Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon

Sarandon in 2010
Born Susan Abigail Tomalin
(1946-10-04) October 4, 1946
Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, U.S.
Residence Pound Ridge, New York, U.S.
Alma mater The Catholic University of America, B.A. 1968
Occupation Actress
Years active 1970–present
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Chris Sarandon (m. 1967; div. 1979)
Partner(s) Tim Robbins (1988–2009)
Children 3; including Eva Amurri

Susan Abigail Sarandon (/səˈrændən/; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946)[1] is an American actress. She is an Academy Award and BAFTA Award winner who is also known for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes. She was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 and received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award in 2006.

Sarandon began her career in the 1970 film Joe, before appearing in the soap opera A World Apart (1970–71). In 1975, she starred in the cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Atlantic City (1980), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and The Client (1994), before winning for Dead Man Walking (1995). She has also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Client, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for Dead Man Walking.

She made her Broadway debut in An Evening with Richard Nixon in 1972, and went on to receive Drama Desk Award nominations for the Off-Broadway plays, A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (1979) and Extremities (1982). She returned to Broadway in the 2009 revival of Exit the King.

On television, she is a five-time Emmy Award nominee, including for her guest roles on the sitcoms Friends (2001) and Malcolm in the Middle (2002), and the TV films Bernard and Doris (2007) and You Don't Know Jack (2010). Her other films include Pretty Baby (1978), The Hunger (1983), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Bull Durham (1988), White Palace (1990), Little Women (1994), Stepmom (1998), Igby Goes Down (2002), Enchanted (2007), The Lovely Bones (2009), Arbitrage (2012) and Tammy (2014).

Early life

Sarandon was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City.[2] She is the eldest of nine children born to Lenora Marie (née Criscione; b. 1923)[3] and Phillip Leslie Tomalin (1917–1999), an advertising executive, television producer, and one-time nightclub singer. She has four brothers: Philip Jr., Terry, Tim and O'Brian and four sisters: Meredith, Bonnie, Amanda and Missy.[4][5] Her father was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry,[6] his English ancestors being from Hackney in London and his Welsh ancestors being from Bridgend. On her mother's side, she is of Italian descent, with ancestors from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily.[4][7][8] Sarandon was raised Roman Catholic and attended Roman Catholic schools. She grew up in Edison, New Jersey,[9][10] where she graduated from Edison High School in 1964.[11][12] She then attended The Catholic University of America, from 1964 to 1968,[13] and earned a BA in drama and worked with noted drama coach and master teacher, Father Gilbert V. Hartke.

Career

In 1969, Sarandon went to a casting call for the motion-picture Joe with her then husband Chris Sarandon. Although he did not get a part, she was cast in a major role of a disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld (the film was released in the summer of 1970). Between 1970 and 1972, she appeared on the soap operas A World Apart and Search for Tomorrow, playing Patrice Kahlman and Sarah Fairbanks, respectively. In 1975, she appeared in the cult favorite The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. Her first controversial film appearance was in Pretty Baby in 1978, a prostitution drama directed by Louis Malle. On stage, she received Drama Desk Award nominations for her work in the Off-Broadway plays A Coupla White Chicks Siting Around Talking (1979) and Extremities (1982).

Susan Sarandon's hand and foot prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Sarandon's performance in Atlantic City (1980) earned her first Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. In 1983 she co-starred in Tony Scott's The Hunger, a modern vampire story in which she had a lesbian sex scene with Catherine Deneuve.[14] One of her biggest commercial successes came in 1987 with The Witches of Eastwick alongside Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer. However, Sarandon did not become a "household name" until her A-list breakthrough in the 1988 film Bull Durham, where she starred opposite Kevin Costner.[15]

Sarandon received four more Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, in Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and The Client (1994), finally winning in 1995 for Dead Man Walking. She was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1994.[16]

Additional film performances include White Palace (1990), Little Women (1994), Stepmom (1998), Anywhere but Here (1999), The Banger Sisters (2002), Shall We Dance (2004), Alfie (2004), Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Elizabethtown (2005) and Enchanted (2007). Sarandon has appeared in two episodes of The Simpsons, once as herself ("Bart Has Two Mommies") and as a ballet teacher, "Homer vs. Patty and Selma". She appeared on Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live, Chappelle's Show, 30 Rock, Rescue Me and Mike & Molly.

