Ellen Rona Barkin was born on April 16, 1954 in the Bronx, New York, to parents Evelyn, a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman. Ellen Barkin was raised in a lower-middle-class Jewish family, a descendant of immigrants from Siberia and the Russia-Poland border.
Ellen Barkin received her high school diploma at Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.
She then attended Hunter College and double majored in history and drama. At one point, Ellen Barkin wanted to teach ancient history. She goes on with her acting education at New York's Actor's Studio. According to Time, she studied acting for many years before landing her first audition.
Ellen Barkin became a notable actress in the 1980s. Her break-out role has been in Barry L
evinson's Diner in 1982, for which she received favorable reviews. Ellen Barkin was cast in the 1983 film Tender Mercies after impressing director Bruce Beresford during an audition in New York City, despite her inexperience and his lack of familiarity with her work.
Actor Robert Duvall, who played the lead role in Mercies, said of Ellen Barkin, "She brings a real credibility for that part, plus she was young and attractive and had a certain sense of edge, a danger for her that was good for that part."
Ellen Barkin would later appear in several successful films, like the thrillers The Big Easy in 1987, opposite Dennis Quaid and Sea of Love in 1989, opposite Al Pacino. Ellen Barkin also appeared in Off-Broadway plays, like a role as one of the roommates in Extremities, about a would-be rape victim perform by Susan Sarandon who turns the tables on her attacker.
Why is Ellen Barkin famous?
Ellen Barkin is an American actress.
Why do we like Ellen Barkin?
About her performance in the play Eden Court, New York Times critic Frank Rich said “If it were really possible to give the kiss of life to a corpse, the actress Ellen Barkin would be the one to do it”.