This article is about the actor-director born in 1968; for other people with the same name, see Edward Burns (disambiguation).
Edward J. Burns, Jr. (born January 29, 1968) is an
American actor,
film producer,
writer and
director.
Biography
Early life
Burns was born in
Woodside, Queens, New York, the son of Molly (
née McKenna), a
federal agency manager, and Edward J. Burns, Sr., a
public relations spokesman and
police officer.
[Edward Burns Biography (1968-)] He is the second of three children (with siblings Mary and Brian) in an
Irish American family. He was raised in
Valley Stream, New York, on
Long Island.
[Weinraub, Bernard. "A Sort of Cinderella Prevails at Sundance", The New York Times, January 30, 1995. Accessed 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."] He briefly attended
Chaminade High School before transferring to
Hewlett High School. After
high school, Burns attended
SUNY Oneonta, and
SUNY Albany, before receiving a degree in English from
Hunter College in 1992.
Career
Burns got his start in the film industry right after college as a
production assistant on the
Oliver Stone film,
The Doors. While working as a
gofer at
Entertainment Tonight, he financed, produced, directed and starred in his first film
The Brothers McMullen in his spare time, which was largely shot in his hometown of
Valley Stream. Once he completed the film, 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 starred 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.
