Early life and education

Burke was born in New York City, the son of immigrants from Galway, Ireland. He attended the Acting Conservatory at State University of New York at Purchase.

Career

Burke was a cast member on Denis Leary's Rescue Me and played Bart Bass on The CW's Gossip Girl. He was working on the TV series Kidnapped for NBC and was a featured character on ABC's series Six Degrees. Burke has also had recurring roles on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where he has the recurring role of NYPD Internal Affairs Lieutenant (and later Captain) Ed Tucker, a frequent nemesis for the SVU detective squad), Person of Interest (as a crooked cop working for the mob) and appeared on The Sopranos in 2004. He was also on Sex and the City in seasons four and five playing Miranda's hookup. Also, in 2004 Burke played the role of Mr. Neck in the independent film Speak.

Burke's largest mainstream role to date has been taking over the lead from Peter Weller in RoboCop 3. He is notable for being a regular performer in fellow Purchase alumnus Hal Hartley's indie films, such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth and 1992's Simple Men. He also had a small role in Hartley's 1995 film Flirt.

He starred in Richard Stanley's 1993 film Dust Devil, and in 2001's No Such Thing. In 1996, he played the lead role in the Stephen King adaptation Thinner.

In 2005, Burke, had a role in the John Polson film Hide and Seek, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning. He also had roles in the Academy Award-nominated films Munich directed by Steven Spielberg and Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney.

In 2008, he portrayed Major General 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. He appeared in the 2012 film Safe.

In 2014 he appeared in an episode of Last Week Tonight parodying his role on Law & Order.

Filmography

[ Source: Wikipedia ]