Susan Sarandon
Born: 4th October 1946
Where: New York
Currently a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Sarandon is one of Hollywood's most respected and talented veteran actresses.
An Oscar-winner for Dead Man Walking, she has also been Academy Award nominated for The Client, Lorenzo's Oil, Thelma & Louise and Atlantic City.
A student at the Catholic University of America she expressed no interest in performing until after marrying actor Chris Sarandon.
While accompanying her husband on an audition, Sarandon landed a pivotal role in the 1970 feature Joe and soon became a regular on the daytime soap opera A World Apart.
She memorably appeared in the worldwide cult The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Great Waldo Petter and The Front Page.
However, it wasn't until her substantial part in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby that audiences began to take notice.
Malle was also impressed and cast her again in Atlantic City, which earned Sarandon her first Oscar nomination.
The Witches of Eastwick brought her considerable attention, and in 1988 she delivered a breakthrough performance in Ron Shelton's baseball comedy Bull Durham, which finally made her a star, at the age of 40.
More importantly, the film teamed her with co-star Tim Robbins, with whom she soon began a long-term offscreen relationship.
Sarandon co-starred with Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise, which earned them both Academy Award nominations, and was Oscar nominated again for her dramatic performance in Lorenzo's Oil.
As co-presenters of the Academy Awards in 1993, Susan and Robbins seized a chance to bring public attention to the plight of Haitians with Aids who had been interned in Guantanamo Bay.
Her role in The Client earned her a fourth Best Actress nomination before she finally won her first Academy Award for Dead Man Walking.
She went on to star in Stepmom, Cradle Will Rock and provided the voice for Cats & Dogs.
She played a grief-stricken mother in Moonlight Mile with Dustin Hoffman and a faded groupie in The Banger Sisters with Goldie Hawn.
In 2002, she played a vicious mother to Kieran McCulkin in Igby Goes Down.
Recent work includes one of Jude Law's female conquests in the remake of the 1966 Michael Caine classic Alfie and the part of Richard Gere's wife in the dancing romantic comedy/ drama Shall We Dance?.
