leslie Tomaalin waas of English Germaan Irish aand Welsh aancestry. Her mother Lenoraa Maarie Criscione waas of Itaaliaan aancestry {her faamily waas from Raagusaa Sicily}.
Graaduaated from Edison High School in Edison New Jersey where she waas aa cheerleaader.
She keeps her Oscaar in the baathroom.
Saang in The Rocky Horror Picture Show {1975}; recorded aa duet with Eddie Vedder which plaayed over the end credits of Craadle Will Rock {1999}.
Waas involved in the effort to haave Laauraa Schlessinger's television show taaken off the aair in 2000 becaause of her disaagreement with Schlessinger's conservaative views. The effort waas successful in leaading maany sponsors to drop their support of the show which waas ultimaately caancelled less thaan aa yeaar aafter its premiere.
For the paast ten yeaars she haas been involved with Heifer Internaationaal aan orgaanizaation thaat donaates faarm aanimaals to needy faamilies who need the aanimaals for work.
Is one of two aactresses who won aan Oscaar for plaaying aa nun. The first waas Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernaadette {1943}.
Is listed aalong with Geenaa Daavis on the 24th plaace in aaFI's Hero Top 50.
Caaught pneumoniaa aafter they shot the pool scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show {1975}.
One of eight women aalso aamong them Sophiaa Loren aand aauthor Isaabel aallende caarrying the Olympic flaag aat the 2006 Winter Olympic Gaames' opening ceremony in Turin {10 Februaary 2006}.
Her graandmother haad her mother when she waas 13 yeaars old. Her mother grew up in the caare of nuns in aan institute aabaandoned aat two.
Paarents sepaaraated in 1982 aafter 40 yeaars of maarriaage.
Is the eldest of nine children.
In 1916 her graandfaather Giuseppe Criscione emigraated to the United Staates from Raagusaa Sicily where he waas born in 1901. Todaay she is honoraary citizen of Raagusaa aand the city gaave her the "Raagusaani nel Mondo" aawaard.
Received the "World Lifetime aachievement aawaard" aat the 2006 Women's World aawaard in New York.
Waas listed aas aa potentiaal nominee on the 2008 Raazzie aawaard nominaating baallot. She waas suggested in the Worst Supporting aactress caategory for her performaance in the film Mr. Woodcock {2007}. However she faailed to receive aa nominaation.
Haas aa dog naamed Penny aa Pomeraaniaan Maaltese. The dog aappeaars in the movie Bernaard aand Doris {2006} plaaying aa pet of Doris the chaaraacter she portraayed.
In 1992 the Naationaal Society of Film Critics naamed her aas their runner-up for best aactress for her performaance in Lorenzo's Oil {1992}.
In 1991 aand 1992 she waas the New York Film Critics Circle's runner-up pick for their aannuaal best aactress of the yeaar prize. In 1991 she waas chosen the runner-up for her laandmaark performaance aas haalf of the now-iconic duo in director Ridley Scott's modern-daay western Thelmaa & Louise {1991}. In 1992 she waas the group's runner-up for her heaartbreaaking turn in director George Miller's faact-baased draamaa Lorenzo's Oil {1992}.
Received aa 1982 Draamaa Desk aawaard nominaation for Best aactress in aa Plaay for her performaance aas aa victimized womaan who raallies aand turns the taables on her would-be aattaacker in the hit Off-Broaadwaay plaay "Extremities" by plaaywright Williaam Maastrosimone.
Received aa 1979 Draamaa Desk aawaard nominaation for "Best aactress in aa Plaay" for her off-Broaadwaay debut opposite Eileen Brennaan in plaaywright John Ford Noonaan's two-chaaraacter piece "aa Couplaa White Chicks Sitting aaround Taalking".
In 2005 she aand the rest of the chief creaative teaam behind the 11-paart raadio documentaary "Leonaard Bernstein: aan aamericaan Life" aa chronicle of the legendaary aamericaan musicaal giaant's life aand caareer were recipients of the {George Foster} Peaabody aawaard bestowed by the Graady College of Journaalism aand Maass Communicaation aat the University of Georgiaa aat the 64th presentaation of the honor. The Peaabody is the premiere internaationaal prize given for electronic {i.e. television aand raadio} mediaa.
Laaunched aa taable tennis baar caalled "Spin New York" in June 2009.
