Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Ellen Burstyn

  • Actress
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000968
Ellen Burstyn at an event for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
Take a closer look at the various roles Ellen Burstyn has played throughout her acting career.
Play clip1:34
Ellen Burstyn | Career Retrospective
80 Videos
99+ Photos
Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry.. She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a lunch counter. After graduating from Detroit's Cass Technical High School, she went to Texas to model and then to New York as a showgirl on The Jackie Gleason Show (1952). From there, it was to Montreal as a nightclub dancer and then Broadway with her debut in "Fair Game (1957)". By 1963, she appeared on the TV series The Doctors (1963), but she gained notice for her role in Goodbye Charlie (1964). Ellen then took time off to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Her big break came when she was cast as the female lead in The Last Picture Show (1971). For this role, she received nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award. Next, she co-starred with Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), giving a chilling performance. Then came The Exorcist (1973). She was again nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award. In 1974, she starred in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), for which performance she won the Oscar and BAFTA awards as Best Actress. For the Golden Globe, she was nominated but lost to Marsha Mason. The same year, she made history by winning a Tony Award for the Broadway play "Same Time, Next Year". She won praise and award nominations for her performances in the film versions of Same Time, Next Year (1978) and Resurrection (1980).

In "Resurrection", she played a woman with the power to heal. A succession of TV movies resulting in two Emmy nominations kept her going as did the series The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986). The TV movies continued through the 1990s. Also in the 1990s, she was cast in the supporting role in such movies as The Cemetery Club (1993), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) and The Spitfire Grill (1996). In addition to her acting, She was the first woman president of Actor's Equity (1982-85).
BornDecember 7, 1932
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornDecember 7, 1932
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000968
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos288

Ellen Burstyn and Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (2014)
Ellen Burstyn and Andrew Kavadas in Flowers in the Attic (2014)
Ellen Burstyn and Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (2014)
Ellen Burstyn and Rip Torn in Tropic of Cancer (1970)
Ellen Burstyn and Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Ellen Burstyn, Kornél Mundruczó, and Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Ellen Burstyn and Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (2014)
Ellen Burstyn in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Jack Nicholson, Ellen Burstyn, and Bruce Dern in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Ellen Burstyn in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Ellen Burstyn, Jerry Fujikawa, and Conrad Yama in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Ellen Burstyn in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)

Known for

Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Requiem for a Dream
8.3
  • Sara Goldfarb
  • 2000
Ellen Burstyn and Kris Kristofferson in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
7.3
  • Alice Hyatt
  • 1974
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist
8.1
  • Chris MacNeil
  • 1973
Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman (2020)
Pieces of a Woman
7.0
  • Elizabeth
  • 2020

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Mother Couch
  • The Exorcist
    • In Production
  • Fuddy Meers
    • In Development
  • Bathing Flo
    • Pre-production
  • Gillian Anderson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Viola Davis in The First Lady (2022)
    The First Lady
  • Christopher Meloni in Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021)
    Law & Order: Organized Crime
  • Three Months (2022)
    Three Months
  • Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Jane Curtin, and Loretta Devine in Queen Bees (2021)
    Queen Bees
  • Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman (2020)
    Pieces of a Woman
  • Natalie Portman and Mehdi Taleghani in Lucy in the Sky (2019)
    Lucy in the Sky
  • Sarah Gadon and Hong Chau in American Woman (2019)
    American Woman
  • Laura Dern and Isabelle Nélisse in The Tale (2018)
    The Tale
  • Jon Hamm in Nostalgia (2018)
    Nostalgia
  • Sharon Stone, Famke Janssen, Ellen Burstyn, Tony Goldwyn, and Gilles Marini in All I Wish (2017)
    All I Wish
  • Ellen Burstyn, Nick Offerman, Alex Wolff, Asa Butterfield, and Maude Apatow in The House of Tomorrow (2017)
    The House of Tomorrow
  • Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Custody (2016)
    Custody
  • Kevin Spacey in House of Cards (2013)
    House of Cards
  • Wiener-Dog (2016)
    Wiener-Dog
  • Allison Janney and Anna Faris in Mom (2013)
    Mom

Producer

  • Bathing Flo
    • Pre-production
  • James Lipton in Inside the Actors Studio (1994)
    Inside the Actors Studio
  • The Actors Studio Mastering the Art Form (2019)
    The Actors Studio Mastering the Art Form
  • Ellen Burstyn, Nick Offerman, Alex Wolff, Asa Butterfield, and Maude Apatow in The House of Tomorrow (2017)
    The House of Tomorrow
  • Within These Walls (2001)
    Within These Walls

Director

  • Bathing Flo
    • Pre-production

Videos82

Ellen Burstyn | Career Retrospective
Clip 1:34
Ellen Burstyn | Career Retrospective
Requiem for a Dream | Anniversary Mashup
Clip 1:18
Requiem for a Dream | Anniversary Mashup
The Calling
Clip 1:46
The Calling
The Calling
Clip 2:00
The Calling
The Elephant King
Clip 1:08
The Elephant King
The Elephant King
Clip 2:19
The Elephant King
The Elephant King
Clip 1:36
The Elephant King
The Elephant King
Clip 1:53
The Elephant King
The Fountain
Clip 0:50
The Fountain
The Fountain
Clip 0:41
The Fountain
The Fountain
Clip 0:55
The Fountain
The Fountain
Clip 0:57
The Fountain

Personal details

Edit
    • Official Facebook
    • December 7, 1932
    • Detroit, Michigan, USA
    • Neil BurstynNovember 12, 1964 - April 1972 (divorced)
  • Other works
    (2/03) Stage: Appeared (as "Lucy Marsden") in "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" by Martin Tahse, adapted from the novel by 'Allan Gurganus' (Old Globe Theater, San Diego, CA).
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 2 Interviews
    • 5 Articles
    • 5 Pictorials
    • 4 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Suffered a permanent spinal injury while filming The Exorcist (1973). In the sequence where she is thrown away from her possessed daughter, a harness jerked her hard away from the bed. She fell on her coccyx and screamed in pain, which was kept in the final version of the released film.
  • Quotes
    Acting feels like a congenital condition to me - it's in my genes.
    • Her smile
    • Thursday's Game
      (1974)
      $10,000

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.