# Edward Burns

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.

## Early life

Burns 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. He was raised a Roman Catholic. Burns is the second of three children (with siblings Mary and Brian) and is of Irish, and one-quarter Swedish descent. He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island. 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

Burns 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 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".
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. 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. The ten episodes are only available to view online as of August 2009 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. Nice Guy Johnny premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.
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. The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 as the final night movie. He claimed on Twitter that the $9,000 budget was "5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can." 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.
In 2024, he began production in the Republic of Ireland on his golf-based film Finnegan's Foursome.

## Personal life

Burns 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.

## Filmography
### Film

| 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 | | | | |
| 1998 | No Looking Back | Charlie | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2000 | Shark Attack 2 | Surfer Guy 2 | | | | Cameo; direct-to-video |
| 2001 | 15 Minutes | Fire Marshal Jordan Warsaw | | | | |
| 2001 | Sidewalks of New York | Tommy Reilly | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2002 | Lethargy | Store Clerk | | | | Short film |
| 2002 | Ash Wednesday | Francis Sullivan | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2002 | Life or Something Like It | Pete Scanlon | | | | |
| 2003 | Confidence | Jake Vig | | | | |
| 2004 | The Breakup Artist | Himself | | | | |
| 2004 | Looking for Kitty | Jack Stanton | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2005 | A Sound of Thunder | Travis Ryer | | | | |
| 2005 | The River King | Abel Grey | | | | |
| 2006 | The Groomsmen | Paulie | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2006 | The Holiday | Ethan Ebbers | | | | |
| 2007 | Purple Violets | Michael Murphy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Direct-to-iTunes |
| 2008 | One Missed Call | Detective Jack Andrews | | | | |
| 2008 | 27 Dresses | George | | | | |
| 2009 | Echelon Conspiracy | John Reed | | | | |
| 2010 | Nice Guy Johnny | Uncle Terry | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2011 | Newlyweds | Buzzy | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2011 | Friends with Kids | Kurt | | | | |
| 2012 | Man on a Ledge | Jack Dougherty | | | | |
| 2012 | Alex Cross | Tommy Kane | | | | |
| 2012 | 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 | |
| 2025 | Millers in Marriage | Andy Miller | Yes | Yes | Yes | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | Will & Grace | Nick | 3 episodes |
| 2006–2009 | Entourage | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 2011 | Vietnam in HD | Joseph L. 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

| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
| 1995 | Independent Spirit | Best First Feature Shared with Dick Fisher | The Brothers McMullen | Won |
| 1995 | Sundance Film Festival | Best Dramatic Film | The Brothers McMullen | 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 |
| 1999 | Online Film Critics Society | Best Ensemble Cast Performance Shared with Damon, Davies, Diesel, Goldberg, Hanks, Pepper, Ribisi and Sizemore | Saving Private Ryan | Won |
| 2008 | Teen Choice | Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller | One Missed Call | Nominated |
| 2010 | Boston Film Festival | Best Director | Nice Guy Johnny | Won |