Ellen Burstyn is reflecting on her “meaningful” life at 93 as she receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

The Oscar winner was presented with the honor by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who directed Burstyn in Flesh Impact, which screened after the award ceremony. Burstyn also stars in Place to Be, costarring Taika Waititi and playing out of competition at the festival. The film has its world premiere Tuesday.

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In an interview with PEOPLE conducted ahead of the festival, the legendary actress discussed why her craft continues to bring her so much joy.

“It’s my feeling that if you’re an artist of any kind, whether it’s an actor or a musician or a painter, that path is going to make your life meaningful to you, and following that path is your destiny,” she shared. “I always tell young actors, my secret to a meaningful and happy life is to find a way to earn a living in something that should be happy to do for free. The most happy people that I know are the ones who have done that, who are working from an internal impulse, something they just have to do and want to do to just pay the rent. So that’s the way I feel it’s been for me.”

Ellen Burstyn in ‘Place to Be’.Simon Harsent
In Place to Be, which reunites her with her Pieces of a Woman filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó, Burstyn stars as Brooke Graham, a woman who has devoted her life to her children since her husband’s death. When a carrier pigeon that refuses to leave her home enters her quiet existence, she sets out on a journey to return it to its owner and forms an unexpected friendship with an exasperated businessman, played by Waititi, along the way.

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Leading a film in her 90s is not lost on the actress, who admitted, “I never pictured myself still making movies at 93.”

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“When I was making movies in my 40s, I was surprised that I was doing leads in movies then,” the Exorcist star told PEOPLE. “Little did I know that I would still be working at this level in my 90s, and I love it. I just think it’s… I don’t know how to describe it. I know it’s rare in the business and it’s a surprise to me, but at the same time, it feels perfectly natural because that’s what I’ve done all of my life.”

Ellen Burstyn on Sept. 7, 2026, in Venice, Italy.ETTORE FERRARI/EPA/Shutterstock
As for receiving a Lifetime Achievement award after a career that has seen her win an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award — making her one of the rare actors to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting — Burstyn made it known, “My general feeling is, ‘Well, I guess I did something right.’”

“It’s a great honor that I never even considered or though it would be coming my way, so I’m very pleased and slightly humbled by it,” she added. “You get something like this and you go, ‘Really? Wow, that’s great.’ And it just makes me feel like I did learn the things that I was supposed to learn along the way so that I could keep working.”