Burnie Burns facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Burnie Burns
Burns at VidCon in 2014
Born	Michael Justin Burns (1973-01-18) January 18, 1973 (age 52) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Texas, Austin (BA)
Occupation	Executive Producer at Rooster Teeth (Formerly)
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Jordan Burns ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2011)​ Ashley Jenkins ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	4

Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born January 18, 1973) is an American writer, producer, actor, and director. He is best known as a co-founder of the production company Rooster Teeth. Burns became famous for his work in machinima, a way of making movies using video games.

In 2003, Burns and his friends created the popular web series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. They made the show using the video game Halo. People loved its humor, and it made Burns an Internet celebrity. This success helped him start Rooster Teeth.

Because of Red vs. Blue, the video game company Electronic Arts asked him to make a show using their game The Sims 2. This led to the series The Strangerhood. Burns also created other shows like PANICS and starred in the movie Lazer Team.

Burns is seen as a leader in machinima. He has been a guest at major events like San Diego Comic-Con and the Sundance Film Festival. He has been nominated for awards for hosting web shows and was named a "Top 25 Digital Star" by The Hollywood Reporter in 2015.

Early Life and Education

Burns was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Houston, Texas. He got the nickname "Burnie" in high school to stand out from other students named Michael. He was interested in medicine and spent time doing clinical work at a local hospital.

After high school, he went to The University of Texas at Austin and earned a degree in Computer Science. While in college, he started making videos for the student TV station. He created a show called Sneak Peek, where he reviewed movies and interviewed guests like Adam Sandler.

Beginning a Career in Film

During his last year of college, Burns decided to make a movie. He worked with his friends Joel Heyman and Matt Hullum to create The Schedule (1997). They filmed it for $9,000. After the movie was finished, they found it hard to get it shown to a wide audience.

Burns then worked at a tech support company, where he met Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola. These new friends would later help him create Red vs. Blue. In 2002, they made a funny video that became very popular online. This success showed them that they could create great things by combining their skills in filmmaking and technology.

The Rise of Rooster Teeth

Creating Red vs. Blue

Burnie Burns at the RTX 2017 convention in Austin, Texas, during a "Red vs. Blue" panel discussion.

Burns, Ramsey, and Sorola were big fans of the video game Halo: Combat Evolved. One day, they had a funny conversation about a vehicle in the game. This conversation gave Burns the idea for a new series. He created a trailer for Red vs. Blue and released it online.

To produce the show, Burns founded the company Rooster Teeth with his friends. The first episode of Red vs. Blue came out on April 1, 2003. The show was made using machinima, where they recorded dialogue and matched it with video from the game.

Red vs. Blue became much more popular than they ever expected. They originally planned for only a few episodes, but the story grew. The show was featured on popular websites, and soon thousands of people were watching. Burns and his team quit their jobs to work on the series full-time. They started an online store selling T-shirts to support the company.

The first five seasons, known as the Blood Gulch Chronicles, ended in 2007. The series continued with new stories and characters for many more years. Burns was the main writer and director for a long time before passing the role to others. He continued to provide voices for characters like Church and Lopez. In 2023, it was announced that Burns would return to write the show's final season.

Other Machinima Projects

In 2004, Burns and his team created another machinima series called The Strangerhood. They used the game The Sims 2 to make a comedy that was like a reality TV show. The story was about eight strangers who wake up in a strange neighborhood with no memory of how they got there.

Later, Burns and Rooster Teeth made a mini-series called P.A.N.I.C.S. using the video game F.E.A.R.. It was a funny science fiction series about a special military team fighting supernatural enemies.

Expanding into Live-Action and Hosting

Burns in the Rooster Teeth office in Austin, Texas, in 2008.

Burns returned to making live-action videos with Captain Dynamic, a mini-series promoting the game City of Heroes. This led to the creation of Rooster Teeth Shorts, a sketch comedy series where the staff played funny versions of themselves.

In 2008, Burns started a podcast with his co-workers, which was later named The Rooster Teeth Podcast. The show became very popular, and Burns appeared on it regularly for many years.

He also hosted shows like Immersion, where they tested video game ideas in real life. For example, they would see if real soldiers could perform well while being distracted, just like in online games. He also hosted a reality competition show called The Gauntlet.

Film Projects and Lazer Team

Burns with director Matt Hullum and co-star Alan Ritchson at the premiere of Lazer Team.

In 2014, Rooster Teeth started a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to make a movie called Lazer Team. The campaign was a huge success, raising its goal of $650,000 in less than 10 hours. It went on to raise over $2.4 million, setting a record on Indiegogo for a film campaign.

Burns co-wrote the movie and also starred in it as a character named Hagan. Lazer Team is a science fiction comedy about four regular guys who find an alien battle suit and have to save the world. The movie was released in 2016, and a sequel, Lazer Team 2, came out in 2017.

Burns also worked as an executive producer on other projects. This included the documentary Minecraft: The Story of Mojang and the popular animated web series RWBY.

Life After Rooster Teeth

In 2019, Burns stepped back from being on camera at Rooster Teeth to work on other projects. In June 2020, he announced that he was leaving the company to focus on his family and move to another country.

After some time away from the public, Burns started a new daily podcast in December 2023 called Morning Somewhere. He hosts it with his wife, Ashley Burns, from their home in Scotland.

In February 2025, Burns announced that his new company, Box Canyon Productions, had acquired the Rooster Teeth brand and its shows.

Personal Life

Burns was married to Jordan Burns from 2000 to 2011. He married Ashley Jenkins, another well-known person from Rooster Teeth, in 2019. He has four children.

For many years, he lived in Austin, Texas. In 2020, he and his family moved out of the United States. They now live in Scotland.

Filmography

Web

Film

Television