Photo courtesy of Blake Burgess.
Blake Burgess, a 2009 VHHS graduate, walked on the Auburn Tigers football team during his freshman year, as photographed here. Burgess was a member of the 2010 national championship team.
From winning a national championship as a member of the Auburn football team in 2010 to starring in movies like “Woodlawn” and going on international tour with the cast of “Spamalot,” Blake Burgess has been busy since graduating from Vestavia Hills High School in 2009.
Burgess, 28, spent the summer of 2019 working in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, playing a leading role in “The Lost Colony,” an outdoor drama that tells the story of an early English colony in Roanoke, Virginia. The colony was founded in 1587, but when men arrived with supplies three years later, the colony was nowhere to be found.
Burgess also traveled to Bahrain as part of the ensemble and as the understudy for the Lion in the international tour of “The Wizard of Oz,”, and he will also play a role in a production of “The Sound of Music,” performed in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where he’ll play Captain Von Trapp.
Acting, Burgess said, has been a part of his life since he was a child. When he was 10 years old, his older sister, Brandi, was part of a production of “The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever” in Birmingham. Watching her, he knew he wanted to be on the stage one day, too.
Entertaining and talking in front of others runs deep in the Burgess family. Blake is the son of Rick Burgess, of the “Rick and Bubba” nationally-syndicated radio talk show. His stepmother, Sherri, has helped Rick with various ministry events over the years as well. His mother, Sheila Snoddy, has made a career in radio as well, where she currently works at WDJC where she goes by Jill Friday professionally, and she previously worked at Magic 96.5 in Birmingham.
“[My parents] have been my rocks,” Burgess said.
While his time at VHHS and Auburn taught him the performance side of show business, Burgess said his parents have helped him navigate the business side of the industry, helping him make tough decisions at times, like whether to move to New York or Atlanta first, while also being his biggest fans.
Vestavia helped prepare Burgess in a variety of ways, both in and out of the classroom, as Burgess took theatre classes under three different teachers while performing another role as a member of the Rebels football team.
“[Vestavia] builds your work ethic,” Burgess said.
Burgess admitted he wasn’t the most athletic player, but he said he committed himself to working hard and doing what his coaches wanted. That translated well to his time at Auburn, where he walked on as a member of the Tigers football team under then-head coach Gene Chizik. Burgess played on special teams all four years, while also seeing time at fullback, tight end, wide receiver and the offensive line.
Burgess didn’t hear his name called often, but he’ll never forget the one time he did. In 2012, he caught his first and last pass for the Tigers, a 10-yard reception.
“To hear 90,000 people cheer when the announcer calls your name is an experience unlike any other,” Burgess said.
As a sophomore in 2010, Burgess was part of the Auburn national championship team, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton.
“It’s a dream come true,” Burgess said. “Every college football player dreams of playing in the biggest game of your life.”
While he’s since left football behind, Burgess said he still benefits from the lessons he learned through it in his acting career. Football, he said, helps him be coachable, to be able to take notes and learn, whether from a coach or a director.
Burgess now lives in Atlanta, and has done work at local theaters like the Serenbe Playhouse. While people complain about Atlanta’s infamous traffic, Burgess said he loves living in the city, which he said is becoming the “new Hollywood.”
“You have to find your slice of neighborhood,” Burgess said. “Once you have that, it becomes much more manageable.”
The last six years have been “steady,” he said, though in the past he’s had to rely on his other job as a personal trainer to help him get by.
“[Acting] is an incredible experience,” Burgess said. “You can be on top of the world one day … and the next day, you can be forgotten, working a day job.”
Photo courtesy of Blake Burgess.
Blake Burgess acting in “Elephant’s Graveyard” at Auburn University in 2013. Burgess, a 2009 VHHS graduate, now lives in Atlanta while he pursues his acting career.
While he’s finding consistent work now, Burgess said he’s learned what real success looks like for a typical actor.
“Success is not necessarily seeing your name in lights or getting the big paycheck,” Burgess said. “Success is continuing.”
Burgess said acting allows him to put himself in other people’s shoes, which in turn leads to being more compassionate and understanding toward others.
“You pick up a script and read it, and go, ‘What does it feel like to be in that situation?’” Burgess said.
In his television career, Burgess has, among other roles, played both a murderer and a lead detective on crime reenactment shows, and had a minor role in the Netflix series, “Ozark.”
Closer to home, Burgess played a role in the movie “Woodlawn,” the story of the 1973 Woodlawn High School football team as the school is desegregated, allowing African-American players to play with white players for the first time. The team’s leader, former University of Alabama running back Tony Nathan, was played by former Briarwood and Alabama standout Caleb Castille, who played against Burgess in high school.
At the time of filming, Burgess had been in Atlanta for two years, so being able to work on something so local meant a lot to him, he said, especially because it meant he got to stay at home for a while and spend time with his family.
“It was an incredible time,” Burgess said.
In 2013, Burgess made his Atlanta debut in the play, “Spamalot,” a musical based on the film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Years later, Burgess found out he’d been cast in the play’s international tour in late 2018 through spring 2019, his first road tour.
“Going on the road is an incredible experience,” Burgess said, likening it to playing road games with a football team.
There is not a part of the entertainment industry Burgess isn’t drawn to, he said. He’s been on radio, television, movies and plays, and while he’d choose theatre if forced to, he enjoys having a wide array of choices.
“You have to have a broad skill set to be successful in all of those,” Burgess said.
Still, there is something special about the stage, Burgess said, and the opportunity to “tell a story” to a different audience every night and try to evoke an emotional response.
“You have to be in touch with your feelings and be able to empathize and take on the life of this character,” Burgess said.
While portraying the monster in “Young Frankenstein” at Atlanta’s Lyric Theatre, Burgess performed the show-stopping song, “Puttin’ On the Ritz.”
“If you [perform the song] right, you can get the audience to share this joy with you,” Burgess said. After the song ended, Burgess said he received a standing ovation in the middle of the show, a career first for him.
In addition to acting, Burgess has recently picked up writing and directing, directing a short play while at The Lost Colony. He and his brothers also shot a 30-minute short film last summer, a foray into the world of filmmaking for Burgess.
No matter what stage, green screen or set he may find himself on, Burgess said his plan is to continue working toward consistently being “number one on the call sheet.”
“I always will want to perform,” Burgess said.
