Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (3)

Trade Mark (2)

Her smile



Her soft, frail voice



Trivia (36)



Suffered a permanent spinal injury while filming Der Exorzist (1973). In the sequence where she is thrown away from her possessed daughter, a harness jerked her hard away from the bed. She fell on her coccyx and screamed in pain, which was kept in the final version of the released film.



She wrote to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences to protest Liv Ullmann 's elimination from Oscar contention in 1974 for her performance in Szenen einer Ehe (1973) (aka "Scenes from a Marriage"). AMPAS used a rule under which TV presentations must have appeared in movie theaters in the same year, to prevent Ullmann from being nominated. The result is that Burstyn won the Oscar for her performance in Alice lebt hier nicht mehr (1974).

Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [May 2001]



Born at 4:00 AM EST.





Wore 20- and 40-pound fat suits and prosthetic necks to play Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream (2000).



Along with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel , was named co-president of The Actor's Studio in 2000.

Served as co-artistic director for The Actor's Studio.





Turned down the lead role in Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975) because she had a sick husband to care for.



Says she is often mistaken for fellow actress Louise Fletcher . People tell her she was great in Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975) (for which Fletcher won an Oscar). Fletcher reports being told frequently that she did a wonderful job in one of Burstyn's roles.

Received the National Board of Review's Career Achievement Award in December 2000 at Tavern on the Green.



An ordained minister, Burstyn does not consume alcohol or drink coffee and practices yoga.





Played her Academy Award nominated character from Nächstes Jahr, selbe Zeit (1978) on Broadway first and won a Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for the role in 1975. Burstyn was quoted in the book "On Women Turning 50" that she did not attend the Academy Awards ceremony the year she won as she felt she could not handle the pressure and attention if she won. After attending several later Oscar ceremonies at which she lost, she later regretted not being there to accept her award. Martin Scorsese , the director of Alice lebt hier nicht mehr (1974), accepted on her behalf.

Member of the Official Competition Jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival (1977). Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival (1981). Co-head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival (1988).





Made a special Academy Awards appearance in 1998, at the The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998), and participated in the "Oscar Family Album" sequence, along with many other former Academy Award winners.



Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was suggested in the Worst Supporting Actress category for her performance in the film Wicker Man - Ritual des Bösen (2006), however, she failed to receive a nomination.

Worked as an acrobat and as a model for paperback covers.





Her third (and last) husband, Neil Burstyn was a bright, talented upcoming actor and writer ( Die Monkees (1966)). According to Ellen, he eventually degenerated into mental illness and became schizophrenic and violent. He left her just before she became a star. When she refused his pleas to get back together, he stalked and terrorized her for many years. He committed suicide in 1978.

In 2005, she was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Acting of the Savannah Film Festival.



Recipient of the 2006 Career Achievement in Acting Award from the Hamptons Film Festival.



Became a mother in 1962, when she adopted her son, Jefferson Roberts, with her now ex-2nd husband, Paul Roberts. She has one grandchild.



Release of her book, "Lessons in Becoming Myself". [2006]





Acting mentor of Megan Mullally



Burstyn plays two unusual roles where she becomes older than her parents. First, as Murph in Interstellar (2014), in which she was older than her father. The second, as Flemming in Für immer Adaline (2015), in which she was older than her mother.

Underwent an illegal abortion at 5 months pregnant in 1950. The operation left her infertile.



Daughter of Austin (1903-1988), born in the state of New Jersey, and Correine (née Hamel) Gillooly (1907-1985) , born in the state of North Dakota. They married in the state of Ohio on September 1, 1928.





She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Die letzte Vorstellung (1971) and Der Exorzist (1973).

Personal Quotes (9)

Acting feels like a congenital condition to me - it's in my genes.





"I've wanted an Oscar since I was seven years old. It is the basis of all my secret fantasies." -- quoted by Robert Osborne in "Academy Awards 1974 Oscar Annual".

It's unfortunate but our society is such that, for women in Hollywood, you get to a certain age and just fall off a cliff. But in my case, I refuse to die. I will hang on, by a little finger if necessary.



"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." Interview with Associated Press Radio, 2004, regarding her Emmy nomination for her performance in Mrs. Harris, in which she appeared for 14 seconds.



The main way you grow is in deepening compassion. Somehow when you go through painful experiences you're more sympathetic to other people's experiences. After you've been working for awhile and discover how much material you have to call on, you end up saying, 'Oh, thank god I had an unhappy childhood!' I suppose there are some actors somewhere who have had a happy childhood. I just haven't met them yet.



[on preparing to undertake a complex role] You have hold of a string that you're following, and you're following where this question leads to that question, and it keeps on going until you come to some specific understanding of this human being - as opposed to every other human being in the world.



I'm a deep-water swimmer. Everything on the surface is usually a mask. I always know what's behind the mask.



My dog knows all my secrets, but she's sworn to secrecy!



All of my life I have asked the question: who would I be if I had grown up in a loving home. And I have no way to answer it. I don't know if I would be placid and satisfied with whatever is around me; a happy, jolly, sedentary person. Did [hardship] stimulate me? I wanted out of there, and I got out on the day that I was legally able to.



Salary (1)