Table of Biography
Kevin Burns is an American TV and film producer, director, and screenwriter. Kevin Burns is the creator and executive producer of the hit TV series, “Ancient Aliens.” He is also the President of Prometheus Entertainment and has also been involved with a few other production houses.
Early Life and Childhood
Kevin Burns was born on 18 June 1955 in Schenectady, New York, USA. Currently, Burns is 68 years old. Similarly, he grew up in a Jewish-American family in Niskayuna, New York.
However, he has not mentioned much about his parents, siblings, family, and childhood. Hence, there is no information regarding these issues.
There is also no information regarding her relationship status. It is unclear whether the prominent producer is single or married.
Kevin Burns – Education
Talking about Kevin Burns’s educational journey, he received a National Scholastic award for art in the year 1972. By his senior year in high school, he was already working as a freelance commercial artist.
Moreover, his client list included IBM, General Electric, and Warren Publications.
He graduated from Niskayuna High School in the year 1973 and after that, he attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. In Hamilton, he majored in both History and English Literature. He also served as president of one of the college’s fraternities called Delta Phi.
Moving on, he graduated from Hamilton with honors in the year 1977. After that, he eagerly enrolled in the graduate film program at Boston University’s College of Communication.
In the year 1981, he earned a master’s Degree with the completion of his first film, I Remember Barbra.
The film is a humorous and slightly irreverent short documentary that profiled Barbra Streisand’s native Brooklyn. It was a critical hit and also earned numerous awards.
One of those awards is a Documentary Achievement Award for Student Filmmaking from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Awards and Nominations
Nominations
- Primetime Emmy Awards “Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program” for Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies (1996)
- Primetime Emmy Awards “Outstanding Nonfiction Series” for Biography in 2006 and 2007
- “Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming”, “Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming”, and “Outstanding Nonfiction Special” for Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed at 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards
- “Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming” for Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed in 2007
- 2001 DVD Exclusive Awards in “Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes” for Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days
Won
- “Outstanding Non-Fiction Series (Informational)” for Biography at the 2002 Primetime Emmy Awards
- 2003 Daytime Emmy Awards for Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s in “Outstanding Special Class Special”
- “Best Original Retrospective Documentary” for Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood at 2001 DVD Exclusive Awards
- “Best Behind the Scenes Program (New for DVD)” for Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy in 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards
- “Documentaries – Director” for Hollywood Aliens & Monsters at the 1998 International Monitor Awards
- “Documentary” for I Remember Barbra at 1981 Student Academy Awards, US
Kevin Burns – Professional Life
Armed with a “Student Oscar”, Kevin Burns made the rounds at the Hollywood studios. William Morris Agency signed him within a year and he already had two projects optioned and in development.
She opted to remain in Boston. There, he taught undergraduate and graduate film production at Boston University as well as Emerson College.
Similarly, in the year 1987, Boston University appointed him the Director of Undergraduate and Graduate Film Production. He was also the Director of the Boston University Film Unit, which he had been heading since 1981.
It is a student-staffed production company that services non-profit and public service clients.
After the sudden demise of his father in 1988, she decided to move to Los Angeles. Within weeks of leaving Boston, he received the offer to work in the management position in the Creative Services department of 20th Century Fox Domestic Television.
It is now called Twentieth Television. He moved to Beverly Hills and there, she spent the next four years writing, producing, and directing hundreds of sales marketing videos and on-air promotions for the studio.
Caption: Bill Mumy, Kevin Burns, Giorgio Tsoukalos, and Erich von Däniken having dinner in May 2017. Source: Uncle Odie Collectibles
Throughout the 1990s
Further, in 1993, she co-founded Foxstar Productions. It is a TV Movie production unit at 20th Century Fox Television. He served as the co-executive producer and the Senior Vice President of Production.
At that time, he worked as the co-executive producer on the first three of what became a highly successful series of five ‘Alien Nation’ MOWs. They were all directed by Kenneth Johnson.
He then formed Van Ness Films, Inc. in October 1994 to broaden Foxstar’s client base and revenue potential.
As the Executive Producer for all Van Ness programs as well as occasional writer and director, her client list soon included A&E, AMC, The Sci-Fi Channel, Fox Family Channel, and USA Network.
By the next three years, Van Ness became one of the premier producers of television for cable. It contributed to nearly 65 hours of programming per year. Similarly, in the year 1999, she retired from his executive position at Foxstar.
He did so to form Prometheus Entertainment. As President of Prometheus, he continued to work closely with Foxstar and broadened its production slate to include both reality and scripted programming.
Also in the year 1999, she formed Synthesis Entertainment with producer Jon Jashni.
He did so to administrate and develop television and film franchises based on the works of acclaimed film and television producer, Irwin Allen. (for example, “Lost in Space”, “The Land of the Giants”, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, etc.).
Caption: Kevin Burns with Jon Jashni at the premiere of “Lost in Space”. Source: Zimbio
Throughout the 2000s
Moreover, in 2002, he and Jashni executive produced a Fox Network pilot for a new The Time Tunnel (2006) series. Additionally, the team also developed a two-hour TV Movie/backdoor pilot for a new Lost in Space series, based on an original story by him himself.
Then in 2006, she and Jon served as Executive Producers, along with Sheila Allen of Poseidon (2006) directed by Wolfgang Petersen.
In August 2002, he received an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of A&E’s Biography series initially released in 1987. To date, he has personally supervised over 150 episodes of this critically acclaimed series.
In addition to all these, he has continued to produce high-profile documentaries for television, including the Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy in 2004, Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman in 2006, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed in 2007.
Some others are The Valkyrie Legacy in 2008, and Ancient Aliens in 2009. Among them, Star Wars earned three Emmy nominations.
More recently, he has worked on series including Animal Icons in 2004, Hollywood Science in 2006, The Girls of the Playboy Mansion in 2005, and Kendra in 2009.
Caption: Kevin Burns speaking at a press meet for “Ancient Aliens”. Source: Grunge
Social Media
Producer-Director Kevin Burns doesn’t seem available on social media platforms.
Body Measurements
There is no information about his body measurement stats. He has blue eyes and his hair color is white/grey due to aging. Other than this, there is no information about his body measurement details.
Kevin Burns – Net Worth 2024
Moving on, his estimated net worth is around 117 million dollars. However, this information is not a verified piece of information.
Nevertheless, his involvement in production companies for so many years influences his net worth and earnings and hence this information might not be too far away from his actual net worth.