Early life

Burstyn was born Edna Rae Gillooly in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Correine Marie (née Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She has described her ancestry as "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch, a little Canadian Indian." Burstyn has an older brother, Jack, and a younger brother, Steve. Her parents divorced when she was young and she and her brother lived with her mother and her stepfather.

She attended Cass Technical High School, a university-preparatory school which allowed students to choose a specific field of study. Burstyn majored in fashion illustration. In high school, she was a cheerleader, a member of the student council and was president of her junior class. She dropped out of high school during her senior year after failing her classes. After dropping out of school, Burstyn got a job as a model in a Detroit department store. She later relocated to Dallas where she continued modeling before traveling to New York.

From 1955 to 1956, Burstyn appeared as an "away we go" dancing girl on The Jackie Gleason Show under the name "Erica Dean." Burstyn then decided to become an actress and chose the name "Ellen McRae" as her professional name; she would later change her surname after her 1964 marriage to Neil Burstyn.

Career

Early years

Burstyn debuted on Broadway in 1957 and joined Lee Strasberg's The Actors Studio in New York City, New York, in 1967. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in the comedy Same Time, Next Year (a role she would reprise in the film version in 1978).

Starting in the late 1950s and continuing throughout the 1960s, Burstyn frequently played guest roles on a number of primetime television shows, including Dr. Kildare, 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Wagon Train, The Big Valley, and The Virginian. During 1964-1965, she had a recurring role as "Dr. Kate Bartok" on the NBC daytime television soap opera The Doctors. In 1967-1968, she co-starred as "Julie Parsons" opposite Dale Robertson in the ABC western The Iron Horse. She was credited as "Ellen McRae" until 1967, when she and her then-husband Neil Nephew both changed their surname to "Burstyn" and she began to be credited as "Ellen Burstyn".

1970s-1980s

In 1971, Burstyn received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the drama film The Last Picture Show and for Best Actress in 1973 for the horror film The Exorcist. During the filming of The Exorcist, she injured her coccyx, which led to permanent injury to her spine. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1974 for her performance in the drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese. She also received Best Actress nominations in 1978 for Same Time, Next Year, in 1980 for the drama Resurrection, and for the drama Requiem for a Dream in 2000.

In 1977, she was a member of the jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival and in 1988, she was a member of the jury for the 38th Berlin International Film Festival. Burstyn hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, a late-night sketch comedy and variety show, in December 1980.

In 1986, Burstyn starred in her own ABC television situation comedy, The Ellen Burstyn Show costarring Megan Mullally as her daughter and Elaine Stritch as her mother; it was canceled after one season.

1990s-present

In 1990, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

From 2000 to 2002, Burstyn appeared in the CBS television drama That's Life. In January 2006, she starred as an Episcopal bishop in the NBC comedy-drama series The Book of Daniel. The series, which also starred Aidan Quinn as a drug-addicted Episcopal priest married to an alcoholic wife, was met with controversy from religious and spiritual leaders due to its unconventional portrayals of religious figures. Conservative groups including American Family Association and Focus on the Family urged supporters to complain to NBC affiliates that carried the show. NBC pulled the series from its lineup after four episodes but did not publicly give a reason for doing so.

In 2006, Burstyn appeared in the drama-romance film The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky, with whom she worked in Requiem for a Dream. Since 2007, she has had an occasional recurring role on the HBO television drama series Big Love, playing the mother of polygamist wife Barbara Henrickson.

She provided a supporting role as the mother of two sons in the drama-romance film The Elephant King. The film originally premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival but did not open in U.S. theaters until October 2008.

Burstyn starred in the Broadway production of Martin Tahse's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, based upon the novel of the same title by Allan Gurganus. The show played 19 previews and officially opened November 17, 2003. Because of unfavorable reviews, all performances after the opening night were cancelled. Burstyn returned to the stage in March 2008, in the Off-Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a co-production by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater.

In addition to her stage work, Burstyn portrayed former First Lady Barbara Bush in director Oliver Stone's biographical film W in 2008. In 2009, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of the bipolar estranged mother of Detective Elliot Stabler on NBC's police procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2014, Burstyn appeared in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic Interstellar. She had played Mackenzie Foy's character's grandmother in Wish You Well the previous year, and both actresses portrayed "Murph" Cooper, albeit at radically different ages, in Interstellar.

Burstyn played Flemming, the daughter of Blake Lively's immortal character, in the film The Age of Adaline. Production started in March 2014, and the film was released in April 2015.

