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Robert John Burke

Robert John Burke

Birthday: 1960-09-12 | Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA

A born-and-bred New Yorker, Robert John Burke made his film debut while in his early 20s with a small part in the drama "The Chosen" (1981), based on the Chaim Potok story. He went on to study acting at SUNY Purchase where he met aspiring filmmaker Hal Hartley, who cast him as one of the leads in his debut feature "The Unbelievable Truth," an offbeat indie tale where he played a man trying to escape his troubled past. Working with Hartley again on the charming brother-centric dark comedy "Simple Men," Burke caught a major break when Hollywood producers decided that his chiseled jawline was the right one to replace Peter Weller's in the sci-fi/action sequel "RoboCop 3." Despite Burke's efforts, the movie tanked, and he went on to smaller roles in major films, including the lauded Western "Tombstone" (1993) and the prison-break movie "Fled" (1996). Burke landed his second chance in a Hollywood starring role with the Stephen King adaptation "Thinner" (1996), but the macabre tale, which featured him under heavy makeup to depict a callous man who magically loses weight, was deemed almost universally unlikable.Though Burke's leading-man days were mostly behind him, his beastly role in Hartley's "No Such Thing" (2001) aside, he soldiered on, and began increasingly working on television with recurring roles on the grim prison drama "Oz" and the police procedural "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ). Appearing in George Clooney's first two movies as director, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (2002) and "Good Night, and Good Luck." (2005), Burke nonetheless became more familiar to TV audiences, particularly when he signed on to play Mickey Gavin, the ex-priest cousin of Denis Leary's lead character on the firefighter series "Rescue Me," a part that dovetailed with Burke's real-life second job as a New York State fireman.Often cast as a tough guy, the ruggedly handsome and tall actor continued to play imposing figures such as Major General James "Chaos" Mattis in the Iraq War miniseries "Generation Kill" (HBO, 2008) and Bart Bass, the controlling billionaire father of Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) on the soapy drama "Gossip Girl." Before long, he was juggling his ongoing "Law & Order: SVU" part with regular spots on the military drama "Army Wives" (Lifetime, 2007- ) and the tense crime show "Person of Interest" (CBS, 2011- ), while still finding time for supporting turns in films, including the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg action movie "2 Guns" (2013).

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2022
The Retaliators

as    Captain Briggs

2021
Intrusion

as    Detective Steven Morse

2018
Boarding School

as    Mr. Holcomb

2015
True Story

as    Greg Ganley

2014
Ned Rifle

as    Chet

2013
2 Guns

as    Jessup

2012
Safe

as    Captain Wolf

2011
Limitless

as    Pierce

2006
Kidnapped

as    Bellows

2006
The Oh in Ohio

as    Binky Taylor

2005
Good Night, and Good Luck.

as    Charlie Mack

2005
Hide and Seek

as    Steven

2004
Speak

as    Mr. Neck

2004
Connie and Carla

as    Rudy

2002
No Such Thing

as    The Monster

1998
A Bright Shining Lie

as    Frank Drummond

1998
Midnight Flight

as    Paul Bacon

1996
Thinner

as    Billy Halleck

1996
If Lucy Fell

as    Handsome Man

1996
Fled

as    Pat Schiller

1996
Killer: A Journal of Murder

as    R.G. Greiser

1993
Heaven & Earth

as    Paul

1993
A Far Off Place

as    Paul Parker

1993
RoboCop 3

as    Robocop

1992
Dust Devil

as    Dust Devil