In the mid-80s, she had a daughter with an Italian director and was living in Rome. After reading a script that captivated her, she decided to fly to the U.S. at her own expense to fight for the role. Paul Zinder, associate professor of the American University of Rome, says that ended up being the movie that catapulted Sarandon into the major leagues.

"If you're to look at Sarandon's kind of coming out party, it was Bull Durham in 1988," says Zinder.

In the film, Sarandon plays an English teacher and baseball devotee who selects a minor-league player each year to seduce and educate about poetry, baseball and life.

"What was unique about Sarandon's role in that film is that she is, first of all, non-conventional looking for a Hollywood sex goddess, so to speak," says Zinder. "However, her confidence was quite clear to everyone who watched that film and really her comedic gifts as well related directly to her sexual confidence."

Hollywood directors noticed, putting her among the A-list actresses.

Functional fame

Sarandon realized her fame could serve another function.

"After I became a celebrity, it just seemed to make so much sense to be able to use my celebrity to get press to go somewhere where they weren't going to cover the early days of AIDs, for instance, or sex trafficking."

Sarandon is a passionate advocate for human rights, social justice and programs dedicated to ending poverty and hunger. A staunch liberal who opposes the death penalty, she saw her art and activism meet in the 1995 film "Dead Man Walking." She won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a nun who counsels a death-row inmate.