Sarandon has contributed the narration to two dozen documentary films, many of which dealt with social and political issues.[17] In addition she has served as the presenter on many installments of the PBS documentary series, Independent Lens. In 1999 and 2000 she hosted and presented Mythos, a series of lectures by the late American mythology professor Joseph Campbell.[18] Sarandon also participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films made for children between the ages of 3 and 18.[19]

Sarandon joined the cast of the adaptation of The Lovely Bones, opposite Rachel Weisz, and appeared with her daughter, Eva Amurri, in Middle of Nowhere; both films were made in 2007.[20][21] In June 2010 Sarandon joined the cast of the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year, as Patty Atwood, a Broadway director/choreographer.[22] However, the series was not picked up.[23] In 2012 Sarandon's audiobook performance of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding was released at Audible.com.[24] Sarandon was the voice actor for the character of Granny Rags, an eccentric and sinister old lady, in the stealth/action video game Dishonored, released in 2012.

Activism

Sarandon is noted for her active support of progressive and liberal political causes, ranging from donations to organizations such as EMILY's List,[25] to participating in a 1983 delegation to Nicaragua sponsored by MADRE, an organization that promotes "social, environmental and economic justice."[26] Sarandon has expressed support for various human rights causes that are similar philosophically to ideas found among the left-wing supporters.

In 1995, Sarandon was one of many Hollywood actors, directors and writers interviewed for the documentary The Celluloid Closet, which looked at how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuality. In 1999, she was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In that capacity, she has actively supported the organization's global advocacy, as well as the work of the Canadian UNICEF Committee.[27]

During the 2000 election, Sarandon supported Ralph Nader's run for president, serving as a co-chair of the National Steering Committee of Nader 2000.[28] During the 2004 election campaign, she withheld support for Nader's bid, being among several "Nader Raiders" who urged Nader to drop out and his voters offer their support for Democratic Party candidate John Kerry.[29] After the 2004 election, Sarandon called for US elections to be monitored by international entities.[30]

Sarandon and Robbins both took an early stance against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with Sarandon stating that she was firmly against war as a pre-emptive strike.[31] Prior to a 2003 protest sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition, she said that many Americans "do not want to risk their children or the children of Iraq".[32] Sarandon was one of the first to appear in a series of political ads sponsored by TrueMajority, an organization established by Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream founder Ben Cohen.[33][34] In 2003 she appeared in a "Love is Love is Love" commercial, which promoted the acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. The next year, in 2004, she served on the advisory committee for 2004 Racism Watch, an activist group.[35] She hosted a section of the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2005. In 2006, she was one of eight women selected to carry in the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, in Turin, Italy.

Along with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Sarandon took part in a 2006 Mother's Day protest, which was sponsored by Code Pink;[36] she has expressed interest in portraying Sheehan in a film.[37] In January 2007, she appeared with Robbins and Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. in support of a Congressional measure to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.[38]

In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sarandon and Tim Robbins campaigned[39] for John Edwards in the New Hampshire communities of Hampton,[40] Bedford and Dover.[41] When asked at We Vote '08 Kickoff Party "What would Jesus do this primary season", Sarandon said, "I think Jesus would be very supportive of John Edwards."[42]

Sarandon was appointed an FAO Goodwill Ambassador in 2010. "I am proud to help draw everyone’s attention to the very real and dramatic problems of hunger, food insecurity and extreme poverty," she said.

On March 12, 2011, Sarandon spoke before a crowd in Madison, Wisconsin protesting Governor Scott Walker and his Budget Repair Bill.[43] On September 27, 2011, Sarandon spoke to reporters and interested parties at the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City.[44] Her use of the term "Nazi" to describe Pope Benedict XVI on October 15, 2011, created controversy, generating complaints from Roman Catholic authorities,[45] and the Anti-Defamation League, which called on Sarandon to apologize.[46] Sarandon's mother Leonora Tomalin is a staunch Republican, a supporter of George W. Bush and the Iraq War.[47][48]

As a result of her work in the movie, Dead Man Walking, in which she portrayed Sister Helen Prejean, Sarandon has become an advocate to end the death penalty and mass incarceration. She has joined the team of people fighting to save the life of Richard Glossip, a man who is on death row in Oklahoma.[49] 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.[50]

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, she has made public her support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.[51] On March 28, 2016 in an interview on All In with Chris Hayes, Sarandon indicated that she and other Sanders supporters might not support Hillary Clinton if Clinton is the Democratic nominee for President. She stated: "You know, some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately. If he gets in, then things will really explode." Hayes inquired as to whether it would be dangerous to allow Trump to become president, to which she replied: "If you think that it's pragmatic to shore up the status quo right now, then you're not in touch with the status quo".[52]

Recognition

In 2006, Sarandon received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award.[53] She was honored for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, an advocate for victims of hunger and HIV/AIDS and a spokesperson for Heifer International.

