Burke was born as the fourth of seven children in Hartford, Connecticut to Donna and George Burke, and was raised in Tucson, Arizona.
She is Jewish (through her mother) and was raised in the Jewish religion; she also has Irish, French and Portuguese ancestry.
She studied broadcast journalism at UCLA, but was signed to top modeling agencies, including the renowned Ford Models Agency, and subsequently appeared in prominent television commercials for Bally Fitness clubs, Coca-Cola, and Discover Card.
She went to both Palo Verde and Sahuaro high school in Tucson,Az.
Before getting her big break Brooke was a model for Venus Swimwear and Frederick's of Hollywood.
From 1999-2002, Burke became well-known while hosting Wild On!, a popular travel series on the E! Entertainment Television channel, replacing previous host Jules Asner.
As part of the series, she travelled the world extensively, profiling many popular travel destinations.
Ratings peaked for the show during Burke's time on the show and tailed off significantly after she departed.
Burke first appeared nude during her early modeling career for the website BlueNudes.com, and most notably after gaining fame in the May 2001 and November 2004 issues of Playboy and has also appeared in lad mags such as Maxim, Stuff, and FHM.
Maxim magazine named her #94 in their 2006 Hot 100 List and featured her on their gallery.
During the rise of her career Burke had D-cup breast implants, as seen in her aforementioned first Playboy shoot.
Those implants were later replaced or reduced to C-cup size, as seen in her second layout for the magazine. She has voiced "Rachel" in Electronic Arts' video game Need for Speed: Underground 2, and asks the "People and Places" questions in the video game, Trivial Pursuit Unhinged.
