Susan Traylor was born in New York and raised in Los Angeles in and around the theater. Her parents were acting teachers, the late Peggy Feury and William Traylor. Their school, the Loft Studio, served as a second home to Susan and the school that her parents came from, the Actors Studio, served as a background for her childhood. At fifteen she insisted on officially studying with her parents. She continued her formal education by going to film school at NYU and while in New York she studied acting with Rochelle Oliver.

In 1991, Susan appeared as "Old Rawhide," the barfly/prostitute, in Robert Redford's A RIVER RUN'S THROUGH IT. She was next seen in Michael Tolkin's THE NEW AGE and the independent feature SLEEP WITH ME. In 1994 Traylor played Nicole Kidman's wallflower sister in Gus Van Sant's TO DIE FOR, was in Clive Barker's LORD OF ILLUSIONS, and appeared in the independent feature AFTER THE GAME as a cocaine dealer trying to survive in a gamblers world. She played Tom Sizemore's wife in Michael Mann's HEAT and was in Angelica Huston's BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA in 1995. Traylor starred in Nick Cassevette's SHE'S SO LOVELY, THE ROAD TO GRACELAND with Harvey Kietel, and BROKEN VESSELS where she played a speed freak who never stopped talking. The latter film won best movie at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1998. Traylor can also be seen in Matthew Modine's IF...DOG...RABBIT, Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, set in the civil war, and the title role in John Putch's VALERIE FLAKE - which won Susan a nomination for Best Female Lead by the Independent Spirit Awards.