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Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of 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 for her role 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 crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009), and for her 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), Flowers in the Attic (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.
Burstyn was born Edna Rae Gillooly on December 7, 1932, in Detroit, the daughter of Correine Marie (née Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She says her ancestry is "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch, a little Canadian Indian". Burstyn has an older brother, Jack, and a younger brother, Steve. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and her brothers lived with their mother and stepfather.
Burstyn attended Cass Technical High School, a university-preparatory school that allowed students to choose a specific field of study. Burstyn majored in fashion illustration. In high school she was a cheerleader, a member of the student council, and president of her drama club. She dropped out of high school during her senior year after failing her classes. Soon afterward, Burstyn worked as a dancer using the name Kerri Flynn, and then a model until the age of 23. She later moved to Dallas, where she continued modeling and worked in other fashion jobs before moving to New York City.
From 1955 to 1956, Burstyn appeared as an "away we go" dancing girl on The Jackie Gleason Show under the name Erica Dean. Burstyn then decided to become an actress and chose the name "Ellen McRae" as her professional name; she later changed her surname after her 1964 marriage to Neil Burstyn.
Burstyn debuted on Broadway in 1957 and joined Lee Strasberg's The Actors Studio in New York City in 1967. Starting in the late 1950s, and throughout the 1960s, Burstyn frequently played guest roles on a number of primetime television shows, including Dr. Kildare, 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, The Virginian, Laramie and The Time Tunnel. Burstyn was credited as Ellen McRae until 1967, when she and her then-husband Neil Nephew both changed their surname to Burstyn, and she began to be credited as Ellen Burstyn. In 1970, she appeared uncredited in the Joseph Strick adaptation of Henry Miller's controversial novel Tropic of Cancer. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in the comedy Same Time, Next Year, a role she reprised in a film adaptation in 1978.
After many small film roles, Burstyn gained recognition after starring in The Last Picture Show (1971), a coming-of-age story, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel by Larry McMurtry. The film received critical acclaim for its nostalgia and visual style that is reminiscent of 1951, the year in which the plot takes place. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Burstyn and her co-star Cloris Leachman, with the latter winning the award. In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Next she appeared in the drama The King of Marvin Gardens in 1972, with Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and Scatman Crothers. A story about a daydreamer who convinces his brother to help fund a get-rich-quick scheme, the film was well received by critics.
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Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of 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 for her role 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 crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009), and for her 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), Flowers in the Attic (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.
Burstyn was born Edna Rae Gillooly on December 7, 1932, in Detroit, the daughter of Correine Marie (née Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She says her ancestry is "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch, a little Canadian Indian". Burstyn has an older brother, Jack, and a younger brother, Steve. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and her brothers lived with their mother and stepfather.
Burstyn attended Cass Technical High School, a university-preparatory school that allowed students to choose a specific field of study. Burstyn majored in fashion illustration. In high school she was a cheerleader, a member of the student council, and president of her drama club. She dropped out of high school during her senior year after failing her classes. Soon afterward, Burstyn worked as a dancer using the name Kerri Flynn, and then a model until the age of 23. She later moved to Dallas, where she continued modeling and worked in other fashion jobs before moving to New York City.
From 1955 to 1956, Burstyn appeared as an "away we go" dancing girl on The Jackie Gleason Show under the name Erica Dean. Burstyn then decided to become an actress and chose the name "Ellen McRae" as her professional name; she later changed her surname after her 1964 marriage to Neil Burstyn.
Burstyn debuted on Broadway in 1957 and joined Lee Strasberg's The Actors Studio in New York City in 1967. Starting in the late 1950s, and throughout the 1960s, Burstyn frequently played guest roles on a number of primetime television shows, including Dr. Kildare, 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, The Virginian, Laramie and The Time Tunnel. Burstyn was credited as Ellen McRae until 1967, when she and her then-husband Neil Nephew both changed their surname to Burstyn, and she began to be credited as Ellen Burstyn. In 1970, she appeared uncredited in the Joseph Strick adaptation of Henry Miller's controversial novel Tropic of Cancer. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in the comedy Same Time, Next Year, a role she reprised in a film adaptation in 1978.
After many small film roles, Burstyn gained recognition after starring in The Last Picture Show (1971), a coming-of-age story, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel by Larry McMurtry. The film received critical acclaim for its nostalgia and visual style that is reminiscent of 1951, the year in which the plot takes place. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Burstyn and her co-star Cloris Leachman, with the latter winning the award. In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Next she appeared in the drama The King of Marvin Gardens in 1972, with Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and Scatman Crothers. A story about a daydreamer who convinces his brother to help fund a get-rich-quick scheme, the film was well received by critics.