Ellen Burstyn
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.
194 acting credits · 1 directing credit
Acting · 194
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Interstellar
2014
Saturday Night Live
1975
Perry Mason
1957
Golden Globe Awards
1944
Mom
2013
The View
1997
American Experience
1988
House of Cards
2013
The Virginian
1962
Dr. Kildare
1961
Tony Awards
1956
Law & Order: Organized Crime
2021
Cheyenne
1955
Ben Casey
1961
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
The Big Valley
1965
Big Love
2006
The Defenders
1961
Gunsmoke
1955
The Oscars
1953
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
1959
Dinah!
1974
Surfside 6
1960
The Exorcist
1973
The Time Tunnel
1966
Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963
Checkmate
1960
The Detectives
1959
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
The First Lady
2022
Bus Stop
1961
The Age of Adaline
2015
Vacation Playhouse
1963
That's Life
2000
Requiem for a Dream
2000
The Exorcist: Believer
2023
Going My Way
1962
Letter to Loretta
1953
Political Animals
2012
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996
The Fountain
2006
HARDtalk
1997
Coma
2012
The Book of Daniel
2006
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Draft Day
2014
The Last Picture Show
1971
I'm Dickens, He's Fenster
1962
The Wicker Man
2006
Unity
2015
Flowers in the Attic
2014
Pieces of a Woman
2020
W.
2008
The Yards
2000
A Will of their Own
1998
Dying Young
1991
Breakdown: 1975
2025
The Tale
2018
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
2002
When a Man Loves a Woman
1994
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1974
Petals on the Wind
2014
The Ellen Burstyn Show
1986
And the Oscar Goes To...
2014
Night of 100 Stars
1982
Playing by Heart
1998
Lucy in the Sky
2019
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
1989
How to Make an American Quilt
1995
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
1987
Night of 100 Stars II
1985
Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
2022
Inside the Actors Studio
1994
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003
Wiener-Dog
2016
Red Dragon
2002
Harry and Tonto
1974
Deceiver
1997
Mrs. Harris
2006
PoliWood
2009
Mother, Couch
2024
The Baby-Sitters Club
1995
Love, Marilyn
2013
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
2008
Another Happy Day
2011
Same Time, Next Year
1978
The Calling
2014
This Ordinary Thing
2025
A Decade Under the Influence
2003
Roommates
1995
Friedkin Uncut
2018
Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story
1992
The Stone Angel
2007
Earth and the American Dream
1992
Act of Vengeance
1986
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2012
Our Fathers
2005
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
1974
Pit Stop
1969
The House of Tomorrow
2019
Nostalgia
2018
The Mighty Macs
2011
The Cemetery Club
1993
Main Street
2010
Resurrection
1980
Wish You Well
2013
The Spitfire Grill
1996
All I Wish
2018
According to Greta
2009
Into Thin Air
1985
The King of Marvin Gardens
1972
Hello Actors Studio
1988
Providence
1977
Custody
2016
Queen Bees
2021
Getting Gotti
1994
About Scout
2015
Surviving
1985
The Ambassador
1985
Two Men in Town
2014
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
1981
Three Months
2022
The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel
2004
Hanna's War
1988
Twice in a Lifetime
1985
Tropic of Cancer
1970
Alex in Wonderland
1970
Lovely, Still
2009
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
1998
The Making of Requiem for a Dream
2001
When You Remember Me
1990
The Last Picture Show: A Look Back
1999
You Can Thank Me Later
1998
Mermaid
2000
The Patron Saint of Liars
1998
Goodbye Charlie
1964
A Deadly Vision
1997
My Brother's Keeper
1995
Follow The River
1995
For Those Who Think Young
1964
I Love Liberty
1982
Flash
1997
River of Fundament
2014
A Dream of Passion
1978
American Woman
2019
People vs. Jean Harris
1981
Grand Isle
1991
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
2004
Delphine and Carole
2020
Timepiece
1996
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story
1993
Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow
2006
Night Ride Home
1999
The Velveteen Rabbit
2009
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
2006
Thursday's Game
1974
Brush with Fate
2003
Silence of the North
1981
Place to Be
—
E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump
2024
Pack of Lies
1987
Something in Common
1986
Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
2024
Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love
1991
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
2010
Watch on the Rhine
2021
The Christmas Tree
1958
Paul Newman, Behind Blue Eyes
2021
Getting Out
1994
Picture This
1991
30 Days
2006
Walking Across Egypt
1999
Within These Walls
2001
Trick of the Eye
1994
The Elephant King
2006
Mitch Albom's For One More Day
2007
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
2010
When It Was a Game 2
1992
The Color of Evening
1990
Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies
2019
Ricochet
1961
Roots of Roe
1993
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Second Chances
2004
Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime
2017
Duse, the Greatest
2025
Marilyn in Manhattan
1998
Memories, Dreams & Addictions
2001
Bathing Flo
—
Reflections of a Philosopher King
2010
Easy Out?
1948