I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet.

Oprah, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart, Louis Hamilton, and many, many more.

On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours.

Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon.

The I Heart Organization and all of its accomplishments. This episode is the first in a series of conversations with people responsible for the studio's success.

When the doors of the actor's studio opened in 1947, in-walked actors who would become some of the most famous names in show business.

The I Heart Man, James Dean, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, and Marilyn Monroe. They all flocked to the studio to embrace the philosophy of Russian actor director Constantine Stanislavskaya.

By the 1960s, these lessons imparted by founders Cheryl Crawford, Bobby Lewis, Ilya Kazam and later by acting Guru Lee Strasberg have begun to influence nearly every serious actor in the world.

De Niro, Pacino, Nicholson, Bankraft, and more. Today, some seven decades since its inception, the need for truth and acting referred to as the method can be found to some degree in almost every acting program around the world.

My guests today are two women who have made extraordinary contributions to continuing the work of the actor studio and whose careers have resulted in significant recognition.

Estelle Parsons won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Bonnie and Clyde, the second film she ever made. Her time as an actor and director in the theater is no less significant.

She's earned five Tony nominations and two OB awards. Parsons' work at the studio began in 1962 and includes her roles as Artistic Director from 1998 to 2003.

And co-associate Artistic Director, a title she currently holds. But first, my conversation with another leader within the organization, my co-president, Ellen Burstin.

Burstin is perhaps best known for her performances in films like Alice doesn't live here anymore, the last picture show, the exorcist, and Requiem for Dream.

She also has the distinction of winning the triple crown of acting and Oscar, a Tony, and two Emmys.

I was curious how she first found her way to the actress studio and how her craft changed when she began her work there.

Well, I've looked at some old television shows. There's Western, it's particularly amusing.

This me and a cowboy hat on a horse. It makes me that fun, I look at it.

You know, without studying, if you're born with a certain talent for acting, you can kind of do it.

You know, you say the words and make sense of them and cook up some bit of emotion sometimes, but it's not real.

That's what it is. It's just not real. There's a nasty word in our field indicated.

I was waiting for you to use that word.

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