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A multi-hyphenate, Ellen is an actor, writer, producer and director.  The recipient of the prestigious Robert Prosky Character Actors Award and winner of the Roy W. Dean Screenwriting Grant.  A member of: Greenlight Women, WIF, AWD, LA Film Team, Film Independent, SAG-AFTRA and a lifetime member of The Actors Studio. Her one woman show, My Psychotherapy ComeBack Tour, was a finalist in the Samuel French short play contest, played in LA and New York at the Fringe Festival and the Harold Clurman Theater. She started Lulu Productions, to share her passion as a humanitarian and highlight social issues with a lifeline of humor. Under that banner, Ellen writes, produces and directs award winning films, web series, music videos, documentaries and theatre. Ellen is a prolific actor in all of those mediums with countless credits. imdb.me/IamEllenGerstein

Ellen’s international award winning short films have garnered her more than 40 awards. Ellen produced, wrote, directed and acted in Come Away with Me, an interracial love story. Ellen produced, wrote and directed,  Waiting for Ronald (shot on 35mm) with a blended cast of actors with disabilities and without. A man with developmental disabilities goes to live an independent life. Her pilot script Just South Of Normal adapted from Waiting For Ronald

has won 10 awards including WeScreenplay – Diverse Voices, Semifinalist and Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards – Diversity Initiative. 

Where is Dr. Jeanee? A mental health musical… (Co-written by Ellen and Jerri Sher) Inspired by her one-woman show, “My Psychotherapy Comeback Tour”. Big Al, Hip Hop and Her,  feature script, about three very different people who discover what true family is all about. Custody of Connie, feature script, a women is unwillingly given custody of her adult ex-sister-in-law.  Silent Laughter (wrote, co-produced, acted in), a short film for the Women’s Directing Workshop at AFI. A stand-up comic picks on the wrong audience member. 

Ellen’s mission is to connect people who are isolated through the gift of film, television and theater. She tells heartfelt stories about everyday heroes and people on the fringe of society with grit and humor. Somewhere along the way Ellen received a graduate degree in psychology and was a therapist,  she does not have to pay for therapy she can just talk to herself.