Jere Eugene Burns II was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a gown and cap manufacturer. Burns was drawn to acting late in college. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1980, he moved to Manhattan and was cast in the title role in Don Juan at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Burns has appeared on Broadway; his Broadway theatre credits include Hairspray and After the Night and the Music.
Burns made his television debut in a small role on ABC's ABC Afterschool Special episode "Mom's on Strike" in 1984. He had a recurring role as rapist James Fitzsimmons on Hill Street Blues and body collector Breughel on Max Headroom. In 1988 he landed the role of sleazy Kirk Morris on Dear John. In 1989 he appeared in the William Lustig film Hit List as Jared Riley. He appeared as the villainous Cade Dalton on the NBC miniseries The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), hateful Vice President of Sales Pete Schmidt on Bob (1993), a member of the feuding family in Greedy (1994), Jack Farrell in Something So Right (1996), and Ben Stuart in Life-Size (2000). He portrayed the title character's brother in "The Trouble with Harry", an episode of the series Twice in a Lifetime directed by David Winning (2000); Frank Alfonse on Good Morning, Miami (2002); Keith on The King of Queens (2006); Michael on Help Me Help You (2006); Dr. Jim on Surviving Suburbia (2007); Derek Ford on Psych, Bosco on Grey's Anatomy (2013); and Jacob Tiernan on Lucifer (2019). He starred as an FBI agent in the movie Otis (2008). Other screen credits include Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001).[citation needed]

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