Susan Sarandon

Season 4, Episode 414

Original Airdate: December 6, 1998

Born Susan Abigail Tomalin on October 4, 1946 in New York City, Susan Sarandon was the oldest of nine children. In 1968, after attending the Catholic University in Washington DC, she married an aspiring young actor named Chris Sarandon. Although Susan had no interest in becoming an actor herself, she frequently accompanied her husband on auditions.

On a casting call for the controversial film Joe (1970), Chris was passed over for a part. However, Susan won a pivotal role in the film and suddenly her own acting career was underway. Her early work included a regular on the soap opera A World Apart (1971), Mortadella (1972), The Front Page (1974), Lovin' Molly (1974) and The Great Waldo Pepper (1975).

In 1975, she cemented her place in cult film history by playing Janet Weiss in the camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In 1978, director Louis Malle cast her in the provocative film Pretty Baby, portraying the prostitute mother of a 12-year-old Brooke Shields. Sarandon and Malle next teamed for 1980's superb Atlantic City, for which she earned her first Oscar nomination. Her breakthrough performance came in 1988 when she portrayed sexy baseball philosopher Annie in the box office smash Bull Durham. The film not only made her a superstar but also introduced her to Tim Robbins, with whom she started a long-term off-screen relationship that has produced two sons. Susan also has a daughter from a previous marriage.

The 1990s brought Susan much success including Oscar nominations for Thelma and Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and The Client (1994). In 1995, she won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the tough but sympathetic Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, a gut-wrenching examination of the death penalty, adapted and directed by Robbins, co-starring Sean Penn. Other film credits include Stepmom (1998) with Julia Roberts and Ed Harris, Illuminata (1998), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and Joe Gould's Secret (2000).

Off-screen, she and Robbins have worked extensively for charitable causes such as UNICEF, feeding the homeless and various human rights groups.