In 2014, Burstyn announced to direct her first feature film, Bathing Flo.

Emmy Awards and controversy

Burstyn was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, for her role as Jean Harris in the biographical television film The People vs. Jean Harris (1981) and again for another television drama film, Pack of Lies (1987), an adaptation of the 1983 play.

In 2006, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for a role credited as "Former Tarnower Steady" in HBO's biographical television film Mrs. Harris. (She had played Jean Harris in The People vs. Jean Harris).

Soon after the nominations were announced, an outcry ensued from the press and the public regarding the worthiness of the nomination due to her minor role in the film, consisting of 14 seconds of screen time and 38 words of dialogue. One explanation for the nomination was that people were honoring Burstyn for her nominated but non-winning performance in the first Harris television film. A more popular accusation was that the nominating committee was either confused in its recollection, or merely "threw in" her name from sheer recognition, assuming a worthy performance without actually seeing it.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, administrator of the Primetime Emmy Awards, initially insisted that "based on the popular vote, this is a legitimate nomination." Meanwhile, HBO deflected the blame for submitting the nomination to the movie-production company. Burstyn's own reaction ranged from initial silence to comments such as, "I thought it was fabulous. My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and ultimately I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don't even appear," and "This doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't even want to know about this. You people work it out yourself."

Ultimately, Kelly Macdonald, who starred in The Girl in the Cafe, won the award. In March 2007, the Academy officially announced that eligibility for a Primetime Emmy Award in any long-form supporting-actor category required nominees to appear on-screen in at least five percent of the project.

Many critics still cite this incident to criticize the Emmy Award nomination process, claiming that name recognition has played an increasingly visible role over the years.

In 2013, she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Political Animals, and referenced the controversy in her acceptance speech.

Other activities

During the 1970s, Burstyn was active in the movement to free convicted boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter from jail.

In 1981, Burstyn recorded "The Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" (Kurt Weill's musical setting of Bertolt Brecht's text "Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?") ('And what did the soldier's woman get?') for Ben Bagley's album Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2.

Burstyn served as president of the Actors' Equity Association from 1982 to 1985.

In 1997, Burstyn was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. In 2000, she was named co-president of the Actors Studio, alongside Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel.

She is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party and in the documentary PoliWood, attends several political events of the 2008 election campaign as a supporter of Barack Obama, commenting sadly at one point how civil competition between Democrats and Republicans no longer exists.

Burstyn is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.

Personal life

Marriages and children

In 1950, she married Bill Alexander, but they divorced in 1957. The following year, she married Paul Roberts, with whom she adopted a son named Jefferson in 1961; the couple divorced that same year.

In 1964, she married fellow actor Neil Nephew, who later changed his name to Neil Burstyn, but the union was turbulent. Neil Burstyn was schizophrenic; he would have episodes of violence, and eventually left her. He attempted to reconcile, but she rejected this, ultimately divorcing him in 1972. In her autobiography, Lessons in Becoming Myself, Burstyn revealed that he stalked her for a period of six years after their divorce. He eventually broke into her house and raped her, but no charges were filed, as spousal rape was not yet legally a crime. He died by suicide in 1978.

