Donna Burke

For the American luger, see Donna Burke (luger).

Donna Burke (born 1964^[3]) is an Australian actress, singer, and businesswoman. She voiced Angela Orosco in Silent Hill 2 (2001), which is considered one of the greatest games ever made. She also voiced Claudia Wolf in Silent Hill 3 (2003), and has performed songs for the Metal Gear and Final Fantasy video game series.

Donna Burke
Born	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia[1]
Occupations	Voice actress singer narrator businesswoman
Years active	1997–present[2]
Spouse	Bill Benfield
Musical career
Genres	Pop jazz
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Dag Music
Website	donnaburke.com

Biography

Burke graduated from Edith Cowan University. Her education included "operatic voice, speech and drama"^[4] and she received classical voice training for ten years.^[5]

From 1989 to 1995, Burke taught Media, English and Religious Education to senior students at Chisholm Catholic College. She moved to Japan in 1996 and initially worked as a teacher of English before obtaining some recording work.^[4][6]

Burke married Bill Benfield,^[when?] a British former teacher. In 2004, Burke and Benfield started a record label, Dagmusic, which catered for foreign artists. Burke released her debut album, Lost and Found, through Dagmusic.^[4][7][8]

Burke has worked as a freelance announcer at NHK since 1999. She is also the lyricist for numerous Japanese TV commercials, anime songs and J-pop group tunes.

Burke created Hotteeze in 2004,^[9] a company she created to export Japanese heat pads worldwide.

Voice work

Burke's voice has been used in Japan since 2005 for announcements on the Tokaido, Sanyo, and Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train system.^[10] Her voice is also used in Narita Airport Delta lounges and in English language guidance for the Emperor Showa Memorial Museum.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007,^{[citation needed]} Burke narrated a documentary titled Climate in Crisis - Part 1, which won the 2007 silver medal for Environment/Ecology at the New York Television Festival and the 2007 Earth Vision Award at the Tokyo Global Environmental Film Festival.

Filmography

Anime

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Strange Dawn	Yuko Miyabe	[11]
2002	Voices of a Distant Star	Operator of the Lysithea	[12]
2003	Trip Trek	Catherine, Three Bee	[12]
2004–present	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series	Raising Heart	[13]
2010	Little Charo 2	Kanon	[14]
2014–2017	Fastening Days	Anna, Kelly (ep. 2)	[15]
2016	Princess Sesame	Queen	[13]
	Mainichi Kaasan	Grandmother	[13]

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Shenmue	Others
2001	Silent Hill 2	Angela Orosco	[13]
2001	Virtua Fighter 4	Vanessa Lewis	[2]
2002	Shenmue II	Additional Voices	PC, PS4, Xbox, Xbox One versions
2003	Silent Hill 3	Claudia Wolf	Original release only[12]
2003	Dino Crisis 3	Sonya Hart	Motion capture
2003	F-Zero GX	Mrs. Arrow	[12]
2003	Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand	Hel	[12]
2003	Bloody Roar 4	Uranus	Credited as Donnna Burke[12]
2004	Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles	Storytelling Narrator	[13]
2004	Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django	Lady, Dvalinn	[12]
2004	Rumble Roses	Anesthesia / Dr. Cutter	[12]
2005	Virtua Quest	Vanessa Lewis	[2][16]
2006	Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice	Norah	[13]
2007	Lunar Knights	Ursula	[12]
2008	Cooking Mama: World Kitchen	Boy, Maylee	[12]
2010	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces	Raising Heart
2011	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny	Raising Heart
2012	Lumines Electronic Symphony	Announcer	[17]
2012	Diabolical Pitch	Christina	[18]
2014	Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes	iDROID	[12]
2015	Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain	iDROID	[12]
2016	NightCry	Jessica, Angie, Maria, Kelly	[19]
2016	Let It Die	Various	[13]
2017	Arms	Dr. Coyle	[20]
2018	Fitness Boxing	Laura	[21]
2019	Homestar VR Special Edition	Narrator	[22]
2020	Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition	Narrator
2020	Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm and Exercise	Laura	[13]
2024	Evotinction	Annabel	[23]

Solo discography

• Lost and Found (with Bill Benfield) (2000)^[8]
• Éirí na Gréine (2001)
• Donna Burke with the David Silverman Quartet (2002)
• Goodbye Nakamura EP (2004)
• Blue Nights (1 June 2005)^[24]

