Sy Burgess

I am a character actor best described as a jester and caregiver. My strengths include improv and sketch comedy, ensemble theatre work, jazz standards, and teaching others to listen and live in empathy.

Most recently I have worked in pharmaceutical advertisements and training videos for health care professionals including as a lead on Meet the Tallocks, an educational video series focused on the health concerns of a multicultural (African American/Jewish American) family living on Long Island, produced by the Stony Brook University Medical School.

My most recent television work was in a supporting role in the award-winning comedy pilot Book of Craig, written, directed, and produced by Tyler James Stuart. My most recent film work was in a supporting role in the sci-fi adventure film Ataraxia, produced by Norcross Media. I received my SAG card after an upgrade while appearing on Saturday Night Live as a plus-size decoy Michael Jackson when the director asked if I could grab my crotch to much fanfare.

​New York City Theatre credits include work at The New York Theatre Workshop, The Trilogy Theatre, Café Experimental, Horace Mann Theatre, 13th Street Repertory, Home, and Castillo Cultural Center.

Regional theatre credits include tours of New England in productions of The Little Flags Theatre Company including a co-production of Boston Remembers with the American Repertory Theatre at Hasty Pudding Club, Cambridge, MA, and festival performances in the former Soviet states of Moscow and Baku in a production of To The People.
I honed my improv comedy skills for over 5 years as a member of Grown Ups' Playground and Improv Knights -- performing at New York Comedy Club and Times Square Café, both troupes produced and directed by Joy Newman.

My training includes work with Ted Sluberski, Scott Freeman, Stella Adler Acting Conservatory, Groundling School East, Maxine Klein, and independent course work at Emerson College. I studied voice with James Oestereich, Dee Martin, and Steve Potfora. I have a BS in Broadcasting and Film from Boston University and an MS in Instructional Technology from NYIT -- the latter with distinction for a thesis on the use of video technology in training actors.

In addition to working as an actor I currently work as a medical educator, and in the past have worked in hospital administration, public relations, and video production.

I am currently developing a blog and resource for actors and healthcare professionals tentatively titled - WAITING FOR EMPATHY: juxtapositions and similarities in the performing and medical arts.

​I am a native New Yorker living in New York City and frequently travel to New England for work and pleasure.