Religion

Burstyn was raised Catholic but now affiliates herself with all religious faiths. Her spiritual journey began with Sufi Islam. She explains: "I am a spirit opening to the truth that lives in all of these religions... I always pray to Spirit, but sometimes it's to the Goddess. Sometimes it's to Jesus... Sometimes I pray to Ganesha if I need an obstacle removed. Quan Yin is one of my favorite manifestations of the divine, the embodiment of compassion... So I have Quan Yin with me all the time." Burstyn has stated that in her late 30s she began to delve into the spiritual realm, coming under the tutelage of Sufi Muslim teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan; he gave her the spiritual name Hadiya, which means "she who guides" in Arabic.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Goodbye Charlie	Franzie Salzman	Credited as Ellen McRae
1964	For Those Who Think Young	Dr. Pauline Thayer	Credited as Ellen McRae
1969	Pit Stop (original title: The Winner)	Ellen McLeod
1970	Alex in Wonderland	Beth Morrison
1970	Tropic of Cancer	Mona Miller
1971	Last Picture Show, TheThe Last Picture Show	Lois Farrow	National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1972	King of Marvin Gardens, TheThe King of Marvin Gardens	Sally
1973	Exorcist, TheThe Exorcist	Chris MacNeil	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1974	Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore	Alice Hyatt	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1974	Harry and Tonto	Shirley Mallard
1977	Providence	Sonia Langham
1978	Dream of Passion, AA Dream of Passion	Brenda
1978	Same Time, Next Year	Doris	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1980	Resurrection	Edna Mae McCauley	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated—Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
1981	Silence of the North	Olive Frederickson	Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress
1984	Ambassador, TheThe Ambassador	Alex Hacker
1984	Terror in the Aisles		Archival footage
1985	Twice in a Lifetime	Kate MacKenzie
1988	Hanna's War	Katalin
1991	Grand Isle	Mademoiselle Reisz
1991	Dying Young	Mrs. O'Neil
1993	Cemetery Club, TheThe Cemetery Club	Esther Moskowitz
1994	When a Man Loves a Woman	Emily
1994	The Color of Evening	Kate O'Reilly
1995	How to Make an American Quilt	Hy Dodd	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995	Baby-Sitters Club, TheThe Baby-Sitters Club	Emily Haberman
1995	Roommates	Judith
1996	Spitfire Grill, TheThe Spitfire Grill	Hannah Ferguson
1997	Deceiver	Mook
1998	Playing by Heart	Mildred
1998	You Can Thank Me Later	Shirley Cooperberg
1999	Walking Across Egypt	Mattie Rigsbee
2000	Requiem for a Dream	Sara Goldfarb	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Stockholm International Film Festival Award for Best Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
2000	Yards, TheThe Yards	Val Handler
2001	Dodson's Journey	Mother
2002	Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood	Viviane Joan 'Vivi' Abbott Walker
2002	Red Dragon	Grandma Dolarhyde (voice only)	Uncredited
2005	Down in the Valley	Ma
2006	The Fountain	Dr. Lilian Guzetti
2006	Wicker Man, TheThe Wicker Man	Sister Summersisle
2006	Elephant King, TheThe Elephant King	Diana Hunt
2006	30 Days	Maura
2007	Stone Angel, TheThe Stone Angel	Hagar Shipley	Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film
2008	Lovely, Still	Mary
2008	W.	Barbara Bush
2009	Velveteen Rabbit, TheThe Velveteen Rabbit	Swan	Voice role
2009	According to Greta	Katherine
2009	PoliWood	Herself	Documentary
2009	The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond	Miss Adie
2010	Mighty Macs, TheThe Mighty Macs	Mother St. John
2010	Main Street	Georgiana Carr
2011	Another Happy Day	Doris
2011	Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You	Nanette
2013	Wish You Well	Louisa Mae Cardinal
2014	Two Men in Town	Garnett's mother
2014	Draft Day	Barb Weaver
2014	The Calling	Emily Micallef
2014	Interstellar	Old Murph
2015	The Age of Adaline	Flemming
2015	Unity	Narrator	Documentary
2015	About Scout	Gram
2016	Wiener-Dog	Nana
2016	Custody	Beatrice Fisher