Other discography

• The Yamaha Educational Children's Songs CDs - Various Artists (1997–2003 - vocals for several tracks)
• Automne - Various Artists (1998 - vocals for "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," vocals and lyrics for other tracks)
• Para Para Panic CDs - Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 / Various Artists (2000 - vocals for several tracks)
• Elebits - "The Smile of You" (2006 - in collaboration with Naoyuki Satō)
• ABBA Ibiza Caliente Mix - ABBA, Sabu (2001 - vocals for several tracks)
• The Bleep Brothers (2001 - vocals for three tracks)^[6]
• Vandread: Original OVA Soundtrack 1 - Yasunori Iwasaki, Various Artists (2001 - vocal for "What a Wonderful World")
• Vandread: Original OVA Soundtrack 2 - Yasunori Iwasaki, Various Artists (2001 - vocal and lyrics for "Somedays")
• Strange Dawn - "To The Sky" (2002)
• Turn A Gundam: Original Movie Soundtrack - "Wakusei no Gogo, Bokura wa Kisu wo Shita" - Yoko Kanno (2002 - vocal for "After All")
• "Seven" - V6 (2002 - lyrics for "One")
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - "Morning Sky" and "Moonless Starry Night"
• Haibane Renmei: Original OVA Soundtrack 1 - "Hanenone (ハネノネ)" - Kow Otani, Masumi Sakaue (2003 - vocal and lyrics for "Wondering")
• Honda Legend 2004 television commercial campaign - "The Phantom of the Opera" (with Dennis Gunn)
• JR Central 2006 television commercial campaign - "Again" (with Nello Angelucci, based on the Polovtsian Dances)
• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova - "Star Gate Heaven" and "Star Gate Heaven (FUTURE LOVE Mix)" - Various Artists (2006 - in collaboration with Sōta Fujimori)
• Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Dancing Summer Vacation - "Hero ~Dancing Summer Mix English Ver.~"
• OutRun 2 - "Life Was a Bore"
• The Last Remnant - "Journey's End"
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - "Kuule tää unelmain" and "Ephemeron"
• God Eater - "God and Man"
• Tales of Legendia - "Hotarubi" and "My Tales" with Gab Desmond
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - "Heavens Divide"
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - "Sins of the Father"
• Metal Gear Solid Vocal Tracks (2015 - vocals for several tracks)^[25]
• Tokyo Ghoul √A - "Glassy Sky"
• Implosion - Never Lose Hope - "Way in the Dark"^[26]
• Girls' Frontline - "A Moment of My Nightmare"^[27]
• Evotinction - "A Normal Life"

Lyricist

• Final Fantasy 15 XP - "Choosing Hope" (2017)
• Implosion - "Way in the Dark" (2015)
• Resident Evil - "At the End of a Long Escape" (2013)
• Square Enix DISSIDIA012 - "Final Fantasy" (2011)
• The Last Ranker - "Born to Survive" (2010)
• Bandai Games - "God Eater" (2010)
• NHK Little Charo 2 - "Sayonara" (2010)
• Capcom - "Bio Hazard Dark Side Chronicles" (Sleeping Beauty) (2009)
• Capcom - "Last Ranker" (2009)
• Bandai Namco Games God Eater - "God and Man" (2009)
• Square Enix Last Remnant - "Journey’s End" (2008)
• Square Enix Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - "Moonless Starry Night", "Morning Sky" (2003)
• Haibanae Renmei - "Wondering" (2007)
• Konami Elebits - "The Smile Of You" (2006)
• Konami - "Star Gate Heaven" (2004)

References

1. "Donna Burke Official About Donna Burke".
2. Kemps, Heidi (31 December 2014). "Interview: Donna Burke, veteran singer and voice actor". Gaming.moe. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
3. "The Aussie woman behind the English announcements on Japan's busiest bullet trains". ABC News. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
4. "Donna Burke".
5. "Japan-Australia Music Artist Exchange in Roppongi". Year of Exchange (Japan Australia Cultural Exchange Association). August 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
6. Nibayashi, Maki. "Life in Japan: Donna Burke". Metropolis (341). Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
7. "Lost and Found – Donna Burke". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
8. Burke, Donna; Benfield, Bill (2000), Lost and Found, Dag Music. National Library of Australia, retrieved 16 January 2014
9. "About Us – Hotteeze International". hotteeze.com.
10. Ashcraft, Brian (November 2019). "Metal Gear Singer's Other Gig? The Voice Of The Bullet Train". Kotaku. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
11. Macdonald, Christopher (6 February 2002). "Strange Dawn - Review - Anime News Network". animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
12. "Donna Burke (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 27 January 2016. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
13. "Acting & Narration | Donna Burke". donnaburke.com. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
14. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (1 November 2011). "Tomorrow November 3rd 9.00-9.45 I'll be interviewed on a Channel 3 NHK show about Little Charo 2 my role as Kanon" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 July 2017 – via Twitter.
15. "YKK presents "FASTENING DAYS"". ykkfastening.com. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
16. "Virtua Quest voice cast". Album on Imgur. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
17. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (25 August 2017). "no hang on I'm confusing this with something else...i have absolutely no memory of recording this but it is definitely me..!" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 September 2017 – via Twitter.
18. Grasshopper Manufacture. Diabolical Pitch. Microsoft Studios. Scene: Closing credits, Voice Actors.
19. "English Voice Cast Announced For NightCry ｜ Rely on Horror". Rely on Horror. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
20. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (25 December 2017). ""I'm Unstoppable!" I'm Doctor Coyle!!!! #ARMS #Nintendo #AussieVoiceActress Hope you enjoy it! #soproud #lovemyjob !!!" (Tweet). Retrieved 25 December 2017 – via Twitter.
21. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (18 December 2018). "I'm in this game! Laura, the Aussie #Fitboxing sensei!" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 December 2018 – via Twitter.
22. "特別仕様版『ホームスターVR SPECIAL EDITION』 - 株式会社ポケット". pckt.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 December 2019.
23. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (12 September 2024). "I'm singing and acting in a new game! "A Normal Life, for #Evotinction, a tactical stealth game from @SpikewaveGames inspired a little bit by @Kojima_Hideo and #MetalGearSolid And voice acting for Annabel. What a thrill!!" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 September 2024 – via Twitter.
24. "Blue Nights – Donna Burke". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
25. "METAL GEAR SOLID VOCAL TRACKS". Konami. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
26. Burke, Donna [@TheDonnaBurke] (8 April 2015). "Donna Burke - Way in the Dark ("Implosion - Never Lose Hope" Theme Song) - Single - (link: https://itun.es/i6L62Xt) itun.es/i6L62Xt #iTunes" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 July 2017 – via Twitter.
27. "Girls Frontline and Vanguard-sound announcements on Bilibili".

External links

• Donna Burke discography at MusicBrainz
• Donna Burke at IMDb
• Donna Burke at Anime News Network's encyclopedia