Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame with The Brothers McMullen (1995), his low-budget independent film that became successful worldwide. His other film appearances include Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Holiday (2006), 27 Dresses (2008), Man on a Ledge (2012), Friends with Kids (2012), and Alex Cross (2012). Burns directed films such as She's the One (1996), Sidewalks of New York (2001), and The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (2012). On television, he appeared as Bugsy Siegel in the TNT crime drama series Mob City and as Terry Muldoon in TNT's Public Morals.
Edward Burns | |
|---|---|
 Burns at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Born | Edward Fitzgerald Burns January 29, 1968 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1995–present |
| Notable work | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Early life
editBurns was born in Woodside, Queens, New York, the son of Edward J. Burns, a police officer and public relations spokesman, and Molly (née McKenna), a federal agency manager.[1] He was raised a Roman Catholic.[2][3] Burns is the second of three children (with siblings Mary and Brian) and is of Irish, and one-quarter Swedish descent.[4] He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island.[5] He briefly attended Chaminade High School before transferring to Hewlett High School. After high school, Burns attended, from 1987 to 1992, SUNY Oneonta, University at Albany, and Hunter College.
Career
editBurns got his start in the movie industry right after college as a production assistant on the Oliver Stone movie, The Doors. While working as a gofer at Entertainment Tonight, he financed, produced, directed and featured in his first movie The Brothers McMullen in his spare time, which was largely filmed in his hometown of Valley Stream. Once he completed the movie, he was able to get a copy to Robert Redford after an ET junket interview for Quiz Show at the Rhiga Royal Hotel in Manhattan. In 1996, Burns wrote, directed and featured in the ensemble drama She's The One with Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz and Amanda Peet, as well as Sidewalks of New York in 2001.
Burns is also known for his acting work for movies such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Life or Something Like It (2002), and Confidence (2003). Looking for Kitty (2004), which Burns wrote, directed and starred in, was shot with a hand-held $3,000 digital Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera with a Mini35 adapter. The movie's entire budget was $200,000[6][7] and was filmed in New York City with a tiny crew and without standard permits. Burns discussed this unusual movie-making process in the director's commentary on the DVD and wrote in the Director's Letter "If you are an aspiring filmmaker, in this day of inflating budgets and runaway production, the truth is you can make a movie for no money in New York ... and have a blast".[citation needed]
His movie Purple Violets premiered exclusively on iTunes on November 20, 2007. Burns began a series of guest appearances on the HBO original series Entourage midway through season 3, as well as appearing as Grace Adler's boyfriend in Will & Grace. In Entourage, Burns plays himself and is (within the context of the series) writing a new television series in which Johnny Drama is able to acquire a part. In 2007, Burns announced plans to partner with Virgin Comics to create a series entitled Dock Walloper.[8] Burns plans to use the comic series as a springboard to a movie of the same story.
In March 2009, The Lynch Pin, a series of short movies featuring, written and directed by Burns were released via the internet.[9] The ten episodes are only available to view online as of August 2009[update] and future plans for the project are unknown.
With the modest success of Purple Violets, Burns was considering taking a studio directing assignment to make money. After reading a few scripts and attending a few meetings, he chose to remain a writer/director. He then wrote Nice Guy Johnny and filmed it quickly, with the RED One camera, for a reported $25,000 with a small crew.[10] Nice Guy Johnny premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.[11]
To coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011, Burns wrote a movie, Newlyweds, that he also directed and starred in. Conforming to a model similar to Nice Guy Johnny, Newlyweds was filmed with a Canon 5D, with an even smaller crew, for $9000, in 12 days.[12] The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 as the final night movie.[13] He claimed on Twitter that the $9,000 budget was "5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can."[14] In 2013 Burns featured as real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel in Frank Darabont's miniseries Mob City.
