- Born
- Birth nameWilliam Albert Burke
- Height1.88 m
- Billy Burke was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington, USA. He began singing at age nine, and joined a band at age fifteen. He continued to work with bands and study/performing drama at Western Washington University. He performed in Seattle at the Annex Theater, New City Festival, and the A.H.A. Theater, though it was as a musician, not an actor, that Burke first moved to Los Angeles. A demo deal with a major record label that "didn't quite pan out", left him to explore the only other thing he "knew he was good at". With two independent films shot in his native Seattle under his belt, he began auditioning and very soon working as an actor.
He made his feature film debut in the independent film Daredreamer (1989). After a string of mostly "bad guy with facial hair" TV guest appearances, he landed his first studio picture role in the Zucker brothers' genre spoof Le prince de Sicile (1998). Capitalizing on his deadpan comedic sensibilities, he then won the title role in Dill Scallion (1999), the cult classic "mockumentary" about the rise and fall of a slightly touched country music singer. Co-starring in "Dill", was then fledgling writer/director Peter Berg. It was Berg who brought Billy back to television to play "Dr. Abe Matthews" in the acclaimed ABC drama Wonderland (2000). Although its life on the air was short-lived, Wonderland (2000) won the hearts of critics and fans, alike, and was recently re-released in its entirety on DirecTV.
Paramount's Le Masque de l'araignée (2001) marked Billy's first revisit to studio films. He then returned yet again to television for the second season of Fox's mega hit series 24 heures chrono (2001). His disturbing portrayal of abusive father and husband "Gary Matheson" still resonates as a fan favorite. In 2004, Billy teamed up with John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix in the firefighter drama Piège de feu (2004). It was here that the studios once again began to recognize his on-screen magnetism. So, after another steady stream of notable television performances, he was cast alongside Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling in New Line's hit thriller La Faille (2007), directed by New York Police Blues (1993) creator Gregory Hoblit. This multi-layered turn as a flawed cop snared by his own aberrations caught the eye of Academy Award winning director Robert Benton. Benton swiftly invited Billy to join the cast of his and Lakeshore Entertainment's Festin d'amour (2007), which included Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. As fate would have it, neither Gregory Hoblit nor Lakeshore had seen enough of Burke's dry wit and unshakable persona, so when it came time to find a match for Diane Lane in Intraçable (2008), he got the call to play the rock solid "Detective Eric Box". Since arriving in Hollywood in the early 90s, Billy Burke has never stopped working. There are countless credits that come in between the aforementioned that of course, also serve as a testament to his gift and longevity. However, it was a chance viewing of Dill Scallion (1999) that struck an indelible head turn for director Catherine Hardwicke. The impression Billy's performance left, lasted until they met in 2007 while Hardwicke and Summit Entertainment were looking for someone to play "Charlie Swan" in their film adaptations of the bestselling book series The "Twilight" Saga. After a brief meeting and read-through of a few scenes, Billy and Catherine agreed... it was "meant to be". Summit followed suit and welcomed him into the franchise. Millions of fans around the world have concurred with the choice and the overwhelming response to his theatrical work has given him solace in the fact that he never got that record deal.- IMDb mini biography by: Matt Dicker and Tom Sullivan
- SpousePollyanna Rose(June 15, 2008 - 2017) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenBluesy LaRue Burke
- Daughter born while he was starring in Twilight: Chapitre 1 - Fascination (2008).
- His daughter's name is Bluesy Burke.
- Often portrays police officers, officials, FBI agents, and other persons in authority, such as a recent (2020) role as a Fire Captain in multiple segments of 9-1-1 : Lone Star (2020), and has also often portrayed different characters in different series produced by Dick Wolf.
- Grew a mustache to play the part of "Chief" Charlie Swan in Twilight: Chapitre 1 - Fascination (2008), Twilight: Chapitre 2 - Tentation (2009), Twilight: chapitre 3 - Hésitation (2010), Twilight: Chapitre 4 - Révélation, 1ère partie (2011), and Twilight: Chapitre 5 - Révélation, 2e partie (2012). When filming was completed, he shaved it off.
- His characters on 24 heures chrono (2001) and Revolution (2012) both have the last name Matheson.
- [2012, on] Komodo (1999) There are things you do for art and there are things you do for commerce. I am not embarrassed about saying that I had an amazing time in Australia making that movie. Was it a piece of genius? No. But I remember having such a great time making it. It was me and Jill Hennessy and Kevin Zegers, and we had a ball, actually. We shot it on the Gold Coast of Australia, and every weekend we'd go down to either Sydney or Melbourne and have a blast. I don't really remember what the movie was about, but, uh, there were some lizards in it, right?
- [2012, on his role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] I barely remember that, except for the fact that it was one of my very first gigs. I remember being in makeup for four and a half or five hours, and then to take off the makeup it was another three or four in makeup, because you have to go through the whole process. It was very brief. One scene, maybe a scene and a half. It was basically a walk-on role. But it was very... it was a style that I was completely not used to as an actor. It was very Shakespearean, that show. But I did the best I could.
- [2012, on getting into acting] I had known that I'd wanted to be an actor from a very early age, but I had always known that I wanted to have a dual career. I wanted to be an actor, and I also at that time wanted to be a rock star. And I went down the rock-star path first, and... that had its successes, but it didn't actually turn into rock stardom. But while I was doing that-this was up in Seattle, during the pre-grunge years-I met a woman who was producing an independent film, and she asked me to come and read for it. I did, and I got that part. And then she ended up doing another movie, and I got a part in that. Then I kind of did the thing that all the kids do: I moved to L.A. and just... I was doing music at the time, I had a demo deal with Warner Bros. that didn't pan out in the end, but I decided that while I was down here I'd just try and read for everything that I possibly could, and I started working as an actor in a timely fashion. And I've had a good 21 years so far.
- [2012, on Jane Austen's Mafia!] Yeah! That was my first studio picture. It was two tons of fun. Great cast: Jay Mohr, Christina Applegate, the late Lloyd Bridges... one of his last movies, as a matter of fact. Yeah, just that silly, fall-down, slap-in-the-face, really great comedy that I never get the chance to do anymore, actually. But it was good times.
- (2012, on landing Revolution) I was in Las Vegas, being a danger to myself. I got a call from my manager. She said, "Jon Favreau and Eric Kripke would like to meet you. They're doing a show. It's also produced by J.J. Abrams." I said, "What time do I gotta be there?" I flew back immediately, we met on a weekend, and they sort of just pitched me the show, what it was and what it was about. And given that and the pedigree that it came with, I said, "What do I gotta do? I'm in." And that's where it went from there. It's been nothing but joy ever since.
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