David Burtka
Encyclopedia
Background
Burtka was born in Dearborn, MichiganDearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, grew up in Canton, Michigan, and graduated from Plymouth-Salem High School in 1993. He trained in acting at Interlochen Center for the Arts
Interlochen Center for the Arts
Interlochen Center for the Arts is a privately owned, 1,200 acre arts education institution in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly 15 miles southwest of Traverse City...
, obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and had further training at the William Esper Studios. He is also a singer.
Career
His BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut was as Tulsa in the 2003 production of Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
starring Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
. He played The Boy in the American premiere of Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
's The Play About the Baby
The Play About the Baby
The Play About the Baby is a play by Edward Albee. It was first performed in 1998 by the Almeida Theatre Company in Malvern, Worcestershire, directed by Howard Davies. The American premiere was off-Broadway in 2001, by Alley Theatre at the Century Center for the Performing Arts, directed by David...
, for which he won the 2001 Clarence Derwent Award for most promising male performer.
In 2004, Burtka originated the role of Matt in the musical The Opposite of Sex
The Opposite of Sex (musical)
The Opposite of Sex is a musical with music and lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen and book by Cohen with Robert Jess Roth, based on the screenplay to the film of the same name by Don Roos. The show had its premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco on October 2, 2004....
, and reprised the role in the work's East Coast premiere in the summer of 2006.
Burtka made his television debut in 2002 with a guest role on The West Wing; this was followed by guest appearances on Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan
Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...
. In the first season episode of How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, the actor reprised his role as "Scooter", the former high school boyfriend of Lily (Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...
).
According to his longtime partner, actor Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
, Burtka has, as of 2009, quit acting in order to become a chef. He graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Pasadena in summer 2009 and afterward began running a Los Angeles catering company, Gourmet M.D.
Burtka made a cameo appearance in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas as himself, sharing a scene with the fictional version of Neil Patrick Harris (played by Neil Patrick Harris).
Personal life
Six months after Burtka's How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
appearance, there was a story published purporting that the actor received the part because of a romantic relationship with one of the series' stars, Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
. Speculation around this story eventually led Harris to publicly acknowledge that he is gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
in a cover story in People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine. Burtka made no public response to the story, though later Harris stated that he and Burtka were moving in together.
Burtka and Harris attended the Emmy awards in September 2007 as an openly acknowledged couple for the first time, an appearance which Harris discussed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
.
On February 4, 2009, Burtka and Harris appeared for the first time on stage together singing a duet from Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
at a benefit for The LGBT Community Center in New York. The two actors have been together since April 2004. Harris refers to Burtka as "my better half" and "an amazing chef". On August 14, 2010, Harris announced that he and Burtka were expecting twins via a surrogate mother. Fraternal twins Gideon Scott, a boy, and Harper Grace, a girl, were born on October 12, 2010.
Following the passage of the Marriage Equality Act
Marriage Equality Act
The Marriage Equality Act is a 2011 New York State law that allows gender-neutral marriages for both same- and opposite-sex couples, while prohibiting state and local courts and governments from penalizing religious and religious-supervised institutions, their employees, or clergy for refusing to...
in New York on June 24, 2011, Burtka and Harris announced their engagement via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, stating that they had proposed to each other five years earlier but had kept the engagement secret until same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
became legal.
External links
- David Burtka at the Lortel ArchivesLortel ArchivesThe Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway.The archives are named in honor of actress and theatrical producer Lucille Lortel.-See also:...