- Her grandmother had her uncle when she was 14 years old, her mom at 16, then disappeared without a trace. Her mother grew up in the care of nuns in an institute, abandoned at two.
- She keeps her Academy Award in the bathroom.
- Lived with Tim Robbins from 1988 to 2009.
- Refuses to give interviews to the NY Post ever since they printed a story about an orgy taking place at her home in December 2001.
- For the past 10 years she has been involved with Heifer International, an organization that donates farm animals to needy families who need the animals for work.
- Landed her first Hollywood role when her then-husband, Chris Sarandon, took her along on one of his auditions.
- She has twice used Freedom of Information laws to access her FBI file, and claims it reveals her phone conversations are routinely monitored by the US government.
- Physicians told her she had endometriosis and that she would need to be operated on if she wanted to have children, so she was astonished when she learned she was pregnant for the first time at 37. She told Chelsea Handler in 2014 that she hadn't used birth control for years and that the young man she conceived with (Franco Amurri) "won the lottery." Franco was still living in his parents' house at the time.
- Dated David Bowie and Sean Penn in the early 1980s.
- Caught pneumonia after they shot the pool scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
- Sang in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975); recorded a duet with Eddie Vedder which played over the ending credits of Cradle Will Rock (1999).
- One of eight women, also among them Sophia Loren and author Isabel Allende, carrying the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Turin. (February 10, 2006)
- She was asked to pose for Playboy about 25 times and always said no.
- Arrested for disorderly conduct during a protest in New York over the unarmed shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo by four policemen. (March 30, 1999)
- Says her sexual orientation is "up for grabs". (February 2017)
- Cut hair, waitressed, emptied bed pans in a hospital, worked on the switchboard and cleaned apartments for a living before she became an actress.
- Attended Catholic University of America 1964-1968, majoring in military strategy. Met and married Chris Sarandon there (by priest who was head of Department).
- Former Ford model.
- On June 28, 2018, Sarandon was arrested during an Anti-Trump Protest in Washington, D.C. along with 575 other women.
- Of her more than 100 movies, she often cites Bull Durham (1988), White Palace (1990), The Client (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995) and Stepmom (1998) as her favorites.
- She was set to play Alexandra in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) until Cher was recast in the role at the last minute. It was only after arriving on location in Massachusetts that Sarandon was told she would be playing Jane instead (and needed to learn how to play the cello), an experience she described as humiliating. Nonetheless, it solidified her reputation as one of the industry's most reliable and dependable actresses.
- In 2005, she and the rest of the chief creative team behind the 11-part radio documentary, "Leonard Bernstein: An American Life", a chronicle of the legendary American musical giant's life and career, were recipients of the (George Foster) Peabody Award bestowed by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia at the 64th presentation of the honor. The Peabody is the premiere international prize given for electronic (i.e. television and radio) media.
- Parents separated in 1982, after forty years of marriage.
- Has two sons with Tim Robbins: Jack Henry Robbins (b. May 15, 1989) and Miles Robbins (b. May 4, 1992).
- Eldest of nine siblings. She has four brothers: Phillip Jr., Terry, Tim, O'Brian; and four sisters: Meredith, Bonnie, Amanda and Missy.
- Caused a stir in 1984 when she defied Ronald Reagan's opposition to the Sandinista government by taking an eight-day trip to Nicaragua, delivering milk and baby food to needy mothers under the auspices of a New York-based women's group called Madre.
- Is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
- As co-presenters of the 1993 Academy Awards, Susan and her former partner, Tim Robbins, seized a chance to bring public attention to the plight of a few hundred Haitians with AIDS who had been interned in Guantanamo Bay.
- Is one of two actresses who won an Oscar for playing a nun. The first was Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943).
- The only actress to be directed by both Ridley Scott and his brother Tony Scott.
- An aspiring ballerina in early life, she turned down a scholarship to the Boston Conservatory of Dance.
- In 2011, she bought a penthouse "bachelorette" pad atop townhouse on West 9th Street, Manhattan, just blocks from the West 15th Street duplex she had shared for many years with Tim Robbins.
- Almost signed on to star in Serial Mom (1994) but the deal fell through due to scheduling conflicts and salary dispute.
- Callie Khouri wrote the role of Louise Sawyer in Thelma & Louise (1991) with Sarandon as her first and only choice.
- Has a daughter from relationship with Franco Amurri: Eva Amurri (b. March 15, 1985).
- Was the 109th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Dead Man Walking (1995) at The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996) on March 25, 1996.
- Endorsed Jill Stein as her vote of conscience in the 2016 presidential election of the United States; because of this, Hillary Clinton's supporters harassed Susan so much that she had to change her phone number.
- Is listed along with Geena Davis on the 24th place in AFI's Hero Top 50.
- Her father was of English, Irish, Welsh, and German descent, and her mother's ancestry was Italian (including Sicilian).
- Had been attached to several Bette Davis biopics that never came to fruition, since the '80s, before finally portraying the screen icon in Feud (2017).
- Is a grandmother, via daughter Eva Amurri and son-in-law Kyle Martino, of granddaughter Marlowe (b. August 9, 2014) and grandsons Major (b. October 19, 2016) and Mateo (b. March 13, 2020).
- Very good friends with fellow actress Julia Roberts.
- Mother passed away at age 97. (August 11, 2020)
- Graduated from Edison High School in Edison, New Jersey where she was a cheerleader.
- Received the 2009 Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Lived with Louis Malle from mid-1977 until early 1980. He directed her in Pretty Baby (1978) and Atlantic City (1980), but by the time the latter film was released, the pair had already broken up and Malle was married to Candice Bergen.
- Aunt to more than 40 nephews and nieces.
- Revealed in December 2009 that she and partner Tim Robbins had broken up during the summer of that year. Susan called her relatives to tell them about the split only a day before the news broke.
- Friends with Don Johnson since Sweet Hearts Dance (1988).
- Arrested on charges of civil disobedience in New York City for protesting the tearing down of the Morosco Theater on Broadway. (1982)
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