Ellen Burstyn

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.

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

Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry. . She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a lunch counter. After graduating from Detroit's Cass Technical High School, she went to Texas to model and then to New York as a showgirl on The Jackie Gleason Show (1952).

From there, it was to Montreal as a nightclub dancer and then Broadway with her debut in "Fair Game (1957)".

Is one of 3 actresses who have won the Best Actress Oscar for playing a character called Alice. The others are Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959) and Julianne Moore for Still Alice (2014).

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

By 1963, she appeared on the TV series The Doctors (1963), but she gained notice for her role in Goodbye Charlie (1964). Ellen then took time off to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Her third (and last) husband, Neil Burstyn was a bright, talented upcoming actor and writer (The 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.

Her big break came when she was cast as the female lead in The Last Picture Show (1971). For this role, she received nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award.

Next, she co-starred with Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), giving a chilling performance.

Then came The Exorcist--The Version You've Never Seen Before (1973). She was again nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award.

In 1974, she starred in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), for which performance she won the Oscar and BAFTA awards as Best Actress. For the Golden Globe, she was nominated but lost to Marsha Mason. The same year, she made history by winning a Tony Award for the Broadway play "Same Time, Next Year".

Turned down the lead role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) because she had a sick husband to care for.

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).

She won praise and award nominations for her performances in the film versions of Same Time, Next Year (1978) and Resurrection (1980). In "Resurrection", she played a woman with the power to heal.

The character of Jean Harris seems to be a favorite for Burstyn. She was Emmy-nominated for the lead role as Jean Harris in the 1981 TV-movie, The People vs. Jean Harris (1981) and, in 2006, she was nominated as a supporting character (as an ex-lover of Jean Harris's lover) in the cable-movie based on the Harris case in Mrs. Harris (2005). Burstyn is perhaps the first actress to be nominated for a performance that is less than 1-minute long (in fact, it is approximately 15 seconds). She vied for the Emmy with fellow "Mrs. Harris" (and The Last Picture Show (1971)) co-star and Oscar-winner Cloris Leachman. Neither won.

A succession of TV movies resulting in two Emmy nominations kept her going as did the series The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986).

The TV movies continued through the 1990s.

Also in the 1990s, she was cast in the supporting role in such movies as The Cemetery Club (1993), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) and The Spitfire Grill (1996).

Godmother of her The Spitfire Grill (1996) co-star (Marcia Gay Harden)'s children.

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.

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

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

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.

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 The Wicker Man (2006), however, she failed to receive a nomination.

In September 2009, she became the 20th person to have won the Triple Crown of Acting: Academy Award (1975: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)); Tony Award (1975: Same Time Next Year), and Emmy Award (2009: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)).

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 The Age of Adaline (2015), in which she was older than her mother.