Early life

Sarandon was born and raised in Beckley, West Virginia, the son of restaurateurs Cliffie (née Cardullias) and Christopher "Chris" Sarandon, Sr. His mother is of Greek descent, and his father, whose surname was originally "Sarondonethes", was born in Istanbul, Turkey, of Greek ancestry.

He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley. He went on to West Virginia University and earned his degree in performing arts. He earned his master's degree in theater from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C.. While attending the university, he fell in love with Susan Tomalin, a classmate whom he married in 1967. After graduating, they both pursued acting careers, with Susan taking his surname as her professional name and performing under the name Susan Sarandon. They would later divorce in 1979.

Career

After graduation, he toured with numerous improv companies and became heavily involved in regional theatre, making his professional debut in The Rose Tattoo in 1965. In 1968, Sarandon moved to New York, where he landed his first television role as Dr. Tom Halverson on The Guiding Light (1973 - 1974). He appeared in the primetime TV movies The Satan Murders (1974) and Thursday's Game before landing the role of Al Pacino's transsexual wife in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), a performance which earned him nominations for Best New Male Star of the Year at the Golden Globes and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sarandon appeared in The Rothschilds and The Two Gentlemen of Verona on Broadway, as well making regular appearances at numerous Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw festivals in the United States and Canada. He also appeared in a series of television roles, some of which (such as A Tale of Two Cities in 1980) mirrored his affinity for the classics. He also took roles in horror films opposite the late Margaux Hemingway in the thriller Lipstick (1976) and as a demon in the shocker The Sentinel (1977).

To avoid being type cast as villainous characters, Sarandon took on various roles in the years to come, portraying the title role in the made-for-television movie The Day Christ Died (1980). He received accolades for his portrayal of Sydney Carton in a made for television version of A Tale of Two Cities (1980), co-starred with Dennis Hopper in The Osterman Weekend (1983), which was based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name, and co-starred with Goldie Hawn in Protocol (1984). These were followed by another mainstream success as the vampire-next-door in the teen horror film Fright Night (1985).

He is best known in the film industry for his role as Prince Humperdinck in Rob Reiner's 1987 film The Princess Bride, though he also has had supporting parts in some other successful films such as the original Child's Play (1988). In 1992, he played Joseph Curwen/Charles Dexter Ward in The Resurrected. He also provided the voice of Jack Skellington, the main character in Tim Burton's animated Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and has since reprised the role in many other subsequent productions, including the Disney/Square video games Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II and the Capcom sequel to the original film, Oogie's Revenge. Sarandon also reprised his role as Jack Skellington for Halloween Screams and the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a three-month overlay of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, where Jack and his friends take over the Mansion in an attempt to take over Christmas, much as his character did in the film.

Sarandon would later find work on television again with a recurring role as Dr. Burke on NBC's long-running medical drama ER.

In 1991 he performed on Broadway in the short-lived musical Nick & Nora (based on the Thin Man film) with Joanna Gleason, the daughter of Monty Hall. Sarandon married Gleason in 1994. They have appeared together in a number of films, including Edie & Pen (1996), American Perfekt (1997) and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999). In the 2000s he made guest appearances in quite a few TV series, notably as the Necromancer demon, Armand, in Charmed, and as superior court judge Barry Krumble in six episodes of Judging Amy.

He returned to Broadway in 2006 playing Signor Naccarelli in the six-time Tony award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center. Most recently he appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac as Antoine de Guiche, alongside Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Daniel Sunjata. He is on the Advisory Board for the Greenbrier Valley Theatre in Lewisburg, West Virginia.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
1975	Dog Day Afternoon	Leon Shermer	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
1976	Lipstick	Gordon Stuart
1977	The Sentinel	Michael Lerman
1979	You Can't Go Home Again	George Webber
	Cuba	Juan Pulido
1980	The Day Christ Died	Jesus Christ
	A Tale of Two Cities	Sydney Carton Charles Darnay
1981	Broken Promise	Bud Griggs
1983	The Osterman Weekend	Joseph Cardone
1984	Protocol	Michael Ransome
1985	This Child Is Mine	Craig Wilkerson
	Fright Night	Jerry Dandridge	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1986	Liberty	Jaques Merchant
1987	The Princess Bride	Prince Humperdinck
	Mayflower Madam	Matt Whittington
1988	Child's Play	Detective Mike Norris
	Goodbye, Miss Fourth Of July	George Janus
1989	Collision Course	Philip Mandras
	Slaves of New York	Victor Okrent
1990	The Stranger Within	Dan
	Whispers	Tony
1991	The Resurrected	Joseph Curwen Charles Dexter Ward
1993	Dark Tide	Tim
	The Nightmare Before Christmas	Jack Skellington
1994	David's Mother	Philip
1995	Terminal Justice	Reginald Matthews
	Just Cause	Lyle Morgan
1996	No Greater Love	Sam Horowitz
	Edie & Pen	Max
	Bordello of Blood	Rev. J.C. Current
1997	American Perfekt	Deputy Sammy
	Little Men	Fritz Bhaer
	Road Ends	Esteban Maceda
1998	Reaper	Luke Sinclair
2000	Race Against Time	Dr.Anton Stofeles
2001	Perfume	Gary Packer
2005	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	Kurotowa (voice)
	Loggerheads	Rev. Robert Austin
2007	The Chosen One	Zebulon 'Zeb' Kirk
2008	My Sassy Girl	Dr. Roark
2009	Multiple Sarcasms	Larry
	My Life in the Single Seat: A Documentary	Himself
2011	Fright Night	"Jay Dee"	(cameo appearance)
2012	Safe	Mayor Danny Tremello
2015	I Smile Back	Roger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969-1973	Guiding Light	Dr. Tom Halverson
1980	A Tale of Two Cities	Sydney Carton Charles Darnay	(TV movie)
1994	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Martus Mazur	Episode: "Rivals"
1995	The Outer Limits	Dr. Pallas	Episode: "Corner of the Eye"
1998	The Practice	Dr Jeffrey Winslow	Episodes: "The Trial" "Cloudy with a Chance of Membranes"
	Chicago Hope	Dr. Gordon Mays	Episodes: "Austin, We Have a Problem" "Wag the Doc" "Austin Space"
1999	Felicity	Dr. Peter McGrath	Episodes: "Todd Mulcahy: Part 1" "Todd Mulcahy: Part 2" "Docuventary" "Connections" "The Force" "Felicity Was Here"
2000-2002	ER	Dr. Burke	Episodes: "The Greatest of Gifts" "Piece of Mind" "It's All in Your Head"
2002-2004	Law & Order	Howard Pincham	Episode: "Gov Love" "The Wheel"
2002	The Court	Justice Vorhees	3 episodes
2003	The Wild Thornberrys	Myka	Episode: "Look Who's Squawking"
	Charmed	Necromancer Armand	Episode: "Necromancing the Stone"
2004	Cold Case	Adam Clarke	Episode: "Volunteers"
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Weasly Masoner	Episode: "Choreographed"
2010	Psych	Ashton Bonaventure	Episode: "Think Tank"
	The Good Wife	Judge Howard Matchick	Episode: "Taking Control"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2002	Kingdom Hearts	Jack Skellington (voice)
2005	The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge
2006	Kingdom Hearts II
2013	Disney Infinity
2013	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix
2014	Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0

Theme parks

• Haunted Mansion Holiday - Jack Skellington
• Halloween Screams - Jack Skellington

Music videos

• Hands Clean — Alanis Morissette

[ Source: Wikipedia ]