Mike Burstyn

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Michael Burstein is an American actor known onstage as Mike Burstyn. He was born in New York City to the late Yiddish-language actors, Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux. He is not related to actress Ellen Burstyn.

He began performing on stage at Yiddish theaters from childhood, in musicals and melodramas produced by his father, Pesach Burstein, especially as part of the Four Bursteins. in standard Pesach Burstein productions like A Khasene in Shtetl. He headed out on his own after reaching adulthood, in a bid to reach audiences bigger than the Yiddish stage.

He has performed on television in the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands. He has performed on Broadway, the Yiddish theater, and on the Israeli stage. He had his own show, De Mike Burstyn Show. He was cast as the lead in Israel Becker's The Flying Matchmaker, an Israeli film. In 1981, he took part in the Israeli heats of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Sviv kol ha'olam". The song was placed sixth.

Among his most noted roles in Yiddish theater was the part in his father's production of Itzik Manger's Songs of the Megillah.