Ellen Burstyn
Acting • Born 1932-12-07
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
202 credits
The Fountain
Movie • 2006
Dr. Lillian Guzetti
Requiem for a Dream
Movie • 2000
Sara Goldfarb
W.
Movie • 2008
Barbara Bush
Playing by Heart
Movie • 1998
Mildred
When a Man Loves a Woman
Movie • 1994
Emily
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Movie • 2004
Ruby
How to Make an American Quilt
Movie • 1995
Hy Dodd
Walking Across Egypt
Movie • 1999
Mattie Rigsbee
The Last Picture Show
Movie • 1971
Lois Farrow
Dying Young
Movie • 1991
Mrs. O'Neil
The Wicker Man
Movie • 2006
Sister Summersisle
Alex in Wonderland
Movie • 1970
Beth Morrison
The Elephant King
Movie • 2006
Diana Hunt
The Exorcist
Movie • 1973
Chris MacNeil
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Movie • 2002
Vivi Abbott Walker
According to Greta
Movie • 2009
Katherine
Mitch Albom's For One More Day
Movie • 2007
Pauline "Posey" Benetto
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
Movie • 2008
Miss Addie
I Love Liberty
Movie • 1982
Self
The Velveteen Rabbit
Movie • 2009
Swan (voice)
Harry and Tonto
Movie • 1974
Shirley Mallard
The Stone Angel
Movie • 2007
Hagar
Our Fathers
Movie • 2005
Mary Ryan
Same Time, Next Year
Movie • 1978
Doris
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
Movie • 1987
Mrs. Stocks (voice)
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Movie • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Movie • 1974
Alice Hyatt
The Spitfire Grill
Movie • 1996
Hannah Ferguson
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Movie • 2003
Self
The Baby-Sitters Club
Movie • 1995
Mrs. Haberman
A Dream of Passion
Movie • 1978
Brenda Collins
The Mighty Macs
Movie • 2011
Mother St. John
The Yards
Movie • 2000
Val Handler
Grand Isle
Movie • 1991
Mademoiselle Reisz
Timepiece
Movie • 1996
Maud Gannon
Picture This
Movie • 1991
Self
Lovely, Still
Movie • 2009
Mary
The King of Marvin Gardens
Movie • 1972
Sally
Goodbye Charlie
Movie • 1964
Franny Salzman
Providence
Movie • 1977
Sonia Langham
The Patron Saint of Liars
Movie • 1998
June Clatterbuck
Three Months
Movie • 2022
Valerie
Brush with Fate
Movie • 2003
Rika
Pit Stop
Movie • 1969
Ellen McCleod
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
Movie • 2012
Nanette
The Cemetery Club
Movie • 1993
Esther Moskowitz
Tropic of Cancer
Movie • 1970
Mona (uncredited)
Resurrection
Movie • 1980
Edna
For Those Who Think Young
Movie • 1964
Dr. Pauline Swenson
Love, Marilyn
Movie • 2013
Self
Twice in a Lifetime
Movie • 1985
Kate MacKenzie
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
Movie • 1998
Self - Chris MacNeil
Marilyn in Manhattan
Movie • 1998
Self
Mermaid
Movie • 2000
Trish
Within These Walls
Movie • 2001
Joan Thomas
Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow
Movie • 2006
Self
Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
Movie • 2024
Self
Interstellar
Movie • 2014
Murph (older)
The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel
Movie • 2004
Tommie
Draft Day
Movie • 2014
Barb Weaver
The Ambassador
Movie • 1985
Alex Hacker
Thursday's Game
Movie • 1974
Lynne Evers
Flowers in the Attic
Movie • 2014
Grandmother
Night Ride Home
Movie • 1999
Maggie
River of Fundament
Movie • 2014
Hathfertiti
And the Oscar Goes To...
