Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932) is an American stage and film actress.
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 describes herself as "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch, a little Canadian Indian". She was raised Catholic but is now known to practice Sufi Islam. Her parents divorced when she was young. She would later refer ...
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Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932) is an American stage and film actress.
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 describes herself as "Irish, French, Pennsylvania Dutch, a little Canadian Indian". She was raised Catholic but is now known to practice Sufi Islam. Her parents divorced when she was young. She would later refer to her mother as tough, violent and controlling. She left home at age 18.
Burstyn debuted on Broadway in 1957 and joined Lee Strasberg's The Actor's Studio in 1967. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Same Time, Next Year (a role she would reprise in the film version, three years later). In 1990 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. Until 1970, she was credited as "Ellen McRae" in nearly all her film and TV appearances.
Burstyn received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting...
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