Edward Burns Biography (3)
As an actor, Burns was last seen in Fifteen Minutes co-starring Robert De Niro. Written, directed and produced by John Herzfeld, the action thriller follows an arson investigator (played by Burns) who teams with a famous homicide detective (De Niro) to track down a murderer. Burns also starred opposite Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The critically acclaimed World War II epic marked the first film in which Burns acted in a film he did not write and direct himself.
Burns was lauded by both critics and audiences for his first feature, The Brothers McMullen, which premiered in competition at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize. Burns wrote, directed and starred in the film, which was shot on a budget of only $25,000 and went on to gross over $10 million at the domestic box office, making it the most profitable film of 1995. The film also won Best First Feature at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards.
Burns' second film that he wrote, directed, produced and starred in was the romantic comedy She's The One, with Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. Produced by Fox Searchlight, the film also starred John Mahoney. Burns' most recent quadruple filmmaking effort was the intimate drama, No Looking Back. The Gramercy feature also starred Lauren Holly and Jon Bon Jovi.
In conjunction with the release of No Looking Back, Three Screenplays by Edward Burns was published by Hyperion. The book includes an introduction by Burns with the screenplays from The Brothers McMullen,She's The One and No Looking Back. More recently, Three Stories From Long Island was released as a three DVD set through Twentieth Century Fox, and includes the DVDs of The Brothers McMullen, She's the One, and No Looking Back. For television, Burns and his brother Brian created and executive produced the half-hour comedy The Fighting Fitzgeralds for NBC with Golden Globe-winner Brian Dennehy starring.
Burns was born in Woodside, Queens and raised on Long Island. Initially an English major, he decided to focus on filmmaking, which he studied at Hunter College in New York City before making The Brothers McMullen. After the film won the Grand Jury Prize at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, Redford was so impressed with Burns' talents that he served as executive producer on both She's The One and No Looking Back.
Burns recently completed Ash Wednesday, his latest effort as writer, director, producer and star. Set in 1983 New York, Ash Wednesday is a drama about two brothers trying to escape their past.
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