Betsy Burke

Betsy Ruth Burke was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to John A. Burke, an inventor and Great Lakes Historian who was educated by Jesuit Monks, and Gizela Anne (Kovach), a Hungarian beauty with a deep love of animals and nature. Betsy's feature film script "Season of Starlings," is in development. In the story, the myth of La Llorona becomes reality as a transplanted tomboy battles to save an abandoned young mother and child. Growing up, Betsy wrote plays to direct her siblings and cousins in. After graduating with a Writing Degree from the University of Cincinnati, Betsy spent two years traveling around Europe, studying languages and expanding her Ohio perspective. She lived for 11 years in San Francisco, where she gained success as a stage actress, performing at The Magic Theater, The American Conservatory Theater, The Marin Theater Company, and on many other stages. She was known as an offbeat ingenue with a talent for originating roles. She was hired at Lucasfilm as the human guinea pig for "The Betsy Flier," a flying rig named after her. During this time, she was also cast in the original stage production of "The House of Yes" at Yale University under a special contract. She moved to Los Angeles, where she was immediately cast in Dracula (1992) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in a scene opposite Anthony Hopkins...see it on her reel. After principle roles in several TV series, made for TV movies and cult films, Betsy started writing and directing films. Her first short film Rebel Rebel (2001) was accepted into the Academy Award accredited Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and went on to many other festivals around the world including Berlin, Paris, Budapest, Montreal and Johannesburg. Her short film script Cowboys (2004) was selected for production through a writing competition in New Mexico. This encouraged her long-standing dream to move there. Her residence in former ghost town, Madrid, New Mexico, in an 1850's authentically haunted house, has inspired her to write and direct several more short films, and pen several feature films. The treatment for her Sci-Fi TV series was shortlisted for the George RR Martin writing competition. In "Ain't It Cool News" by Harry Knowles, Betsy was described as "...an inventive filmmaker on the verge of much bigger things... Keep your eye out for her!" Betsy teaches a community yoga class, engages in organic gardening, sustainable living, and wild animal rescue.