Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns is an American writer, actor, producer, comedian, host, independent filmmaker and director living in Austin, Texas as well as a co-founder of Rooster Teeth Productions. He is known for his work with Rooster Teeth, an Austin, Texas-based film production company which he co-founded. Burnie served as a main co-writer and director for Red vs. Blue, also providing the voices of Church, Epsilon, Lopez, and Vic in the series, and was a co-writer and star in Rooster Teeth's first full-length film, Lazer Team.
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 and Halo 2, and provides the voice of Leonard L. Church for the series. Burns has become the fatherly figure of the staff and looks after everyone. He plays the lead character in the majority of their series and is a very skilled comedic writer.
He is a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and current chief creative officer of Rooster Teeth. He is noted for his contributions in Machinima (a form of film-making that uses video game technology in its production), and also working with animation cartoons, live-action production, and podcasts. Burns is also known for his work in the hosting and podcasting field.
Along with Matt Hullum, he is the executive producer of "Camp Camp". For a more comprehensive guide on his work outside of this series, please visit the Rooster Teeth Wiki.
Trivia[]
- Burnie is known to perform strange acts while drunk. This including handing out kettle corn to individuals at a party, proclaiming himself to be the character Catbug from the animated series Bravest Warriors, and even making out with a chair while pretending it is Gavin.
- He has several alter egos, all of which have been featured in Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures
- Burnie was married to Jordan Burns, who voiced female Donut from Caboose's mind in Red vs Blue, from August 2000 to December 2011. He has had two sons with Jordan, Teddy and J.D. Burns, the latter of which is the current voice of the A.I. Theta in the series.
- He is currently engaged to Ashley Jenkins, whom he participated within the twenty-eighth season of "The Amazing Race". They were eliminated in the penultimate leg of the Race, finishing fourth.
- He made an appearance in the episode "The Gang Tends Bar" from the series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
- He also made a short cameo in the comedy film, "Why Him?"
- He voices the character Taiyang Xiao Long in Rooster Teeth's RWBY.
- In the episode "Gwen Gets a Job", the first manager that interviews Gwen bears a striking resemblance to him.