Sarandon received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Stockholm International Film Festival, was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010,[54] and received the Outstanding Artistic Life Award for her Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 2011 Shanghai International Film Festival.[55] In 2013, she was invited to inaugurate the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.[56] In 2015, Sarandon received the Goldene Kamera international lifetime achievement award.[57]

Personal life

While in college, she met fellow student Chris Sarandon and the couple married on September 16, 1967.[58] They divorced in 1979, but she retained the surname Sarandon as her stage name. She then had a relationship with Louis Malle, who directed her in Pretty Baby and Atlantic City.[58] Sarandon had a relationship with musician David Bowie around the time they worked together on the film The Hunger (1983), which she describes as "a really interesting period."[59] In the mid-1980s Sarandon dated Italian filmmaker Franco Amurri, and gave birth to their daughter, actress Eva Amurri, on March 15, 1985. From 1988 to 2009 Sarandon was in a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while they were filming Bull Durham.[60] They have two sons – Jack Henry (born May 15, 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born May 4, 1992).[61] On March 1, 2014, the documentary Storied Streets, produced by Sarandon and directed by Jack Henry Robbins was released. The film deals with homelessness across the United States.[62][63][64]

In 2006, Sarandon and ten relatives, including her then-partner, Tim Robbins and her son, Miles, travelled to Wales to trace her family's Welsh genealogy. Their journey was documented by the BBC Wales programme, Coming Home: Susan Sarandon.[8] Much of the same research and content was featured in the American version of Who Do You Think You Are?. She also received the "Ragusani nel mondo" prize in 2006; her Sicilian roots are in Ragusa, Italy.[65] Sarandon is the co-owner of New York ping-pong club SPiN,[66] and its Toronto branch SPiN Toronto.[67]

Sarandon split with her long-time partner, Robbins, in 2009. Following the dissolution of her relationship, she soon began a relationship with Jonathan Bricklin, son of Malcolm Bricklin. They operated the SPiN ping-pong lounges together.[68] Sarandon and Bricklin broke up in 2015.[69]

