Ellen Burstyn Movies and Career Information

Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1935) is an American actress, who has worked in film, stage and television. Burstyn's acting career began in theatre during the late 1950s and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967. She achieved recognition for her supporting role in The Last Picture Show (1971) and the lead role in The Exorcist (1973), receiving Academy Award nominations for both performances. She won the Best Actress Oscar the following year for her work in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1973). In 1975 she won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway production of Same Time, Next Year, and received a Golden Globe Award and a fourth Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1978 film version. She continued to work extensively during the 1980s and 1990s, and was acclaimed for her performance in the film Requiem for a Dream, for which she received several critic's awards. Burstyn was born Edna Rae Gillooly in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Correine Marie (née Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly, who was a building contractor. She has described her ancestry as "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch,