Brooke Lisa Burke was born on September 8, 1971 in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the fourth born of seven children, and is of French, Irish, and Portuguese heritage. She was raised in Tuscon, where as a kid she was less interested in being a TV star than being a rock and roll drummer.
Burke attended Santa Monica Junior College in Santa Monica, California and the University of California at Los Angeles. She was studying broadcast journalism, but instead started her career in modeling and was very successful. Modeling led to television work, and in 1999 she signed on as the host of the travel show
Wild On! She is also well-known for posing for
Playboy and other publications. More recently she has been the host of the reality show,
Rock Star, on CBS.
Burke married Garth Fisher in 2001, though the couple has since divorced. They had two daughters together, named Neriah and Sierra Sky.
Burke is currently married to actor
David Charvet, and gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Heaven Rain, on January 8, 2007.