Chris Sarandon

This is the 129th post in our Celebrity of the Day series.



Chris Sarandon was born in 1942 in West Virginia. In his teens he played drums in a band called the Teen Tones which actually went on tour. He earned a Master's degree in Theater and it was after this that he went on tour with improv companies and regional theater.

His professional acting debut came in the play The Rose Tattoo in 1965. In 1968 he made the decision to move to New York and it was here that he earned his first television role as Dr. Tom Halverson in The Guiding Light. He remained on the show until 1973.

It was around this time that he began branching out. In 1975 he got his first film role as Leon Shermer in Dog Day Afternoon. The role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy Award nomination

Despite this success he spent most his time working in the theater for the next decade with only small theater and film roles. He took on a variety of different roles in television and movies that fit his interests, such as horrors and the classics.

In 1987 he landed one of the roles for which he is most known and that was as Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. After that he took minor roles in a number of films including Child's Play, The Resurrected, and The Strangers Within.

In 1993 he earned the other role for which he is well known and that is as the speaking voice of Jack Skellington in the animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. He has reprised the role for video games and for Disney's Haunted Mansion Holiday.

He has continued to work in film, stage and television but in mainly minor roles. His most recent projects involve roles on Broadway including a role in Cyrano de Bergerac.

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