Susan Abigail Tomalin was born on October 4, 1946, in New York City. She is the eldest of nine children, and her parents separated in 1982 after more than forty years of marriage. She is of Italian and Welsh ancestry. Susan’s grandmother gave birth to her mother when she was only 13 years of age and her mother grew up in the care of nuns in an institute. Susan graduated from Edison High School in Edison, New Jersey, where she was a cheerleader. A former Ford model, she attended the Catholic University of the American Drama School from 1964-1968. There she met and married Chris Sarandon (in a ceremony officiated by the priest who was head of the department), and landed her first role when she tagged along for one of her husband’s auditions.
Susan became known to the pubic as the persona, Janet, in the 1975 film classic, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” (She caught pneumonia after the shooting of the pool scene.) Her marriage to Chris Sarandon ended in divorce in 1979, and since 1988 Susan has been with her life partner, Tim Robbins, with whom she has two sons, Jack Henry Robbins and Miles Guthrie Robins. She also has a daughter, Eva, who was born in 1985 and is from a relationship with Franco Amurri. In 1996, she was chosen by “People Magazine” as one of the 50 most beautiful women in the world.
She won the Oscar for “Best Actress” in 1995 for her performance in “Dead Man Walking” opposite Sean Penn, and she is the first actress to win an Oscar for portraying a nun. In addition to being an accomplished actress, Susan Sarandon is also a caring activist. For the past ten years she has been involved with “Heifer International”, which is an organization that donates farm animals to needy families.
It is said that she keeps her Oscar in her bathroom. Wherever she keeps it, it is well deserved.
Keep up the good work on all fronts, Susan!