Heather Burns

Biography: People often recognize her angelic face with those sad eyes, but not many know her name. Heather Burns, star of HBO's noir-otic detective comedy Bored to Death, has been in the acting business since the late '90s, mostly known for portraying supporting characters to lead actresses in romantic comedies like You've Got Mail, Miss Congeniality, and Bewitched. A Chicago native, Heather was privileged to have attended famed acting schools such as The Atlantic Theatre Company in New York and The Second City in Chicago. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and attended Yale School of Drama for one summer. In 1996, Burns made her television debut on One Life to Live, appearing in a few episodes of the daytime soap until the following year. After making a couple of short films and appearing in an episode of Law & Order, well-known rom-com writer and director Nora Ephron, who has described her as 'a writer's dream', yanked Burns from obscurity and gave her a substantial role as Meg Ryan's bookshop keeper in You've Got Mail (1998). Heather would again work with Ms. Ephron, this time as Nicole Kidman's cynical assistant, in the 2005 movie remake of the c TV series Bewitched. In Miss Congeniality (2000) and its sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), she portrayed pageant winner and friend to Sandra Bullock's character. On stage, Heather has performed in David's Pittu's All Things Considered, Woody Allen's Writer's Block, Lobby Hero at Playwrights Horizon and at the John Houseman Theatre, and London's West End production of This is Our Youth, alongside Chris Klein and Freddie Prinze, Jr. In 2008, she played Emily in The Marriage of Bette and Boo at the Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre in New York. On the small screen, Burns had recurring roles as Joanne, wife of salesman Freddie Sacker (Rick Hoffman), on the FOX drama The $treet and as NYPD dispatcher Bridget Demopolis on the ABC crime dramedy The Unusuals. She also played lead characters in the short-lived shows The Beat and Twenty Good Years. In 2009, HBO hired her as Leah, Zach Galifianakis' partner, in Jonathan Ames' Bored to Death.… Expand