Ellen Barkin Movies and Career Information

Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an American actress. Barkin was born in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of Evelyn (née Rozin), a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman. Barkin was raised in a lower-middle-class Jewish family, a descendant of immigrants from Siberia and the Russia-Poland border. Barkin received her high school diploma at Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. She then attended Hunter College and double majored in history and drama. At one point, Barkin wanted to teach ancient history. She continued her acting education at New York's Actor's Studio. According to Time, she studied acting for seven years before landing her first audition. Barkin became a notable actress in the 1980s. Her break-out role was in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), for which she received favorable reviews. Barkin was cast in the 1983 film Tender Mercies after impressing director Bruce Beresford during an audition in New York City, despite her inexperience and his lack of familiarity with her work. Actor Robert Duvall, who played the lead role in Mercies, said of Barkin, "She brings a real credibility for that part, plus she