Burnie Burns

Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born 1973) is an independent filmmaker living in Texas. His most notable contributions have been in machinima, although he has also worked with live-action. In April 2003, Burns, along with several of his friends, created the Internet machinima series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. Filmed using the Xbox video games Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: Reach. Red vs. Blue was quickly acclaimed for its humor and originality, eventually elevating Burns to the status of an Internet celebrity. Such visibility allowed him to create one of the few successful machinima film-houses in the industry, Rooster Teeth Productions. Burns even attracted the attention of video game giant Electronic Arts, who asked him to create a promotional series using their new game, The Sims 2. The result, The Strangerhood, has received mixed reviews. Burns also premiered P.A.N.I.C.S., a new mini-series that utilizes the F.E.A.R. game engine. He has appeared at several film festivals, including Sundance and The Sydney Film Festival. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and two sons.

Background
Burnie was born in the Rochester N.Y. area. Burns attended The University of Texas at Austin, in Austin, Texas, to received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He went on to become the President of tech support company TeleNetwork Partners, and eventually broke out to form his independent company Rooster Teeth Productions. Burns currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife and two sons.

Career
After the first season of Red vs. Blue, Burns, voicing the character of Church, became an instant celebrity in the machinima community. As the director, writer, and lead actor of the series, Burns is sharing the fame of being the star of Red vs. Blue, but is also the driving force behind the series. His series earned three awards at the 2003 Machinima Film Festival — Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Independent Machinima Film — and was nominated for three others. The series completed its 100-episode run on June 28, 2007.

Burns regularly attends conventions featuring Red vs. Blue and has made several appearances on G4techTV. He also appeared on the Discovery Channel mini-series "Rise of the Videogame" along with Gus Sorola. He also makes Frequent appearances on the "Drunk Tank Podcast" along with Geoff Ramsey and Gustavo Sorola.