
Ellen Burstyn
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.
Filmography

Place to Be
2026
as Brooke

Flesh Impact
2026
as Marilyn Monroe

Breakdown: 1975
2025
as Self

This Ordinary Thing
2025
as Self (voice)

Duse, the Greatest
2025

E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump
2024
as E. Jean Carroll

Mother, Couch
2024
as Mother

Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
2024
as Self

The Exorcist: Believer
2023
as Chris MacNeil

Three Months
2022
as Valerie

Paul Newman, Behind Blue Eyes
2021
as Herself

Queen Bees
2021
as Helen Wilson

Watch on the Rhine
2021
as Fanny

Pieces of a Woman
2020
as Elizabeth Weiss

Delphine and Carole
2020
as Self (archive footage)

Lucy in the Sky
2019
as Nana Holbrook

American Woman
2019
as Miss Dolly

Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies
2019
as Self

The House of Tomorrow
2019
as Josephine Prendergast

Friedkin Uncut
2018
as Self

Nostalgia
2018
as Helen Greer

All I Wish
2018
as Celia Berges

The Tale
2018
as Nettie

Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
2017
as Self