Susan Sarandon: Winner of Spain's International Goya Award 2026 in Barcelona
The Oscar-winning activist and 'Thelma & Louise' star will be honoured at the 40th anniversary of Spain's film awards for her 'extraordinary' career and social commitment
Her speech against Trump promises to be memorable. Susan Sarandon (New York, 79 years old) will collect the International Goya in Barcelona on 28 February.
This will be only the fifth awarded by the Film Academy, after Cate Blanchett, Juliette Binoche, Sigourney Weaver and Richard Gere, in the 40 years it has been held.
The top Hollywood actress has always been characterised by her indomitable and combative nature. For many years, Sarandon was the only actress you could ask for an autograph at a demonstration.
She, her ex-husband and father of two of her three children, Tim Robbins, and Sean Penn constituted the official trilogy of 'reds' in an industry that Sarandon - birth name Susan Abigail Tomalin - has never shied away from criticising.
The Academy notes "an extraordinary filmography, with unforgettable performances in masterpieces and also in films that are part of popular culture", as well as "her courageous political and social commitment".
The daughter of a television executive and an Italian mother, it is hard to imagine her as a cheerleader at the Catholic University of America in Washington, where she studied drama.
She worked as a model for the Ford agency but was too voluptuous for the catwalk. She made her debut with Billy Wilder in 'Front Page', demonstrated her comic flair in the cult musical 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and earned the first of her five Oscar nominations in 1980 with Louis Malle's wonderful 'Atlantic City'.
Popularity and an aura of rebelliousness would come with 'Thelma and Louise' in 1991. The film that revitalised Ridley Scott's career and launched Geena Davis to stardom was a few decades ahead of feminist demands and the #MeToo movement.
Before Thelma and Louise set off on their journey into the abyss of the Colorado Canyon, a 1966 Ford Thunderbird was only driven by men in the movies. "I went to the Grand Canyon with one of my sons without realising it was the anniversary of the film. Can you imagine what it was like for them to see me?" she told EL CORREO at the BCN Film Fest in 2023.
"It's fantastic that people have found meaning in something that you didn't know was going to have meaning when you made it. When we made it, we weren't thinking of making the 'big feminist film'. Not at all. It was fun to drive and get dirty, to work with Ridley and Geena in some fantastic locations.
"That's why you have to be careful what you do, because you can end up doing something homophobic or justifying violence, you reinforce stereotypes. There are a lot of films where women are raped and they seem to like it. They are saying no but deep down they are saying yes. The story is always told from the point of view of the conquerors," the actress said.
Sarandon has shared the screen with Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Jack Lemmon, Richard Gere, Burt Lancaster, Kevin Costner, Ed Harris, Tommy Lee Jones, Tim Robbins, David Bowie, Sean Penn, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Julia Roberts, among others.
She has received nine Golden Globe nominations and five Oscar nominations - for 'Atlantic City', 'Thelma and Louise', 'The Oil of Life' and 'The Client' - finally winning for 'Death Penalty', where she plays a nun who confesses to a condemned man in a plea against capital punishment in the United States directed by her friend Sean Penn.
The 1995 Donostia Award winner was arrested in 2018 for protesting against then-President Donald Trump's immigration policy, and in 1993 she took advantage of her Oscar award to denounce the situation at Guantánamo Bay.
Her voice against the invasion of Iraq and in favour of the return of the troops brought her death threats and a studio veto. As a UN Ambassador for Food and Agriculture, she was active in the Occupy Wall Street movement and advocated suspending relations with Israel alongside the likes of Viggo Mortensen, Peter Gabriel, Marianne Faithful and Angela Davis.
Nor did her political commitment prevent her from making a splash by declaring her bisexuality on Jimmy Fallon's show. The actress took her surname from actor Chris Sarandon, the only man she has ever been married to, and broke up with Tim Robbins in 2009 after 23 years together.
On her account on the X network, with more than 800,000 followers, she calls herself a "mother, activist and actress", although she has not tweeted for two years.
After her comments in favour of Palestine in 2023, her agency, United Talent Agency (UTA), fired her: "They have used me as an example of what not to do if you want to continue working", she said.
