Stephen Burrows

Steve Burrows is a comedic storyteller.

This multiple award-winning writer/director/performer has been reinventing stereotypes and challenging expectations in film, television, commercials and theatre for nearly three decades. His original voice - coupled with his edgy, character-driven humor - has made his work a favorite around the world, where his range in comedy is as diverse as the locations of his shoots - London, Rome, Tokyo, Glasgow, Bangkok, New Zealand, South Africa and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to name a few.

After graduating from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Burrows began his career in Chicago joining Second City Director Del Close as a member of the famed, groundbreaking improvisational comedy group, Baron's Barracudas.

He then moved behind the camera, relocating to L.A. and making his first film, "The Soldier of Fortune" - a short about his actual appearance and subsequent humiliation on "The Wheel of Fortune" game show. The film went on to win a slew of festival awards.

From there, Burrows became a writer and performer for the legendary comedy troupe, The Groundlings, leading to stints on everything from "Seinfeld" to "America's Funniest Home Videos" to over 200 TV spots - including a litany of appearances on the Super Bowl.

After writing an original screenplay for 20th Century Fox, Burrows made his directorial feature film debut with "Chump Change", bowing at the prestigious AFI Film Festival to rave reviews. It then played to sellout crowds at the HBO Comedy Fest in Aspen, winning the Audience Award / Best Feature. It is there Miramax Films acquired "Chump Change" for distribution.

Burrows then went on to win over 75 awards for writing/directing television commercials on five continents - including the Cannes Lion, a plethora of Addy and Telly awards - not to mention the New York Festivals Grand Gold for the iconic Accuserv "Paper Tray" - a spot which now resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Burrows then went viral with the award-winning "Glass Nickel Pizza Anthology", where popular demand prompted Burrows to take his creation a step further, resulting in "The King Kaiser Show" - an award-winning television sitcom about a show within a show within a show.

In a complete career 180°, Burrows dropped out of Show Business to take care of his mother, who had gone in for a routine partial hip replacement and came out in a coma with permanent brain damage. For real. The insane years that followed - fighting for his Mom's life and for medical and legal justice - became Burrows latest feature, the award-winning, critically acclaimed HBO documentary film, "Bleed Out".

Since Bleed Out's HBO debut, Burrows has become a fierce patient safety activist, partnering with the Leapfrog Group and the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, as well as becoming adjunct faculty for MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety and the Academy for Emerging Leaders for Patient Safety. Burrows is also a Co-Founder of Patients for Patient, Safety US.

Back in the saddle, Burrows is now working on several television and feature film projects, including a comedy and a drama. He is also writing his first book.