Ellen Burstyn to receive Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

Ellen Burstyn will receive the second

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice

International Film Festival (September 2 - 12), after George

Clooney was recently announced as the male recipient, organisers

said Tuesday.

The Biennale announced the award in a statement.

The renowned actress, who won an Oscar for Martin Scorsese's

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, will receive the award during

the presentation of a short film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

(president of the Venice 83 international jury), starring

Burstyn, dedicated to Marilyn Monroe.

The Biennale had already announced the Golden Lion for Lifetime

Achievement to Clooney a few days ago.

Burstyn, 93, in accepting the gong, declared: "Wow! I not only

get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole

world. I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms!

The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Venice Film Festival! I

feel so honored— so happy — so filled with gratitude! Wow

indeed!"

With regard to the award to Ellen Burstyn, Festival's Artistic

Director Alberto Barbera stated: "An actress of rare intensity

and truth, Ellen Burstyn has been a presence in American cinema

for over fifty years, bringing depth and complexity to

unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and

transformations in the contemporary woman. Revealed in Peter

Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, which portrayed the

twilight of small-town America, and elevated to global stardom

by the success of William Friedkin's The Exorcist, Burstyn won

the Oscar for Best Actress for Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't

Live Here Anymore, the film manifesto about women reclaiming

their identity and their freedom. Over the years she worked with

some of the most important film directors of the time: Alain

Resnais in Providence, Paul Schrader in Hardcore, Bob Rafelson

in The King of Marvin Gardens, Paul Mazursky in Alex in

Wonderland and Harry and Tonto, Darren Aronofsky in Requiem for

a Dream and Christopher Nolan in Interstellar, to mention just

some of the 150 films she starred in. President of the Actors

Studio, Burstyn made fragility and methodical discipline the

tools of an approach to acting grounded in emotional truth,

attentiveness and generosity toward one's characters. Her

artistry, which could illuminate pain and everyday resilience

with dignity, irony and courage, remains an absolute model of

authenticity in performance and civic engagement within the

craft of acting."

The Golden Lion will be awarded to Ellen Burstyn on the occasion

of the screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal's short film Flesh Impact.

Dedicated to Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth, the

film features yet another extraordinary performance by the

actress, showcasing her uncommon talent as a performer. The

film's cast also includes Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and

Sepideh Moafi. Johnson portrays Monroe at the height of her

fame, while Burstyn stars as a version of Marilyn the world

never got the chance to see. Flesh Impact takes its title from a

phrase once used to describe Marilyn Monroe's aura - that she

looked so real and luminous on camera that viewers felt they

could touch her through the screen.

Burstyn's illustrious sixty year acting career encompasses film,

stage and television. In 1975, she became the third woman in

history to win both a Tony Award and an Academy Award in the

same year for her work in Same Time, Next Year on Broadway and

in the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, for which she also

received a Golden Globe nomination and a British Academy Award

for Best Actress. She became a "triple crown winner" when she

received her first Emmy for a guest appearance on Law & Order:

SVU (2009). She won her second Emmy for her role in the

miniseries Political Animals (2013). Additionally, she has

received six Emmy nominations and five Academy Award

nominations, including her nomination for Best Actress in The

Exorcist (1973). Ellen recently reprised her role as "Chris

MacNeil" in the film's sequel The Exorcist: Believer (2023) and

co-stars with Ewan McGregor in the independent feature Mother

Couch directed by Niclas Larsson. Ellen will next star alongside

Taika Waititi in Kornél Mundruczó's Place To Be. Recent

television projects include The First Lady (2022) and Law &

Order: Organized Crime (2021-2025). Among her most recent films

are Mother, Couch (2023), Three Months (2022), Queen Bees

(2021), Pieces of a Woman (2020), Welcome to Pine Grove! (2019),

Lucy in the Sky (2019), Nostalgia (2018), The Tale (2018) and

The House of Tomorrow (2017). Her past work includes The Last

Picture Show (1971, Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations),

Resurrection (1981) for which she was nominated for an academy

award, and Requiem for a Dream (2000, Golden Globe and Academy

Award nominations). In 2014, she was inducted into the Theater

Hall of Fame. She also starred in 33 Variations in Melbourne.

Ellen is currently co-president of the Actors Studio alongside

Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin. She holds four honorary doctorates

and lectures throughout the country. In 2006, she became a

national best-selling author with the publication of her memoir,

Lessons in Becoming Myself. Her 2026 book Poetry Says It

Better: Poems to Help You Wake Up, which earned her a Kirkus

Star, is now available in print and audiobook.

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