Susan Sarandon

Sarandon was married to actor Chris Sarandon from 1967 to 1979, and she kept the Sarandon surname after their divorce. She later had relationships with director Louis Malle and filmmaker Franco Amurri. Her relationship with Tim Robbins began after they met while filming Bull Durham in 1988 and ended in 2009. She subsequently dated Jonathan Bricklin, with whom she helped establish the SPiN table-tennis lounges; their relationship ended in 2015.

Sarandon has three children: Eva Amurri with Franco Amurri, and John “Jack” Henry Robbins and Miles Robbins with Tim Robbins. She has described her sexuality as open and said she is bisexual, including during a 2022 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Sarandon made her film debut in Joe in 1970 after graduating from the Catholic University of America with a degree in drama. She also appeared in the television soap operas A World Apart and Search for Tomorrow. Her breakthrough came with her role as Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975, which later developed a major cult following.

Her work in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby and Atlantic City brought greater attention, and Atlantic City earned her first Academy Award nomination. Her profile grew further through The Witches of Eastwick and Bull Durham, in which she played Annie Savoy opposite Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins. She received additional Oscar nominations for Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo’s Oil, and The Client before winning Best Actress for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking.

Sarandon’s later film credits include Little Women, Stepmom, Igby Goes Down, Enchanted, The Lovely Bones, Cloud Atlas, Tammy, The Meddler, and Viper Club. She also appeared in In the Valley of Elah, Arbitrage, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Company You Keep, The Jesus Rolls, Fearless, Blue Beetle, and Nonnas. She worked with her daughter Eva Amurri in Middle of Nowhere, That’s My Boy, and The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe.

On television, Sarandon guest-starred on Friends, ER, and Malcolm in the Middle, and had recurring roles in Rescue Me, The Big C, and Ray Donovan. She portrayed Doris Duke in Bernard and Doris, appeared in You Don’t Know Jack, and played Bette Davis opposite Jessica Lange’s Joan Crawford in the FX anthology series Feud. Her stage work includes a Broadway debut in An Evening with Richard Nixon, the 2009 revival of Exit the King, and the play Mary Page Marlowe.

Sarandon has been active in progressive, antiwar, civil-rights, and humanitarian causes. She participated in protests against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, spoke against mass incarceration and the death penalty, and joined demonstrations connected to Occupy Wall Street, gun violence, and the Trump administration’s migrant-separation policy. She was arrested during the 2018 Women Disobey protest at the Hart Senate Office Building.

She became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 and an FAO Goodwill Ambassador in 2010. She received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award in 2006 and joined the HALO Trust as an ambassador in 2022. She has also narrated documentaries addressing social and political issues, served as executive producer of Soufra, and supported projects including Deep Run.