In 2012, Burns set up a screenwriting contest with the web startup Scripped for a crowdsourced screenplay which he intended to help get produced.[15]
In 2024, he began production in the Republic of Ireland on his golf-based film Finnegan's Foursome.[16]
Personal life
editBurns is married to model Christy Turlington and they have two children, a daughter born in 2003 and a son born in 2006. He and Turlington are Catholic. He is an advisor to ICX Media, an ad-tech audience analytics data company.[17]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Director | Producer | Screenwriter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Brothers McMullen | Barry/Finbar McMullen | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1996 | She's the One | Mickey Fitzpatrick | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Private Richard Reiben | ||||
| No Looking Back | Charlie | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2001 | 15 Minutes | Fire Marshal Jordan Warsaw | ||||
| Shark Attack 2 | Surfer Guy 2 | Cameo | ||||
| Sidewalks of New York | Tommy Reilly | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2002 | Lethargy | Store Clerk | Short film | |||
| Ash Wednesday | Francis Sullivan | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Life or Something Like It | Pete Scanlon | |||||
| 2003 | Confidence | Jake Vig | ||||
| 2004 | The Breakup Artist | Himself | ||||
| Looking for Kitty | Jack Stanton | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2005 | A Sound of Thunder | Travis Ryer | ||||
| The River King | Abel Grey | |||||
| 2006 | The Groomsmen | Paulie | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| The Holiday | Ethan Ebbers | |||||
| 2007 | Purple Violets | Michael Murphy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Direct-to-iTunes |
| 2008 | One Missed Call | Detective Jack Andrews | ||||
| 27 Dresses | George | |||||
| 2009 | Echelon Conspiracy | John Reed | ||||
| 2010 | Nice Guy Johnny | Uncle Terry | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2011 | Newlyweds | Buzzy | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2012 | Man on a Ledge | Jack Dougherty | ||||
| Friends with Kids | Kurt | |||||
| Alex Cross | Tommy Kane | |||||
| The Fitzgerald Family Christmas | Gerry | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2018 | Summer Days, Summer Nights | Jack Flynn | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2019 | Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies | Jim | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2024 | Millers in Marriage | Andy Miller | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Will & Grace | Nick | 3 episodes |
| 2006–2009 | Entourage | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 2011 | Vietnam in HD | Joe Galloway (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Mob City | Bugsy Siegel | 5 episodes |
| 2014 | Louie | Himself | Episode: "So Did the Fat Lady" |
| 2015 | Public Morals | Terry Muldoon | 10 episodes; also writer, director, executive producer and creator |
| 2021–2022 | Bridge and Tunnel | Artie | 12 episodes; also writer, director, executive producer and creator |
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Independent Spirit | Best First Feature Shared with Dick Fisher | The Brothers McMullen | Won |
| Sundance Film Festival | Best Dramatic Film | Won | ||
| 1999 | Screen Actors Guild | Outstanding Performance by a Cast Shared with Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi and Tom Sizemore |
Saving Private Ryan | Nominated |
| Online Film Critics Society | Best Ensemble Cast Performance Shared with Damon, Davies, Diesel, Goldberg, Hanks, Pepper, Ribisi and Sizemore |
Won | ||
| 2008 | Teen Choice | Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller | One Missed Call | Nominated |
| 2010 | Boston Film Festival | Best Director | Nice Guy Johnny | Won |
References
edit- ^ "Edward Burns Biography (1968–)". Film Reference. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
- ^ "Edward Burns". New York University. October 30, 2007. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- ^ Mills, Nancy (November 12, 2001). "Ed Burns' 'New York,' before & after film's mood fits despite the Sept. 11 divide". Daily News. New York City. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
He's Irish-Catholic, used to work at "Entertainment Tonight," has a father who's a cop and has that bridge-and-tunnel reverse pride of people whose lives span the East River.
- ^ Cohn, Beverly (2012). "An Exclusive Interview With Edward Burns - Up Close & Personal". Splash Magazines - Los Angeles. Archived from the original on April 13, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
I'm thankful that I'm one-quarter Swedish, as well.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (January 30, 1995). "A Sort of Cinderella Prevails at Sundance". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 26, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
Mr. Burns's parents encouraged him to write years ago; his mother, a film buff, watches Woody Allen's 'Annie Hall' and 'Manhattan' twice a month.
- ^ Calamari, Alexandra. "Looking For Kitty DVD Review". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
The movie's budget was just over two hundred thousand dollars and it shows, with fuzzy pictures, unimpressive sound quality, and that horrible banjo strumming that always seems to be on the soundtrack of indie films.
- ^ MacDonald, Daniel (December 12, 2006). "Review - Looking For Kitty". DVDVerdict. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
He made the movie for a staggering $200,000, purchasing a Panasonic digital camera for three grand and casting friends who could help him out for a couple of weeks.
- ^ Franklin, Garth (July 27, 2007). "Ed Burns Is Into Dock-ing". Dark Horizons. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
Ed Burns is setting a deal with Virgin Comics for a comic book series that serves as a calling card for a live action feature reports reports Variety. Burns has created "Dock Walloper," a stylized gangster tale set in the 1920s, where Prohibition has created a struggle to control the criminal underworld.
- ^ "The Lynch Pin". Goldenharp.net. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (April 23, 2010). "Nice Guy Eddie: 15 Years of Film Festivals With Edward Burns". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011.
- ^ "Nice Guy Johnny". 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010.
- ^ Macaulay, Scott (March 18, 2011). "Breaking Down Ed Burns' $9,000 Shooting Budget". Filmmaker. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That's how to make an independent film.
- ^ "Newlyweds". 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011.
- ^ Burns, Edward (March 17, 2011). "Newlyweds shooting budget. 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can. That's how to make an #indiefilm". Twitter. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
- ^ "Edward Burns Contest". Scripped. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
- ^ Ryan, Emma (August 2, 2024). "Mayo golf club becomes Hollywood movie set as shooting of film starring 'Saving Private Ryan' actor begins". Independent.ie. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
- ^ "Board and Advisors". ICX Media. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.