Vickey Burns

Vickey Dempsey Burns was born in northern Alabama, but before she was five years old, her parents moved to Houston, Texas. She lived in the Houston area all of her life. She started her acting studies when she was 15 at the Alley Theatre's acting school, The Merry-Go-Round. During this time she was cast as an extra by Gary Chason in Robert Altman's movie, "Brewster McCloud." She went on to call back auditions in front of Peter Bondonovitch for "Paper Moon," in the role of the Valedictorian, but the character was cut from the script before filming. Later Vickey Dempsey Burns went to college at Sam Houston State University, where she graduated in 1977, and earned a BFA in Theatre with a Teaching Certificate in Theatre and English. While in college she was an Extra in a tv movie, "The FBI Story: Attack on Terror." After college, she taught high school Theatre and Junior High English at Splendora ISD for two years. She worked for a law firm, Royston, Rayzor, Vickery, and Williams, from 1979-1997. She then married poet and teacher Jimmy Burns in 1984, and raised two sons, James and Christopher. She directed plays and was co-director of musicals at her church. Vickey Dempsey Burns worked as a Substitute Teacher from 1979 until the present, first so that she could balance her home and work with raising their children, and later to become a caregiver for her husband who had a stroke in 2005. Her husband was paralyzed from the stroke, and later became completely bedridden with kidney cancer. He passed away in 2013. Vickey Dempsey Burns started again in 2014 actively pursuing her young girl dream of an acting career.