Early life Born on June 18, 1955, Burns grew up in
Niskayuna, New York. Raised Roman Catholic, he graduated from St. Helen’s School before attending Niskayuna High School. In 1977, he graduated cum laude from
Hamilton College. In 1981, he received both a master's degree in film from
Boston University's College of Communication and a
Student Academy Award from
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his first film,
I Remember Barbra, a humorous documentary short that profiled
Barbra Streisand's impact on her former
Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. After graduation, Burns taught
film production at the university, as well as heading the school's Film Unit, a group that allowed students to gain real-world experience by producing commercials, public service announcements, documentaries, and other projects for clients. In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began working as an executive at
20th Century Fox Television.
Career While at Fox, Burns co-founded
Foxstar Productions, the production unit responsible for creating a series of
Alien Nation movies for television. In 1994, while serving as senior vice-president of Foxstar, he founded Van Ness Films, a non-fiction and documentary production unit. That same year, he met
Jon Jashni, a Fox film executive who shared his interest in the works of legendary Hollywood producer
Irwin Allen. In 1999, Burns also created
Prometheus Entertainment, a company specializing in documentary, reality, and non-fiction programming and specials. Here, Burns continued to produce and direct a wide variety of programming, including the reality show
The Girls Next Door on
E! (about the adventures of
Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner's three live-in girlfriends),
High Maintenance 90210,
Hollywood Science for the
National Geographic Channel,
Food Paradise and ''
Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (both for the Travel Channel) along with Kendra and Holly's World, both spin-offs of The Girls Next Door''. In 2002, Burns received his first of two Emmy Awards as executive producer for
A&E's Biography series. That same year, he was selected by
George Lucas and
Lucasfilm to produce and direct the 150-minute documentary feature
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. Four years later, he was again selected by Lucas to produce and direct
Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, a feature-length documentary that premiered on The History Channel and went on to earn three Emmy Award nominations. Other specials include
Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, which Burns co-produced with
Superman Returns director
Bryan Singer;
Spider-Man Tech;
Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest;
Batman Unmasked;
Batman Tech;
The Valkyrie Legacy, his second co-production with Bryan Singer; and
Angels & Demons: Decoded in 2009. Since 2010, Burns and his company
Prometheus Entertainment have produced The History Channel TV series
Ancient Aliens, ''America's Book of Secrets
, and The Curse of Oak Island, as well as the reality TV series Kendra on Top'' for WEtv, and other non-fiction series and specials. Along with his business partner Jon Jashni, Burns played an integral part in the development and creation of the
Lost in Space reboot for
Netflix and was serving as executive producer on the show.
Death Burns died on September 27, 2020, of cardiac arrest at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in
Los Angeles, California. ==Awards and nominations==