Ellen Burstyn

Rate Person

Ellen Burstyn

Acting

Biography

Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". She has also received a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Burstyn made her acting debut on Broadway in Fair Game in 1957 before winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Same Time, Next Year (1975). She earned the Academy Award for Best Actress as the widow Alice Hyatt in Martin Scorsese's romantic drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). Her other Oscar-nominated roles were in The Last Picture Show (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Same Time, Next Year (1978), Resurrection (1980), and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Her other notable films include Harry and Tonto (1974), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), W. (2008), Interstellar (2014), The Age of Adaline (2015), and Pieces of a Woman (2020).

She won Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest role in the NBC legal drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) and supporting role in the USA Network political miniseries Political Animals (2013). Her other Emmy-nominated roles include Pack of Lies (1988), Mrs. Harris (2005), Big Love (2008), Draft Day, Flowers in the Attic (both 2014), and House of Cards (2016). Since 2000, she has been co-president of the Actors Studio, a drama school in New York City. In 2013, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame for her work onstage.

Films Featuring Ellen Burstyn

The Fountain

20066.9

Requiem for a Dream

20008.0

W.

20086.1

Playing by Heart

19986.6

When a Man Loves a Woman

19946.6

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

20047.0

How to Make an American Quilt

19956.4

Walking Across Egypt

19994.9

The Last Picture Show

19717.6

Dying Young

19916.7

The Wicker Man

20064.3

Alex in Wonderland

19705.5

The Elephant King

20065.9

The Exorcist

19737.7

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

20026.1

According to Greta

20096.0

Mitch Albom's For One More Day

20073.0

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

20085.3

I Love Liberty

1982

The Velveteen Rabbit

20096.6

Harry and Tonto

19747.1

The Stone Angel

20075.4

Our Fathers

20056.5

Same Time, Next Year

19786.5

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

19877.1

The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute

The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute

19747.7

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

19747.0

The Spitfire Grill

19966.5

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

20037.1

The Baby-Sitters Club

19955.4

A Dream of Passion

19786.2

The Mighty Macs

20115.2

The Yards

20006.2

Grand Isle

19914.6

Timepiece

19967.0

Picture This

19919.5

Lovely, Still

20096.6

The King of Marvin Gardens

19725.9

Goodbye Charlie

19645.8

Providence

19776.6

The Patron Saint of Liars

19986.2

Three Months

20227.1

Brush with Fate

20036.0

Pit Stop

19696.9

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

20125.5

The Cemetery Club

19935.6

Tropic of Cancer

19704.9

Resurrection

19806.5

For Those Who Think Young

19645.7

Love, Marilyn

20136.6

Twice in a Lifetime

19855.8

The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist

19987.4

Marilyn in Manhattan

19987.9

Mermaid

20006.7

Within These Walls

20015.6

Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow

20066.9

Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist

2024

Interstellar

20148.5

The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel

20044.7

Draft Day

20146.7

The Ambassador

19855.2

Thursday's Game

19746.5

Flowers in the Attic

20146.7

Night Ride Home

19995.8

River of Fundament

20145.9

And the Oscar Goes To...

20146.8

Hello Actors Studio

19886.7

Pack of Lies

19876.8

People vs. Jean Harris

1981

My Brother's Keeper

My Brother's Keeper

19951.0

The Calling

20145.9

Deceiver

19976.0

30 Days

20062.8

Two Men in Town

20145.5

Silence of the North

19817.0

Roommates

19955.7

Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre

Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre

1989

The Age of Adaline

20157.5

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love

19915.1

Stardust: The Bette Davis Story

20066.6

Be Pretty and Shut Up!

19816.1

Mother, Couch

20245.6

Main Street

20104.6

Ricochet

1961

Act of Vengeance

19865.7

About Scout

20155.9

Surviving

19855.0

Wish You Well

20136.3

Follow The River

19957.3

Unity

20157.5

Wiener-Dog

20165.6

Flash

19978.2

Night of 100 Stars II

19856.8

The Tale

20187.1

When You Remember Me

19906.1

Hanna's War

19885.2

Custody

20166.9

Getting Gotti

19945.0

The Last Picture Show: A Look Back

19997.7

The House of Tomorrow

20196.8

Bathing Flo

Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story

19934.3

Nostalgia

20185.4

Trick of the Eye

19946.4

You Can Thank Me Later

19985.8

All I Wish

20185.5

Memories, Dreams & Addictions

20017.0

Reflections of a Philosopher King

2010

Into Thin Air

19857.4

Mrs. Harris

20055.8

Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime

20173.5

Lucy in the Sky

20195.0

A Deadly Vision

19975.6

Friedkin Uncut

20187.1

Queen Bees

20216.0

American Woman

20194.9

PoliWood

20096.5

The Color of Evening

19906.0

Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies

2019

Red Dragon

20027.0

The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree

19582.0

BBStory: An American Film Renaissance

2010

America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

2010

Getting Out

19945.2

Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story

19928.0

Pieces of a Woman

20207.0

Earth and the American Dream

19926.7

Second Chances: The Making of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

200410.0

Easy Out?

1948

Another Happy Day

20115.5

Something in Common

19866.0

The Making of Requiem for a Dream

20015.0

Watch on the Rhine

2021

The Exorcist: Believer

20235.8

Night of 100 Stars

19825.8

Delphine and Carole

20206.5

A Decade Under the Influence

20037.9

Duse, the Greatest

2025

E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump

20244.5

Paul Newman, Behind Blue Eyes

20218.0

Petals on the Wind

20146.6

When It Was a Game 2

19929.0

Place to Be

2026

Breakdown: 1975

20256.8

This Ordinary Thing

2025

Roots of Roe

19937.0

Flesh Impact

2026