Susie Figgis was born in Kenya and lived the early part of her childhood there. She has lived the majority of her life in England. She has become successful for finding child actors. She began her career for working for an assistant.

She is thought of as one of the most experienced and highly respected casting directors in the UK. Her filmography as a casting director is highly impressive. Her first film was "The Dollar Bill". She has worked many successful movies, such as: "Sleepy hollow" (1999), "The full Monty" (1997), "Interview with a vampire" (1994), Cry Freedom (1987), "The Mission" (1986) "Gandhi" (1982) and "Killing fields" (1984). She also worked with many great directors, such as her cousin Mike Figgis, Ken Loach, Steven Soderbergh, Tim Burton and Richard Attenborough. She also worked as a casting director for "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone", but she left because she was unhappy with her relationship with US director Chris Colombus.