People

Ellen Burstyn

Acting · follow into films and chains

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.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Interstellar

As Murph (older)

Requiem for a Dream

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Wicker Man

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Harry and Tonto

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Exorcist

As Chris MacNeil

The Age of Adaline

As Flemming

Draft Day

As Barb Weaver

The Fountain

As Dr. Lillian Guzetti

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The High Was Never the Point

When Trainspotting arrived in 1996, it was quickly labelled as the ultimate "drugs movie". Decades on, its true subject matter is far clearer. It is not fundame...

8 films

Remakes That Missed but Matter

From Neil LaBute's Wicker Man to Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, a journey through remakes that stumbled yet reveal why we keep returning to the classics.

8 films

Metamorphosis: Bodies in Flux

From Kafka's insect to Cronenberg's flesh, a journey through cinema's most profound transformations, where identity itself is the shape-shifter.

7 films

The Long Goodbye: Twilight of Heroes and Outlaws

There is a moment in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian (1976) that cuts deeper than any broadsword. Sean Connery, sporting grey in his beard and exhaustion in h...

8 films

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