Billy Burke was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington, USA. At the tender age of nine, he began singing, and by fifteen, he had joined a band. Throughout his teenage years, he continued to work with various bands while studying and performing drama at Western Washington University. His early career saw him perform in Seattle at the Annex Theater, New City Festival, and the A.H.A. Theater, initially as a musician, not an actor.
However, it was a demo deal with a major record label that didn't quite pan out that led him to explore his other passion, acting. With two independent films shot in his native Seattle under his belt, he began auditioning and soon landed acting roles. His feature film debut was in the independent film Daredreamer (1989). Following 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 Mafia! (1998).
Capitalizing on his deadpan comedic sensibilities, he won the title role in Dill Scallion (1999),a 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, who would later bring Billy back to television to play "Dr. Abe Matthews" in the acclaimed ABC drama Wonderland (2000).
Although Wonderland (2000) had a short-lived run, it won the hearts of critics and fans alike and was recently re-released in its entirety on DirecTV. Billy's next notable role was in Paramount's Along Came a Spider (2001),marking his first revisit to studio films. He then returned to television for the second season of Fox's mega hit series 24 (2001),playing the disturbing role of abusive father and husband "Gary Matheson", which still resonates as a fan favorite.
In 2004, Billy teamed up with John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix in the firefighter drama Ladder 49 (2004). This marked the beginning of the studios recognizing his on-screen magnetism. After a steady stream of notable television performances, he was cast alongside Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling in New Line's hit thriller Fracture (2007),directed by NYPD Blue (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, who invited Billy to join the cast of his and Lakeshore Entertainment's Feast of Love (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 Untraceable (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. His extensive credits 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 that 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.
