She was the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg and his wife, actress and acting coach Paula Strasberg.

After a widely praised supporting role in the 1955 film Picnic, that same year, Susan Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank, and was subsequently nominated for a Tony Award in 1956. She also starred in the Gillo Pontecorvo film Kapò , which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film of 1960.

Strasberg was the author of two best-selling books: Bittersweet (a memoir, 1980), and Marilyn and Me (which recounted her relationship with her "surrogate sister," Marilyn Monroe, 1992).

She died in 1999 in her birthtown of New York City at the age of 60 from breast cancer. She left behind a brother, John Strasberg, and a daughter, Jennifer Jane Jones, born 26 December 1970 in Lexington, KY and graduated from Bryan Station High School in 1988. She named her daughter after the actress Jennifer Jones.