Robert John Burke
- Born
- September 12, 1960 (age 62)
- Profession
- Actor, Firefighter
Robert John Burke (born September 12, 1960) is an American actor.
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Burke was born in New York City, the son of immigrants from Galway, Ireland. He attended the Acting Conservatory at SUNY Purchase in the mid-1980s.
Burke was a cast member on Denis Leary's Rescue Me and plays Bart Bass on The CW's Gossip Girl. He was working on the TV series Kidnapped for NBC and was a featured character on ABC's series Six Degrees. Burke has also had recurring roles on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where he has the recurring role of NYPD Internal Affairs lieutenant Ed Tucker, a frequent nemesis for the SVU detective squad), Person of Interest (as a crooked cop working for the mob) and appeared on The Sopranos in 2004. He was also on Sex and the City in seasons four and five playing Miranda's hookup. Also, in 2004 Burke played the role of Mr. Neck in the independent film Speak.
Burke's largest mainstream role to date has been taking over the lead from Peter Weller in RoboCop 3. He is notable for being a regular performer in fellow Purchase alum Hal Hartley's indie films, such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth and 1992's Simple Men. He also had a small role in Hartley's 1995 film Flirt.
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Burke has two children. He spent several days at Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks assisting with the search and rescue. He has since become a New York State certified firefighter. He also recently traveled to New Orleans to assist in the re-building of New Orleans fire houses.
Burke holds a 3rd degree black belt in Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Okinawan Karate. He has a twin brother, who made a cameo appearance in Richard Stanley's 1993 film Dust Devil, playing his twin.
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