Robert John Burke

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.[2]

Burke's television roles include Rescue Me, Bart Bass on Gossip Girl, Kidnapped, Six Degrees, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Person of Interest, Sex and the City, and The Sopranos.

Burke's film work began as a regular performer in fellow Purchase alumnus Hal Hartley's indie films, such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth[2] and 1992's Simple Men.[2] He had a small role in Hartley's 1995 film Flirt.[2] Burke's took over the lead from Peter Weller in RoboCop 3.[2] He starred in Richard Stanley's 1993 film Dust Devil,[3] and in 2001's No Such Thing.[3] In 1996, he played the lead role in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s Thinner.[2] In 2004, Burke played the role of Mr. Neck in the independent film Speak. In 2005, Burke had a role in Hide and Seek,[3] a psychological thriller. He had roles in the Academy Award-nominated films Munich[3] directed by Steven Spielberg and Good Night, and Good Luck,[3] directed by George Clooney. In 2008, he portrayed 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.[3] He appeared in the 2012 film Safe.[3] He played the Colorado Springs chief of police in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman (2018).

In 2015 and 2017, he appeared in three episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, once parodying his role on Law & Order.[4]

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.

• Robert John Burke at IMDb
• Robert John Burke at Twitter