Susan Blakely, who won the Golden Globe and earned two Emmy nominations for her starring role in the mini-series, Rich Man, Poor Man, has distinguished herself as a leading lady in films, television and on the stage. Prior to her acting career, she was a top Ford model, having graced the covers of Harper’s Bazaar and VOGUE magazines among others.  

Legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick wrote, “Susan Blakely is one of the ten best actresses in the world.” Fred Silverman, who headed all three major television networks, called Blakely "one of television's all-time best actresses."  

Blakely recently starred in director Ken Mader’s award-winning Sci-Fi thriller, Displacement, first gained international recognition as a high fashion model and then turned to acting full time. She was nominated for a Golden Globe again for her portrayal of the 1940’s star, Frances Farmer, in CBS’s 3-hour film, Will There Really Be a Morning? Blakely also won the Best Actress award from the California Independent Film Festival, for her starring role in the film, Hungry Hearts. More recently, Blakely starred in the sequel to Disney’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Blakely also recently starred opposite her friend and former co-star, Pauley Perrette (NCIS) in the short film To Comfort You, directed by Marc Saltarelli, which was a selection by film festivals worldwide.  Blakely and Perrette shared the Best Actress Award for the film which won the jury prize as Best Picture in the 2010 Beverly Hills Short Film Festival.

Blakely co-starred in Lifetime Television series created by Margaret Nagle, Side Order of Life, from Warner Bros. Blakely guest starred on back-to-back episodes of Two and a Half Men, playing Charlie’s Sheen’s girlfriend.  She was also a member of the ensemble cast of the 2013 Peabody Award series, Southland. Blakely starred in the successful film franchise including, The Perfect Boyfriend, The Perfect Neighbor and The Perfect Husband, on the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN).

Blakely started her career in New York where she studied with the well-known acting coaches Warren Robertson, Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner, and she later continued her years of studying in Los Angeles with Charles Conrad and Warner Loughlin.

In the theater, Blakely starred in the 2001 world premiere of DIVA! at the La Jolla Playhouse, for playwright of Howard M. Gould.  Blakely’s work in DIVA! won high praise in the San Diego Union Tribune which said, “Blakely’s performance never lets up.  Her ‘Deanna’ is a force of nature…amoral, unstoppable...Blakely seduces us with her charm…Blakely’s elegant, arrogant ‘Deanna’ is the engine that drives the show.”

Blakely's feature film career began with starring roles in two classics, one from the Oscar-winning team of Merchant-Ivory, Savages, and the other, The Lords of Flatbush, in which she starred with three other relative newcomers, Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler, and Perry King.

Perhaps her most memorable performance, dubbed "Magnificent" by the New York Times, was her portrayal of the late '30s film star, Frances Farmer, in Will There Really Be A Morning, (3-hour Special on CBS) for which she earned another Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Actress.

Blakely grew up in cities all over the world as an "Army Brat," in Frankfurt (where she was born,) Seoul, Carlisle, Arlington, Honolulu, and many others. Her father, Col. Larry Blakely, retired from the Army to pursue his passion for golf.  Blakely's mother, "Weezie," a former art teacher, was also an accomplished golfer, formerly of St. Joseph, Missouri.

Blakely is married to Steve Jaffe, a film and television producer, who, for the past 40 years, has been the head of his own media consulting firm, specializing in crisis management and legal media. Jaffe is also an author.