Sarandon began her career in the 1970 film Joe, before appearing in the soap opera A World Apart 1970—71.
She has one daughter, Eva, by director Franco Amurri, and two sons, Jack and Miles, with longtime partner Tim Robbins.
She made her Broadway debut in An Evening with Richard Nixon in 1972, and went on to receive Drama Desk Award nominations for the Off-Broadway plays, A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking 1979 and Extremities 1982.