Ellen Barkin is an American actress and producer of Russian descent who was born and raised in New York City. She made her debut in acting in a minor role in the movie Smoke, but it was her appearance in Diner (1982) that got her noticed as that was her breakout movie. After that, she had a whole bunch of movies lined up for her. She has also put in stellar performances in movies such as This Boy’s Life, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Bad Company, and Wild Bill.
Ellen Barkin Biography
Ellen Rona Barkin was born on April 16, 1954, in The Bronx, New York to Evelyn Barkin (nee Rozin) and Sol Barkin. Ellens’s parents are descendants of Jewish emigrants from Siberia and the Belarusian-Polish border. Her mother was a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital and her father was a chemical salesperson.
Barkin grew up in The Bronx with her brother George Barkin, who now works at High Times Magazine. She lived in Flushing, NY, and attended Parsons Junior High School. Since her early teens, Barkin has always wanted to be an actress. She was accepted into Manhattan’s High School of the Performing Arts and got her diploma. After that, she was accepted into hunter college, where she double-majored in History and Drama. Barkin had interests in teaching Ancient History but reverted to her first love, acting. Therefore, she went back to acting school. She attended New York City’s Actors Studio to further her acting career.
Initially, Barkin was so scared of the auditioning process that she studied acting for ten years before landing her first audition. While studying acting, she worked as a waitress at the avant-garde Ocean club. She was also performing off-Broadway in plays like; Shout Across the River (1979), Extremities (1983), Fool for Love (1984), and Eden Court (1985).
She was applauded for her breakout role in a comedy-drama called Diner (1982), where she played the lead alongside Mickey Rourke and Daniel Stern. The roles kept coming after that, from Tender Mercies (1983) to Sea of Love (1989). She also decided to dabble in TV series like, Before Women Had Wings (1997). Barkin had her Broadway debut as Dr. Brookner in The Normal Heart and won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance.
In 1991, Ellen Barkin received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role in the movie, Switch. The other films she has featured in are Man Trouble, Into the West, This Boy’s Life, The Fan, Loathing in Las Vegas, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Palindromes, Trust the Man, Ocean’s Thirteen, Brooklyn’s Finest, and The Cobbler released in 2014.
Barkin received a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the TV series Before Women Had Wings in 1997. In 2011, she received another award, a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her Broadway debut in The Normal Heart. Barkin has been playing the role of Janine “Smurf” Cody, the leading role on the TNT drama series Animal Kingdom since 2016. She has also produced movies including Letters to Juliet and Shit Year both released in 2010. She also produced Another Happy Day, released in 2011.
Net Worth
Ellen Barkin has earned a lot of money from acting, also a substantial part of her earnings includes her alimony payment from her former marriages. Her total net worth is $60 million.
Husband
Barkin was married twice in her lifetime. First to Gabriel Byrne who she had two kids and then to multi-billionaire, Ronald O. Perelman.
Her first husband Gabriel Bryne is an actor and writer. They first met on the set of Siesta and married in the year 1988. They had two children; Jack Daniel Bryne (1989) and Romy Marion Byrne (1992). They separated in 1993 and got a divorce in 1999 but they are still close. Gabriel Byrne even attended his ex’s wedding to Ronald Perelman in 2000.
When she married Perelman (who is older by eleven years), owner of the Revlon company, she practically put her career on hold until 2006, when she had a divorce. Ellen got between $20 million to $65 million from the divorce and sued Perelman for $3.4 million in investment funds for what he had allegedly promised to invest in their film production company. He was ordered to pay $4.3 million by the court.
Other Facts About Ellen Barkin
1. Barkin has been an active actress since 1978 till date.
2. She was born on April 16 so she is an Aries.
3. She is 5 feet 7 inches tall (1.7m).
4. She weighs 64 kg (lbs).
5. Her body is hourglass-shaped with vital statistics of 37-26-37 (Bust-Waist-Hip).
