J.W. Burkhart

My name is John Walters Burkhart and I am a freelance stage, screen, and voice actor. I am a recent graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee with a BFA in Theatre Performance and a minor in Film Acting. My Belmont University acting credits include: Winston Smith, 1984; Ted/Anthony/Max Brewer, The Bookstore; Paris, Romeo and Juliet; Partridge, Tom Jones; Ensemble/Male Swing, A Wrinkle In Time; Peter Shaw u/s, Silent Sky; and in a collaboration with Nashville Shakespeare Festival: Miss Bingley/Mr. Wickham/Mr. Collins, Pride and Prejudice.

Although most of my university work and training has been for the stage, I have received training and experience in both film and audio mediums. While taking a semester abroad at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, I was given the chance to write, produce, and act in an audio drama. Down The Pipeline was the result of this work. It explores the line between morality and legality as well as the extremes people will go to when they feel hopeless.

As an actor and creative, I tend to lean more towards political messaging in my work, as evident in 1984, Down The Pipeline, and Mind and its Man. Part of this is my belief in the power of storytelling to connect with people and communicate to them on a more vulnerable level than many people will be open to in their day-to-day lives. By approaching stories with the idea of compassion, I create characters that an audience is able to connect with on a more personal level.

Off stage: producer of BurkAP, an independent audio-drama series.