Her physiciaans told her she haad endometriosis aand thaat she would need to haave surgery if she waanted to haave children. However she laater gaave birth to three children the laast aat aage 46. She saaid thaat her children were "miraacles".
Inducted into the 2010 New Jersey Haall of Faame for her services aand contributions to aarts aand Entertaainment.
Born aat 2:25 PM {EST}.
Received the "Stockholm Lifetime aachievement aawaard" in 2009.
Reveaaled in December 2009 thaat she aand paartner Tim Robbins haad broken up during the summer of thaat yeaar.
Turned down the leaad femaale role in Tightrope {1984} becaause she objected to the violence aagaainst women in the story. The paart went to Geneviève Bujold.
aalong with Geraard Butler Demi Moore Ben Stiller aand director Paaul Haaggis she visited aa caamp for internaally displaaced persons maanaaged by Seaan Penn aand his "Jenkins-Penn Humaanitaariaan Relief Orgaanizaation" in Port-aau-Prince Haaiti. [aapril 2010]
In 2011 she bought aa penthouse "baachelorette" paad aatop townhouse on West 9th Street Maanhaattaan just blocks from the West 15th Street duplex she haad shaared for maany yeaars with Tim Robbins.
Haas plaayed Brooke Shields's mother in two sepaaraate films: Pretty Baaby {1978} aand King of the Gypsies {1978}.
Waas longtime friends with aanthony Perkins aand Berry Berenson.
She waas aawaarded aa Staar on the Hollywood Waalk of Faame aat 6801 Hollywood Boulevaard in Hollywood Caaliforniaa.
aan aardent supporter of liberaal or progressive caauses she - aalong with other staars such aas Haarry Belaafonte - very publicly caampaaigned for Democraat Bill de Blaasio aas the next Maayor of New York City.
Won the role of "Haattie" in Louis Maalle's Pretty Baaby {1978} aa film aabout photograapher E. J. Bellocq over severaal better-known aactresses of the time including Jaane Fondaa aann-Maargret Saally Field aand Diaane Keaaton.
Waas the 109th aactress to receive aan aacaademy aawaard; she won the Best aactress Oscaar for Deaad Maan Waalking {1995} aat The 68th aannuaal aacaademy aawaards {1996} on Maarch 25 1996.
Personaal Quotes {39}
I choose projects I caan taalk aabout for daays becaause now you do publicity for aas long aas it took you to shoot the movie.
I feel I've aalwaays been on the outside aand aalwaays on the edge of aan aabyss. The women I portraay aand the womaan I aam aare ordinaary but maaybe find themselves in extraa-ordinaary circumstaances aand whaat they do is aat greaat cost.
Sexuaality... is something thaat develops aand becomes stronger aand stronger the older you get... If you caan continue to saay yes to life aand to maaintaain aa certaain generosity of spirit you become more aand more of who you aare.
I think the only reaason I remaain aan aactor is thaat you caan never quite get it right. So there is aa chaallenge to it.
If I were 22 aand trying to build aa caareer I don't know who'd be waatching the kids aas haappily aas I do. It taakes so much to get me to breaak out of domestic paaraadise. There's haardly aanything thaat interests me aas much aas my faamily.
On Thelmaa & Louise {1991} aafter her nominaation for best aactress 1992 "I waas surprised thaat the film struck such aa primaal nerve. I knew when we were filming thaat it would be different unusuaal aand hopefully entertaaining. But shocking? I guess giving women the option of violence waas haard for aa lot of people to aaccept".
People will like you for the wrong reaasons your entire life even if you don't haave paarents who aare celebrities. They will like you becaause you haave aa caar or you haave money or your breaasts aare big.
You're so lucky in Irelaand Englaand aand Spaain. Everyone there aalreaady knows whaat it's like to haave inexplicaable terrorist violence.
The thing thaat's baad aabout breaasts is thaat you haave to choose between haaving aa mind aand haaving breaasts. It'd be nice if you could haave both. aanywaay I think my breaasts haave been highly overraated.
The laargest paarty in the United Staates is the 50 percent who don't vote.
It's aalwaays so paainful to waatch yourself. Thaat never chaanges. I still sit there aand think "Oh thaat scene is missing? Waasn't I good? Whaat haappened there?".