Sarandon is a vegetarian.[70]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ Bernice, Janet (March–April 2007). "Susan Catches Wales". Ancestry Magazine. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Esther Zuckerman. " Susan Sarandon Shares Her New York Favorites", The Village Voice, August 30, 2011; accessed Sept 23 2011.
  3. ↑ https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KGJT-THG accessed 8/19/14
  4. 1 2 MacKenzie, Suzie (March 18, 2006). "A fine romancer". The Guardian (London). Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Susan Sarandon biography". Profile at FilmReference.com.
  6. ↑ "Susan Sarandon traces roots to Wales" September 1, 2006, Wales Online
  7. ↑ "Who Do You Think You Are". NBC. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Sarandon learns about Welsh roots". BBC News. November 28, 2006.
  9. ↑ "Susan Sarandon's Story" United Nations. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
  10. ↑ Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri, stated this during her appearance on the December 10, 2009, episode of the E! talk show Chelsea Lately.
  11. ↑ "Riding the Currents". New Jersey Monthly. April 12, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Susan Sarandon Biography". Yahoo! Movies.
  13. ↑ "Susan Sarandon biography". biography.com.
  14. ↑ Dunlap, David W. (January 8, 1996). "For Lesbian Magazine, a Question of Image". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "101 Best Ways to Get Ahead".
  16. ↑ "Past Recipients: Crystal Award". Women In Film. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
  17. ↑ Documentaries (narrator)
  18. ↑ "The Shaping of Our Mythic Tradition". Joseph Campbell Foundation.
  19. ↑ "NYICFF Jury". NYICFF.
  20. ↑ "Susan Sarandon set to star in 'The Lovely Bones'". DailyIndia.com. July 27, 2007.
  21. ↑ Chupnick, Steven (August 25, 2007). "Susan Sarandon on Speed Racer". Superhero Hype.com.
  22. ↑ "Susan Sarandon Joins HBO's The Miraculous Year". TVGuide.com.
  23. ↑ "HBO not picking up 'Miraculous Year'". Entertainment Weekly. November 10, 2010.
  24. ↑ Staskiewicz, Keith (March 9, 2012). "Stars Read Their Faves...To You". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Susan Sarandon's Federal Campaign Contribution Report". Newsmeat.com. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  26. ↑ "Mission and History". Madre.org. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
  27. ↑ "Susan Sarandon". BeliefNet. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Becker Complaint: Becker, et al. vs. Federal Election Commission". NVRI.org. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
  29. ↑ "Despite 'spoiler' tag, Nader unapologetic for campaign" (Press release). USA Today. 2004. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  30. ↑ Walls, Jeannette (April 19, 2006). "Sarandon wants monitoring for U.S. elections". MSNBC. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
  31. ↑ "Iraq: Antiwar Voices". The Washington Post. February 13, 2003. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Sarandon To Bush: Get Real On War", CBS News, February 14, 2003
  33. ↑ Brennan, Charlie (February 8, 2003). "Cry for peace heard on web: Activists using Internet to spread word against war". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2008.
  34. ↑ "Anti-Iraq Ad Features Leader of Bush's Church". Fox News. January 31, 2003. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
  35. ↑ "2004 Racism Watch Calls On Bush-Cheney Campaign to Change or Pull Offensive Ad". Common Dreams.
  36. ↑ "Susan Sarandon Joins Cindy Sheehan to Protest Iraq War". Fox News. May 15, 2006. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
  37. ↑ Asthana, Anushka. "Sarandon tells of Iraq death threat", The Observer, April 30, 2006
  38. ↑ Hunt, Kasie (January 24, 2007). "Anti-War Actress Bored by Iraq Pitch". CBS News.
  39. ↑ Strauss, Gary (January 30, 2008). "Primary time for celebs: Star power floods political arena". USA Today. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  40. ↑ Lanzer, Katherine (January 8, 2008). "Edwards vows to 'take back democracy'". The Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  41. ↑ Alexovich, Ariel (January 7, 2008). "The Early Word: Who's the Real 'Change' Candidate?". The New York Times. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  42. ↑ Murphy, Tim (December 3, 2007). "WWJD in '08? Ask Sarandon". New York. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
  43. ↑ "Madison Welcomes Susan Sarandon- 3-12-11" on YouTube
  44. ↑ "Susan Sarandon to Occupy Wall Street: 'You Have to Make Your Message Clear'", The Village Voice. September 27, 2011.
  45. ↑ McLeod, Jerry (October 19, 2011). "Susan Sarandon rebuked for 'obscene' reference to Pope". The Times-Picayune (New Orleans). p. C1. Retrieved October 19, 2011. The article contains this statement by William Donohue, president of the Catholic League: "Sarandon's comment is obscene. Sadly, it's what we've come to expect from her. Joseph Ratzinger [who became Pope Benedict XVI] was conscripted at the age of 14 into the Hitler Youth, along with every other young German boy."
  46. ↑ "ADL Says Susan Sarandon Should Apologize For Referring To Pope Benedict XVI As 'A Nazi'". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  47. ↑ "Susan Sarandon's mother – A Republican". Stripersonline.com. 2003-03-18. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  48. ↑ Ariel Leve (June 1, 2003). "Susan Sarandon: Still angry after all these years". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  49. ↑ "Susan Sarandon Fights to Save Death Row Inmate's Life : People.com". PEOPLE.com.
  50. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/susan-sarandon-hollywood-money-not-politics-article-1.2242172
  51. ↑ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/meet-bernie-sanders-top-celebrity-backers/story?id=33020601 Sanders Celebrity Backers
  52. ↑ Tal Kopan, CNN (March 29, 2016). "Susan Sarandon: Trump more likely to bring 'revolution' than Clinton". CNN.
  53. ↑ "Stages a Glittering Million-Dollar Gala". Action Against Hunger. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  54. ↑ "Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon are among 15 inducted into N.J. Hall of Fame". The Star-Ledger. May 2, 2010.
  55. ↑ "Stars turn out for Shanghai International Film Festival". Jing Daily. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  56. ↑ "IFFI Curtain Raiser". Indian Express. November 20, 2013.
  57. ↑ "Susan Sarandon". Goldene Kamera (in German). Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  58. 1 2 "Susan Sarandon biography at Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved July 13, 2010. (Archive.org)
  59. ↑ "Susan Sarandon reveals past sexual relationship with David Bowie," The Guardian, 26 July 2014. Accessed 26 July 2014.
  60. ↑ Longtime couple Sarandon, Robbins have splitmsnbc. November 23, 2009
  61. ↑ Triggs, Charlotte (December 23, 2009). "Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Split". People. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  62. ↑ Storied Streets at the Internet Movie Database
  63. ↑ "Tavis Smiley: My Conversation With Susan Sarandon and Jack Henry Robbins" (May 13, 2015) The Huffington Post
  64. ↑ "Storied Streets-Profiles of America's Homeless-Thomas Morgan, Producer".
  65. ↑ "Professor Honored by His Hometown in Italy", Middlesex Country College. October 13, 2006
  66. ↑ "About SPiN".
  67. ↑ "Introducing: Spin Toronto, the new King West ping pong club co-owned by Susan Sarandon (no, really)". Toronto Life. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  68. ↑ "Connected S1:E1 Walking Up To The Pretty Girl".
  69. ↑ "Jonathan Bricklin on Ex Susan Sarandon: 'I Love Her More Than Anyone'". People. March 31, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  70. ↑ "Real Time with Bill Maher: Susan Sarandon – The Meddler (HBO)". Real Time with Bill Maher. April 15, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.

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