Burns was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Betsy (née Davis), a homemaker, and Brad Thomas Burns, who worked in health care. Burns has two sisters. She was a ballet dancer for twelve years during childhood and started modeling at age fifteen after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament from a skiing accident. At age 16, Burns and her family moved to Europe, where she later lived in Paris, Read more...

From 1998 to 2001, Burns starred in Baywatch as the character Jessie Owens. Burns starred in North Shore, a prime-time soap opera on Fox that consisted of 21 episodes which ran from June 14, 2004 through January 13, 2005. In 2006, she had a supporting role on the defunct WB series Pepper Dennis playing Kathy Dinkle.

Burns appeared on Ally McBeal, Just Shoot Me!, Out of the Blue, To Tell the Read more...

Burns was once married to Julian McMahon (1999-2001) and the two have a daughter - Madison Elizabeth - who was born in July 2000. She was also briefly engaged to Bruce Willis for part of 2003 until June 2, 2004. Burns currently resides in Los Angeles.

In November 2005, Burns broke a bone in her neck after diving into a pool at her home. A friend, an ex-firefighter, found her, stabilized her Read more...