A young triple threat of Irish extraction, Edward Burns first gained notice as the writer-director and co-star of the independently filmed "The Brothers McMullen," the winner of the Grand Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Filmed on a shoe-string budget (reportedly under $30,000) over the course of eight months, the feature told the story of three Irish-American brothers trying to deal with their blue-collar upbringing, relationships, white-collar dreams and women. After receiving the prestigious award, the film was picked-up by 20th Century Fox's Searchlight Pictures for distribution