Biography
Born Sept. 8, 1971 in Hartford, CT to parents of Irish, Portuguese and French descent, Burke was raised in Tucson, AZ after her parents divorced. The middle child of seven siblings, Burke never dreamed of fame and fortune. The young beauty was content to spend the rest of her life in the desert, playing drums in a rock band. Fate intervened when Burke accompanied a friend to a local modeling agency and was noticed by a beauty scout. Shortly after, she won a pageant sponsored by Hawaiian Tropics suntan lotion, and at age 19, headed to L.A. to study broadcast journalism at UCLA . For extra money, she posed for Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie catalogs - an experience which would serve her well in the years to come. She continued to sign with prestigious model and talent agencies, landing parts in national spots for Bally Total Fitness, Discover Card, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch. In 1999, she auditioned for the host of E! Entertainment 's popular travel series, "Wild On" (1997-2002) when outgoing host Jules Asner decided to switch from exotic locales to the local "E! News Live" department. Burke landed the career-making gig. Her induction to the crazy world of "Wild On'' was indeed wild. Burke was sent to Spain for the annual La Tomatina Festival, in which a crowd 30,000 strong bombarded each other with tomatoes from local vineyards in "the largest food fight in the world." Seeing the girl dripping in tomatoes - and actually loving every minute of it - endeared her to fans immediately. Burke immersed herself in the action and the culture every time. With Burke on beaches or dancing in nightclubs, viewers began tuning in en masse, making "Wild On" the network's No. 2 show behind "Howard Stern." Posing for Playboy in May 2001 increased her audience. In 1998, the hostess, who admitted to having had breast enhancement surgery at age 19, met Dr. Garth Fisher, a renowned Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. Not long after their whirlwind romance began, they had a daughter in 2000, followed two years later by a second daughter. The couple tied the knot that same year. Burke as "wife/mother" actually enhanced her appeal. In a smart business decision Brooke Burke created a brand attractive to men and women. For the men, there were years of best-selling swimsuit calendars and countless covers and layouts in men's magazines, including two features in Playboy. For the ladies, a workout video "Core Secrets" (2004) and her own swimwear line, "Barely Brooke," which appeared in the 2003 swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated and also in Victoria's Secret catalogs. After three years of adventures, Burke stepped down as host of "Wild On" in the fall of 2002. She remained at E! until Aug. 2003, hosting the pop culture countdown series, "Rank" (2001-03) and working the red carpet for E! Live Events. In 2004, she returned to the network that made her a star for a limited engagement series called "The Good Life with Brooke Burke." Burke jumped at the opportunity to learn acting, accepting bit parts on TV shows such as "Monk" (USA Network, 2002-09), "Less Than Perfect" (ABC, 2002-06) and "Ev " (UPN, 2003-06). She made the jump to the big screen, playing small roles in two 2004 films: "The Hazing" and "Knuckle Sandwich." Additionally, Burke made her stage debut performing a celebrity piece in the L.A. premiere of the off-Broadway play, "Pieces of Ass" in late 2003. She even entered the video game industry and starred in EA Games' "Need for Speed: Underground 2," where she played Rachel Teller, a street-wise adrenaline junkie who runs a street racing company. She received a Spike TV Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Human-Female and was nominated for Hottest Video Vixen for the same game. She also loaned her voice to Atari's Trivial Pursuit "Unhinged" video game as host of the "People and Places" category. Burke raised her public profile up yet another notch by teaming up with "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett to co-host the CBS reality series, "Rock Star: INXS." Singers competed to replace deceased former INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. In July, 2005, Burke and Fisher - by then a bit of a celebrity himself as a regular on ABC's plastic surgery reality hit "Extreme Makeover" (ABC, 2002-05) - announced their separation. Burke moved on to a relationship with former "Baywatch" star, David Charvet. The couple gave birth to a daughter in January 2007 and then a son, born in March 2008. The couple went on to marry in 2011, and then divorced in 2020. In an attempt to conquer one more challenge, Burke signed on to the seventh season of "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ) to dance with professional Derek Hough. A judge and audience favorite, Burke ended up taking home the coveted disco trophy ball, as well as scoring a co-hosting gig opposite Tom Bergeron two years later after "DWTS" mainstay Samantha Harris left the show. Although she had her fans and detractors in her new role, Burke clearly loved being a part of the show that had - more than any project - made her a household name beyond simply her male fanbase. Landing a number of endorsement deals due to "DWTS," Burke lived a seemingly charmed life until November 2012 when she announced she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer; in the same breath, she reassured fans she had a great prognosis and would be undergoing a thyroidectomy. Despite being given a clean bill of health, Burke left "Dancing with the Stars" following the completion of season 17 in 2013. While continuing her commercial work, Burke appeared in episodes of the sitcom "Melissa and Joey" (ABC Family 2010-15) and comedy-drama "Jane the Virgin" (CW 2014- ), as well as appearing as a contestant on the short-lived "The New Celebrity Apprentice" (NBC 2017). More recently, Burke has been making appearances on shows such as "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC, 2003- ), and "Hollywood Game Night" (2013-19).
