Mike Burstyn

Mike Burstyn was born in 1945 in New York City

Mike Burstyn was born in New York City on July 1, 1945, to the Yiddish theater actors Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux. He first appeared on stage at age 3, performing with his parents and his twin sister Susan in the family show. The family toured widely and moved to Argentina when he was 7.

The family moved to Israel in 1954, returned to the United States, and came back to Israel in 1962. In 1965 they staged Itzik Manger's Megillah in Jaffa, and it ran for 250 performances and toured abroad, including Broadway. In 1966 he played both lead roles in The Flying Matchmaker and became a star in Israel.

He won first place at the 1967 Israel Song Festival with the song Mi Yode'a Kama. He performed at IDF bases during 3 of Israel's wars and staged a show for soldiers with Danny Kaye after the Six Day War. He won the Kinor David award for 1977 and hosted De Mike Burstyn Show in the Netherlands from 1978 to 1981.

On Broadway he played Roy Cohn in Inquest in 1970, took over the title role in Barnum, and played Mike Todd in Ain't Broadway Grand in 1993. He received Drama Desk nominations for The Rothschilds in 1990 and On Second Avenue in 2005. In 2017 he wrote and directed the film Azimuth, and since 2020 he has worked as a dubbing director for Netflix.