Television (selective)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Kraft Television Theatre	Linda	Episode: "Trick or Treat"; credited as Ellen McRae
1961	Michael Shayne	Carol	Episode: "Strike Out"; credited as Ellen McRae
1961	The Loretta Young Show	Ann Walters	Episode: "Woodlot"; credited as Ellen McRae
1961	Dr. Kildare	Anne Garner	Episode: "Second Chance"; credited as Ellen McRae
1961, 1963	77 Sunset Strip	Betty Benson (1961) Sandra Keene (1963)	2 episodes; credited as Ellen McRae
1961	Cheyenne	Emmy Mae	Episode: "Day's Pay"; credited as Ellen McRae
1962, 1971	Gunsmoke	Polly Mims (1962) Amy Waters (1971)	3 episodes; credited as Ellen McRae (1962), credited as Ellen Burstyn (1971)
1962	Ben Casey	Dr. Leslie Fraser (ep. 1) Connie (ep. 2)	2 episodes; credited as Ellen McRae
1962	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Dr. Donna Whittaker	Episode: "A Splinter Off the Old Block"; credited as Ellen McRae
1962	Perry Mason	Mona Winthrope White	Episode: "The Case of the Dodging Domino"; credited as Ellen McRae
1962	The Real McCoys	Dorothy Carter	Episode: "The Girl Veterinarian"; credited as Ellen McRae
1963	Laramie	Amy	Episode: "No Place to Run"; credited as Ellen McRae
1963	The Defenders	Hilda Wesley	Episode: "The Heathen"; credited as Ellen McRae
1963	Going My Way	Louise	Episode: "Hear No Evil"; credited as Ellen McRae
1963	Wagon Train	Margaret Whitlow	Episode: "The Jim Whitlow Story"; credited as Ellen McRae
1963	Vacation Playhouse	Ellen	Episode: "The Big Brain"; credited as Ellen McRae
1964	Suspense Theater	Barbara/Lucille	Episode: "The Deep End"; credited as Ellen McRae
1964	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Eva Laurelton	Episode: "Runaway"; credited as Ellen McRae
1964	The Greatest Show on Earth	Susan Mason	Episode: "Big Man from Nairobi"; credited as Ellen McRae
1964	Death Valley Days	Jenny	Episode: "Hastings Cut-off"; credited as Ellen McRae
1964-1965	The Doctors	Dr. Kate Bartok	Multiple episodes; credited as Ellen McRae
1966	The Time Tunnel	Dr. Eve Holland	Episode: "Crack of Doom"; credited as Ellen McRae
1967-1968	The Iron Horse	Julie Parsons	9 episodes; credited as Ellen McRae
1967	The Big Valley	Sister Jacob	"Days of Grace"; credited as Ellen McRae
1969	The Virginian	Kate Bürden	Episode: "Last Grave at Socorro Creek"
1972	The Bold Ones: The Lawyers	Rachel Lambert	Episode: "Lisa, I Hardly Knew You"
1974	Thursday's Game	Lynne Evers	Television movie
1981	The People vs. Jean Harris	Jean Harris	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1985	Into Thin Air	Joan Walker	Television movie
1985	Surviving: A Family in Crisis	Tina Brogan	Television movie
1986	Act of Vengeance	Margaret Yablonski	Television movie
1986	Something in Common	Lynn Hollander	Television movie
1986-1987	The Ellen Burstyn Show	Ellen Brewer	13 episodes
1987	Look Away	Mary Todd Lincoln	Television movie
1987	Pack of Lies	Barbara Jackson	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1990	When You Remember Me	Nurse Cooder	Television movie
1991	Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love	Lillian "Lil" Lambert	Television movie
1992	Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story	Wilma	Television movie
1993	Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story	Joan Delvecchio	Television movie
1994	Trick of the Eye	Frances Griffin	Television movie
1994	Getting Gotti	Jo Giaclone	Television movie
1994	Getting Out	Arlie's Mother	Television movie
1995	Follow the River	Gretel	Television movie
1995	My Brother's Keeper	Helen	Television movie
1996	Timepiece	Maud Gannon	Television movie
1996	Our Son, the Matchmaker	Iva Mae Longwell	Television movie
1997	Flash	Laura Strong	Television movie
1997	A Deadly Vision	Yvette Watson	Television movie
1998	Patron Saint of Liars, TheThe Patron Saint of Liars	June Clatterbuck	Television movie
1999	Night Ride Home	Maggie	Television movie
2000	Mermaid	Trish Gill	Television movie Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special
2000-2002	That's Life	Dolly DeLucca	34 episodes
2001	Within These Walls	Joan Thomas	Television movie
2003	Brush with Fate	Rika	Television movie
2004	Five People You Meet in Heaven, TheThe Five People You Meet in Heaven	Ruby	Television movie
2004	The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel	Tommie	Television movie
2005	Our Fathers	Mary Ryan	Television movie
2005	Mrs. Harris	Ex-lover No. 3 (Former Tarnower "Steady")	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
2006	The Book of Daniel	Bishop Beatrice Congreve	8 episodes
2007	For One More Day	Pauline Benetto	Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2007-2011	Big Love	Nancy Davis Dutton	6 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series
2008	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Bernie Stabler	Episode: "Swing" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series Nominated—Prism Award for Performance in a Drama Episode
2012	Political Animals	Margaret Barrish	6 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actress
2012	Coma	Mrs. Emerson	2 episodes
2014	Flowers in the Attic	Olivia Foxworth	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actress Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2014	Petals on the Wind	Olivia Foxworth	Television movie
2014	Louie	Evanka	5 episodes: "Elevator" Parts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
2015	Mom	Shirley Stabler	Episode: "Terrorists and Gingerbread" Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series
2016	House of Cards	Elizabeth Hale

Bibliography

• Burstyn, Ellen (2006). Lessons in Becoming Myself. Riverhead Books (New York City, New York). ISBN 978-1-59448-929-7.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]