Robert John Burke


Robert John Burke is an American actor.

Early life and education

Burke was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan, the son of immigrants from Galway, Ireland. He attended the Acting Conservatory at State University of New York at Purchase. Burke holds a second degree black belt in Matsubayashi, Shorin-ryu Okinawa karate. He is a certified and active New York State firefighter, volunteers as a Fire Captain.

Career

Burke was a cast member on Denis Leary's Rescue Me and played 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 had recurring roles on Law & Order and and has appeared in Person of Interest, and The Sopranos in 2004. Burke was 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. Opposite Laura Dern’s Academy Award for Best Actress nominated role in Ramblin’ Rose.
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 alumnus Hal Hartley's indie films, such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth and 1992's Simple Men. He had a small role in Hartley's 1995 film Flirt.
He starred in Richard Stanley's 1993 film Dust Devil, and in 2001's No Such Thing. In 1996, he played the lead role in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s Thinner.
In 2005, Burke had a role in the John Polson film Hide and Seek, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning. He had roles in the Academy Award-nominated films Munich directed by Steven Spielberg and Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney.
In 2008, he portrayed Major General James Mattis, Commanding General of 1st Marine Division in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. Burke also portrayed General Ned Almond, commanding general of the 92nd Division, Buffalo Soldiers, in the 2008 Spike Lee film Miracle at St. Anna. He appeared in the 2012 film Safe.
In 2015 and 2017, he appeared in three episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, once parodying his role on Law & Order. He played the Colorado Springs chief of police in Spike Lee's Academy Award for Best Screenplay BlacKkKlansman in 2018.

Filmography

Film

Television