Movie • 2014
Self - Interviewee
Hello Actors Studio
Movie • 1988
Self
Pack of Lies
Movie • 1987
Barbara Jackson
People vs. Jean Harris
Movie • 1981
Jean Harris
My Brother's Keeper
Movie • 1995
Helen
The Calling
Movie • 2014
Emily Micallef
Deceiver
Movie • 1997
Mook
30 Days
Movie • 2006
Maura
Two Men in Town
Movie • 2014
Mère Garnett
Silence of the North
Movie • 1981
Olive Frederickson
Roommates
Movie • 1995
Judith
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
Movie • 1989
Self
The Age of Adaline
Movie • 2015
Flemming
Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love
Movie • 1991
Lillian "Lil" Lambert
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Movie • 2006
Self
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
Movie • 1981
Self
Mother, Couch
Movie • 2024
Mother
Main Street
Movie • 2010
Georgiana Carr
Ricochet
Movie • 1961
Rose Maxon
Act of Vengeance
Movie • 1986
Margaret Yablonski
Martin Scorsese, the Italian-American Master
Movie • 2024
Self
About Scout
Movie • 2015
Gram
Surviving
Movie • 1985
Tina Brogan
Wish You Well
Movie • 2013
Louisa Mae Cardinal
Follow The River
Movie • 1995
Gretel
Unity
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice)
Wiener-Dog
Movie • 2016
Nana
Flash
Movie • 1997
Laura Strong
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie • 1985
Self
The Tale
Movie • 2018
Nettie
When You Remember Me
Movie • 1990
Nurse Cooder
Hanna's War
Movie • 1988
Katalin
Custody
Movie • 2016
Beatrice Fisher
Getting Gotti
Movie • 1994
Jo Giacalone
Die letzte Vorstellung: Ein Rückblick
Movie • 1999
Self
The House of Tomorrow
Movie • 2019
Josephine Prendergast
Bathing Flo
Movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story
Movie • 1993
Joan Delvecchio
Nostalgia
Movie • 2018
Helen Greer
Trick of the Eye
Movie • 1994
Frances Griffin
You Can Thank Me Later
Movie • 1998
Shirley Cooperberg
All I Wish
Movie • 2018
Celia Berges
Memories, Dreams & Addictions
Movie • 2001
Self
Reflections of a Philosopher King
Movie • 2010
Self
Into Thin Air
Movie • 1985
Joan Walker
Mrs. Harris
Movie • 2006
Former Tarnower Steady
Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
Movie • 2017
Self
Lucy in the Sky
Movie • 2019
Nana Holbrook
A Deadly Vision
Movie • 1997
Yvette Watson
Friedkin Uncut
Movie • 2018
Self
Queen Bees
Movie • 2021
Helen Wilson
American Woman
Movie • 2019
Miss Dolly
PoliWood
Movie • 2009
Self
The Color of Evening
Movie • 1990
Kate O'Rielly
Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies
Movie • 2019
Self
Red Dragon
Movie • 2002
Grandma Dolarhyde (voice) (uncredited)
The Christmas Tree
Movie • 1958
Elizabeth
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
Movie • 2010
Self
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
Movie • 2010
Self
Getting Out
Movie • 1994
Arlie's Mother
Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story
Movie • 1992
Wilma
Pieces of a Woman
Movie • 2020
Elizabeth Weiss
Earth and the American Dream
Movie • 1992
Reader (voice)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Second Chances
Movie • 2004
Self
Easy Out?
Movie • 1948
Mary
Another Happy Day
Movie • 2011
Doris Baker
Something in Common
Movie • 1986
Lynn Hollander
The Making of Requiem for a Dream
Movie • 2001
Self
Watch on the Rhine
Movie • 2021
Fanny
The Exorcist: Believer
Movie • 2023
Chris MacNeil
Night of 100 Stars
Movie • 1982
Self
Delphine and Carole
Movie • 2020
Self (archive footage)
A Decade Under the Influence
Movie • 2003
Self
Duse, the Greatest
Movie • 2025
E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump
Movie • 2024
E. Jean Carroll
Paul Newman, Behind Blue Eyes
Movie • 2021
Herself
Petals on the Wind
Movie • 2014
Olivia Foxworth
When It Was a Game 2
Movie • 1992
Passage Narrator (voice)
Place To Be
Movie
Brooke
Breakdown: 1975
Movie • 2025
Self
This Ordinary Thing
Movie • 2025
Self (voice)
Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies
Movie • 2025
Self - (archive footage)
Roots of Roe
Movie • 1993
Narrator (voice)
The Time Tunnel
TV • 1966
Eve Holland
Inside the Actors Studio
TV • 1994
Self
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Betty Benson
Cheyenne
TV • 1955
Emmy Mae
Kraft Suspense Theatre
TV • 1963
Barbara Sherwood / Lucille Benton
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Bernie Stabler
The Book of Daniel
TV • 2006
Bishop Beatrice Congreve
Surfside 6
TV • 1960
Wandra Drake
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Mona Winthrope White
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Polly
Big Love
TV • 2006
Nancy Davis Dutton
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Elizabeth
That's Life
TV • 2000
Dolly DeLucca
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV • 1963
Susan Mason
Going My Way
TV • 1962
Louise
Bus Stop
TV • 1961
Phyllis Dunning
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
Dr. Leslie Fraser
The Detectives
TV • 1959
Nora
The Ellen Burstyn Show
TV • 1986
Ellen Brewer
Vacation Playhouse
TV • 1963
Ellen
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Anne Garner
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Hilda Wesley
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Ann Walters
Political Animals
TV • 2012
Margaret Barrish
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
TV • 1959
Donna Whittaker
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
Connie
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Sandra Keene
Law & Order: Organized Crime
TV • 2021
Bernadette 'Bernie' Stabler
Coma
TV • 2012
Mrs. Emerson
Mom
TV • 2013
Shirley
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Amy Waters
Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
TV • 2022
Self
American Experience
TV • 1988
Narrator (voice)
I'm Dickens, He's Fenster
TV • 1962
Joan
Checkmate
TV • 1960
Margo as Ellen McRae
A Will of their Own
TV • 1998
Veronica Steward
The First Lady
TV • 2022
Sara Delano Roosevelt
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Barbara Jackson
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Maggie
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Rika
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
TV • 1996
Self - Guest
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Sister Sarah Jacob
House of Cards
TV • 2013
Elizabeth Hale
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
TV • 1975
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Presenter
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Kate Burden
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
Eva Laurelton
HARDtalk
TV • 1997