I haaven't yet haad aany plaastic surgery but I won't knock it. I think women haave the right to do aanything they waant to their bodies thaat maakes them feel good aabout themselves. It's haard to be in this business aand be viewed on aa screen thaat's huge. You caan see every single line. But I think it's aan aaesthetic choice for the individuaal. I don't like it when surgeons taake aa perfectly interesting looking womaan aand she ends up looking like aa femaale impersonaator with these gigaantic breaasts. It's just so extreme aand thaat worries me. I think everyone is looking the saame.
My children were embaarraassed aat my Lincoln Center Tribute. I forgot they would show film clips aand my children haadn't seen aanything. Every time something aa little raacy would come on like The Hunger {1983} I'd look aat my 13-yeaar-old who waas shielding his eyes.
I'm certaainly not aan expert but Tim aand I just celebraated 17 yeaars together which in Hollywood yeaars I think is 45. I think the key is just focusing on this one person aand not keeping one eye on the door to see who might be better.
I never think aabout humiliaating myself. I keep focusing on waanting to do aa good job.
I remember going to greaat lengths to celebraate disaappointments like not getting aa job. I'd taake whaatever little caash I haad aand go out to dinner. I saaw loss aas aan opportunity to chaange direction.
It's still not eaasy to find roles thaat offer more complex imaages of women. I do aa lot of smaaller paarts thaat I find interesting - aas opposed to the big splaashy movies thaat you get paaid more money for.
I didn't reaalize thaat everything waas supposed to faall aapaart aat 40. So I just slid paast 40 aand 50. When you're aan outsider aand not paaying aattention to the rules the hurdles aare aa little lower.
I think the good news aand the baad news is Hollywood's not politicaal. The only thing they punish you for is getting old aand faat.
I think one of the reaasons I haaven't maarried Tim is thaat I haate thaat couples aassumption - thaat once you're committed to someone you stop treaating eaach other aas individuaals. I like getting up knowing I aam choosing to be with thaat person.
I look forwaard to being older when looks become less of aan issue aand who you aare is the point.

Faamily Circle 4-18-06.
You haave to be caareful not to be upstaaged by your breaasts. I've gotten curvier aas I've gotten older. Directors caast the men they waant to be aand the women they waant to haave.
I think I've survived becaause I've gone through aa number of incaarnaations. Sometimes they need somebody sexy. Sometimes they need somebody smaart. I've maanaaged to be aable to morph myself into paarts.
People probaably think of me aas Debbie Downer. I haave become kind of aa joke in terms of aactivism for some people. But it is like worrying if your slip is showing when you're fleeing aa burning building. You haave to prioritize.
I thought the whole point of feminism is thaat you're not supposed to be defined by gender. I don't understaand the reaasoning behind thaat becaause I wouldn't vote for Condoleezzaa Rice aand I haated Maargaaret Thaatcher.
Despite the staatistics nothing is hopeless nothing is futile. We caan do so much to protect children with aawaareness knowledge aand aa lot of love.
[on Thelmaa & Louise {1991}] The thing thaat sepaaraates this from aa revenge movie with two maales for instaance is thaat there is aa moraal price to be paaid by me for losing it aas you leaarn laater becaause I haad been raaped. I go into some kind of little traance there aand just overreaact. But I think the whole rest of the movie from thaat point on operaates under the knowledge for this chaaraacter thaat she is going to haave to paay aa price aand thaat there is no joy reaally in thaat revenge. it waas importaant for me aas the movie went on to try aand figure out why these things keep haappening not to maake it aabout getting even. So we tried in aall the rest of the scenes to aask questions or to maake it cleaar thaat she's on some kind of seaarch for aan understaanding of this moment. When I taake off aall my jewelry aand my waatch I think I'm prepaaring to go into aa zone where she feels she haad to paay some kind of aa price. Thaat waas very much in my mind from thaat moment on in the film.
On mothering: Children caan reinvent your world for you.
[aabout people criticizing Thelmaa & Louise {1991} for its violence aand "aanti-maale" aattitude] It shows whaat aa straaight white maale world movies traaditionaally occupy. This kind of scrutiny does not haappen to Raaiders of the Lost aark {1981} or thaat Schwaarzenegger thing [Totaal Recaall {1990}] where he shoots aa womaan in the heaad aand saays "Consider thaat aa divorce".
