Burke was born at the Royal Free Hospital, London, on 13 June 1964,[3] and was brought up in Islington, North London, by her Irish Catholic parents Paddy and Bridget.[4] She has two elder brothers.[5] Her mother, known as Bridie, died of cancer when Burke was two years old. She lived with her father, a builder who was an alcoholic, and attended the Maria Fidelis Convent School, a secondary school in Euston, until she was 16 years old.[4] She then studied at the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington.[3][6]
Burke appeared in a non-speaking role in a 1985 public information film about heroin addiction.[8] The following year she appeared in a non-speaking role as 'witness in doorway' in an award-winning advert for The Guardian's 'Points of View'.[9]
Burke first became familiar to television audiences as a player of minor roles in sketches by better-known performers such as Harry Enfield, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Early TV work included regular appearances on the chat show The Last Resort hosted by Jonathan Ross on UK Channel 4 in the mid-1980s, playing the characters 'Tina Bishop' and 'Perry the Pre-pubescent Schoolboy". Bishop was a continually pregnant "expert" offering advice on household chores, always with disastrous results. Both Perry and Tina (renamed "Waynetta Slob") later re-appeared as recurring sketch characters in Harry Enfield programmes. Along with French and Saunders, she has contributed to two Comic Relief charity singles. She first appeared as a member of Bananarama parody band Lananeeneenoonoo in 1989, and then as a member of Spice Girls look-alike band the Sugar Lumps in 1997.
In real life Burke was a big fan of Morrissey and appeared in the video for his 1989 single "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" and later in the 2002 Channel 4 documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey.[citation needed] On the 7 November 2023 episode of her Where There's a Will There's a Wake podcast, with Dolly Alderton as her guest, Burke admitted "We don't like Morrissey anymore...because he's a racist wanker". Alderton shared Burke's disappointment with Morrissey's views with Burke adding "We idolise these people...but then people are three-dimensional and you get to know what they really think about life and it's just always a disappointment." [10]
She became successful in her own right and although mainly associated with comedy, she has played several serious roles including that of Queen Mary Tudor in the film Elizabeth, which was released in 1998.[11]
In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.[18]
Beginning in 2001, she refrained from acting and began theatre directing; something she considers to be one of her true passions.[19] She said in an interview with Dawn French in Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy that she no longer felt the same creative energy associated with acting that she used to have (she described it as a "feeling in my belly") and that this was the reason she had stopped acting. However, since then, she has done some voiceover work, including UK TV adverts for Ski yoghurt (2005)[20] and the voice of Rita's mum in the animated film Flushed Away (2006).[21] She also appeared in the 2007 Christmas Special of The Catherine Tate Show as Nan's daughter Diane.[22]
In February 1990, she wrote and directed Mr Thomas at the Old Red Lion Theatre. It was filmed and shown on Channel 4 the next year.
Burke wrote and appeared as a nun in the short autobiographical film "Better Than Christmas" for Sky 1's Little Crackers, a collection of comic shorts that aired in December 2010. On 19 January 2012, it was announced that Burke had written her first TV series; her short for Little Crackers had led to the four-part series "Walking and Talking", based on her teenage years. Burke appeared as a nun in each episode of the series, which aired in the summer of 2012 on Sky Atlantic.[24]
Burke appeared in the 2015 Peter Pan prequel film Pan,as Mother Barnabas.[26] In November 2015, Burke presented the BBC topical news panel show Have I Got News for You.[27]
In 2019, Burke starred in her own self-titled three-part documentary Kathy Burke's All Woman. The programme aired on Channel 4 and focused on the stereotypes and expectations of modern women. Burke touched on subjects such as marriage, pregnancy and cosmetic surgery.[28]
Burke directed ITV's four-part murder mystery series Holding, which premiered on 14 March 2022 and is based on Graham Norton's novel of the same name.[30]
in 2022 Burke started a podcast called Where There's a Will, There's a Wake. In the podcast Burke talks a guest through how the guest believes (or hopes) they will die and what they want to be done for their funeral. Notable guests have been Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Emerald Fennell and Steve McQueen. The podcast is produced by Sony Music Entertainment.[31]
