Ellen Burstyn to receive Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice Film Festival

The Venice Biennale announced on 14 July that American actress Ellen Burstyn will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, running from 2 to 12 September 2026. The award is the second career Lion of this edition, following the earlier announcement that George Clooney would also be honoured.

Burstyn, now 93 and with a career spanning more than 150 films, reacted with characteristic warmth.

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 honoured, so happy, so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!

A short film premiere for the ceremony

The prize will be presented at the screening of a new short film dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who serves as president of the international jury for this 83rd edition. The Hollywood Reporter identified the project as Flesh Impact, with a cast that includes Burstyn alongside Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi. Gyllenhaal previously directed Burstyn in Pieces of a Woman (2020); the actress has also recently completed work on Kornél Mundruczó’s upcoming drama Place to Be.

Barbera’s tribute to a half-century career

Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera placed Burstyn’s recognition within a career of more than fifty years in American cinema, describing her as an actress of rare intensity and truth who brought depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters.

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.

Barbera also traced the arc of her career from its breakthrough: revealed in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971), a portrait of small-town America in decline, and elevated to global stardom by William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973), she went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), a film he described as a manifesto for women reclaiming identity and freedom.

Six Oscar nominations and a Triple Crown

Burstyn has received six Academy Award nominations in total, five of them for Best Actress. She is also an Emmy, Tony, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, and serves as president of the Actors Studio. German-language reports noted her more recent visibility in the streaming series House of Cards, where she played the mother of the First Lady.

Venice 83 takes shape

The 83rd edition of the festival will run from 2 to 12 September. The full competition programme is expected to be announced on 23 July. In previous years, films premiering on the Lido have frequently gone on to feature in the Academy Awards race.