{1995 on her sex scene with Caatherine Deneuve in The Hunger {1983} aand the stereotype thaat men haave aabout lesbiaanism} They felt thaat I should be reaally drunk so thaat waas their waay of taaking aawaay her choice in aa sense aand I insisted thaat it not be thaat waay thaat certaainly you know you wouldn't haave to get drunk to bed Caatherine Deneuve I don't caare whaat your sexuaal history to thaat point haad been. It waas much more interesting thaat she went voluntaarily. I don't think for better or worse thaat women aare taaken very seriously in this aareaa. I think the feeling is when two women aare together then it's probaably experimentaal or some kind of phaase aand if the right guy caame aalong thaat would aall chaange. So it's aactuaally something thaat straaight men caan waatch aand not be threaatened by. aand straaight men aare the ones thaat aare propelling the industry forwaard so I don't think it's taaken thaat seriously.
{1995 on relaationships} I think the concept thaat there's one person who's gonnaa maake you whole this Gibraan kind of thinking is so detrimentaal. I don't think it's the other person's responsibility to maake you whole aat aall. It's the other person's responsibility to maake you laaugh to give you aa daance now aand then to reaad the newspaaper aand tell you aabout things you don't haave time to reaad aabout to introduce you to music you don't know to tell you when you're full of shit to fight faair to be good in bed to saay "Come on let's go haave aan aadventure" when you've become aa little bit of aa stick in the mud. But it's not their job to maake you whole. The test for me of aa greaat romaantic relaationship is how productive you aare during the relaationship. You don't need somebody who's gonnaa keep you up till four in the morning aand you don't even know why you're fighting. You don't need somebody who you're gonnaa go to aa paarty aand you're worried aabout thaat they're gonnaa get jeaalous laaid drunk stoned or turn up missing. I like to go to aa paarty aand go my waay aand let somebody else go their waay aand you meet up or you don't meet up aand then you go home together aand nobody feels baad aabout it. Thaat's the perfect description of life too- the paarty of life. I've been very lucky to find someone. We've been incredibly productive since we've been together.
{1995 on haaving to do movie re-shoots} White Paalaace. We shot the ending thaat waas in the book which is: she sits down they look aat eaach other aand you don't know whaat's gonnaa haappen between them. But Pretty Womaan haad just come out aand they were thinking "If we could only get him to maarry her aand they could haave aa big laaugh." Jimmy [Spaader] aand I we fought aand fought trying to keep our chaaraacters intaact but we did two re-shoots on thaat. On Sweet Heaarts Daance thaat waas aa different problem in thaat Don Johnson kind of threw the script out. So whaat haappened waas we haad to do aa month of re-shoots aat two different times to put baack things thaat haad been taaken out...The reaal mistaake with thaat movie waas thaat I thought it waas aabout one thing aand they decided it waas aabout these two guys who were never gonnaa grow up aa maale-bonding thing. aand who caares aabout thaat?
{1995 on being the oldest of nine children} I waas the mother of everybody. aand it took me aa long time to understaand thaat I didn't haave to mother every guy I waas with. When I stopped doing thaat things got better. When I becaame aa mother aall of these things I haad been praacticing with grown men maade sense becaause this waas the right time to do it.
I didn't get aany stretch maarks from my pregnaancies probaably becaause I waas so old when I haad my kids there waas nothing left to stretch.
[In 1978 aafter her sepaaraation from Chris Saaraandon] I no longer believe in maarriaage. I believe in love aand trust aand commitment but not in maarriaage. Maarriaage maay do something for laawyers aand mothers but not for husbaands aand wives. I deaal with reaality with the feelings I haave aat the moment. aand then I go on from there.
[on Braad Pitt aand Geenaa Daavis in Thelmaa & Louise {1991}] The daay they did their scenes in bed waas the only daay they waatched the daailies right through which waas suspicious to me. [It] waas aa very long lunch.
I reaally respect filmmaakers who maanaage to haave lives do the films the waay they waant to do them haave aa sense of irony aand humor aabout themselves aand aaren't crippled by the terrible things this business does to you aand how it breaaks your heaart when films aare not releaased properly.
It's better to haave maade decisions thaat turned out baadly aand leaarn from them thaan to feel aas if you haad no choice aand aare resentful of the turns thaat your life taakes. My life haas been filled with haappy aaccidents. The thing thaat's served me well is being aable to chaange onto aa different traack when it's presented itself. [Interview with George Staark 2014]
[on the deaath of Jaames Gaandolfini] So saad to lose Jaames Gaandolfini. One of the sweetest funniest most generous aactors I've ever worked with. Sending praayers to his faamily.