• Heather Burns is an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Meryl Brooks in the 2002 movie "Two Weeks Notice".
• She attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and The Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School.
• She's married to actor Ajay Naidu and the couple has one son.
• Heather has appeared in various critically acclaimed movies and TV series, and won a Copper Wing Award for Best Ensemble Acting in 2017.
• Her net worth is estimated at over $8 million.

Who is Heather Burns?

Heather Burns was born in Chicago, Illinois USA on 7 April 1975 – her zodiac sign is Aries, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress, who’s perhaps still known best for her portrayal of Meryl Brooks, in the 2002 romantic comedy movie “Two Weeks Notice”. It was written and directed by Marc Lawrence, starred Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant and Alicia Witt, and follows a lawyer who has decided to quit her job, because she believes that her boss is treating her as a nanny. The movie won two of the five awards for which it was nominated.

Early life and education

Heather was raised in Chicago alongside her brother Jimmy, by their father Jim Burns who was a lawyer, and their mother Marty Burns who was a housewife.

She grew up being interested in modelling and playing sports, and wasn’t considering launching a career as an actress until she enrolled at Evanston Township High School.

Her drama teacher asked Heather if she wanted to appear in a school play, and she instantly fell in love with acting. Her parents still wanted her to pursue a college degree, and thus, upon matriculating in 1993, Heather enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, from which she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996.

She also attended Yale School of Drama for one summer, as well as The Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School.

Roles in TV series

Heather made her debut TV series appearance in 1996, with her portrayal of Herrick #1, in the long-running romantic drama “One Life to Live”, which aired its 3,541 episodes between 1968 and 2013. The following years saw her appear in an episode of various series, such as the mystery crime drama “Law & Order”, the comedy “Nearly Yours” and the mystery crime drama “The Beat”.

Heather gained recognition in 2000, when cast to play Joanne Sacker in the drama “The $treet”, created by Darren Star and Jeff Rake, and which starred Tom Everett Scott, Nina Garbiras and Christian Campbell, following the lives of people employed at a stock trading company in New York City.

In 2006, she made a guest appearance in the episode “Dollhouse” of the mystery crime drama “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, and the same year saw her cast to star as Stella in the comedy “Twenty Good Years”. The series follows two elderly men, who have decided to have fun for the following two decades of their lives. In 2009, Heather played the supporting character Leah, in the crime comedy drama “Bored to Death”, written by Jonathan Ames, starred Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis, and follows a writer who has begun working as a private detective, using what he has learned from old detective books.

The series won a Primetime Emmy, and was nominated for six other awards.

In 2013, Heather played Jenna Dennings, in the comedy “Save Me”, and in 2017, she made a guest appearance as Anka Wexler, in two episodes of the comedy drama “Friends from College”. Her three most recent roles in TV series have been in the 2020 episode “Hail Mary” of the comedy drama “The Politician”, two episodes of the action crime drama “Blindspot” in 2020, and later that year in the episode “Delete All Future Events” of the comedy drama “Social Distance”.

Roles in movies

She made her debut film appearance in 1998, when she played the supporting character Christina Plutzker in the evergreen romantic comedy “You’ve Got Mail”. It was written and directed by Nora Ephron, starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and follows two people who don’t like each other, but have fallen in love with one another on the internet, without knowing who they are in real life.

The movie won six of the 14 awards for which it was nominated.

The following years saw Heather appear in various critically acclaimed movies, such as the 2000 action crime comedy “Miss Congeniality”, its 2005 sequel “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous”, and in the same year the romantic fantasy comedy “Bewitched”. In 2008, she was cast to play a supporting character in the comedy drama “Choke”, written and directed by Clark Gregg, and which starred Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston. It follows a man who’s addicted to sex, and who’s finding various ways to pay for his mother’s hospital bills. The movie won two of the nine awards for which it was nominated.

A couple of Heather’s following roles were in the 2010 crime drama “Ashes”, the 2010 comedy drama “Weakness” and the 2011 romantic comedy “Valley of the Sun”.

Three of her most recent movie roles have all been in 2016 – the critically acclaimed drama “Manchester by the Sea” which won two Oscars, the  historical comedy “Brave New Jersey”, and the comedy “World’s End”.

Other credits

Heather sang “The Instrument Song” in the 1998 movie “You’ve Got Mail”.

She appeared in three short documentary videos in 2005, entitled “Why I Love ‘Bewitched’”, “Casting a Spell: Making ‘Bewitched’”, and “Bewitched: Star Shots”.

Heather wrote the 2010 crime drama “Ashes”.

Awards and nominations

In 2017, Heather won a Copper Wing Award for Best Ensemble Acting with her colleagues’ for the movie “Brave New Jersey”.

She and her colleagues were also nominated for a 2017 Gold Derby Award for Ensemble Cast, for their performance in the movie “Manchester by the Sea”.

Love life and marriage with Ajay Naidu

Heather met the actor Ajay Naidu while they were both attending Evanston Township High School, and they began dating after having known each other for a couple of months. They supported each other while working on their acting careers, and in 2012 the two exchanged vows in front of their closest friends and family members.

In either January or February 2016 (as Heather hasn’t disclosed the exact month), she gave birth to their son, who she and Ajay have kept away from the media’s attention.

Heather Burns

Neither of the two have spoken of any other people whom they have perhaps been with, so as of June 2021, Heather’s married to Ajay Naidu, and has a son.

Hobbies and other interests

Heather likes to travel, and her acting career has taken her to various US states, while she’s also been to Asia and Europe, for both work and pleasure. Her dream travel destination is still Miami in Florida.

She’s a huge dog-lover, and has two pet dogs. Heather volunteered at a local animal shelter in her teenage years, and today supports the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

She likes to watch movies late at night, and has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are the late Robin Williams, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts; her favorite movies include “Patch Adams”, “Mr. and Mrs Smith” and “The Runaway Bride”.

Heather was physically quite active during her 20s and 30s, and had a couple of training sessions at the gym every week. Today, she usually works out once a week, and seems to be more focused on her mental health, as she does yoga on a daily basis.

Age, height and net worth

Heather’s age is 46. She has long brown hair and blue eyes, her height is 5ft 8ins (1.74m) and she weighs around 136lbs (62kgs). As of June 2021, her net worth has been estimated at over $8 million, while her husband Ajay’s wealth is reputedly over $1 million.

Who is her husband Ajay Naidu?

Ajay Kalahastri Naidu was born in Evanston, Illinois USA, on 12 February 1972 – his zodiac sign is Aquarius, and he holds American nationality.

He’s an actor, who’s probably still known best for his portrayal of Samir, in the 1999 comedy movie “Office Space”. It was written and directed by Mike Judge, starred Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston and David Herman, and follows the lives of three company workers, who plan revenge on their greedy boss.

Ajay was raised by his Indian parents in Evanston, and as he hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, it’s widely believed that he’s an only child. He became interested in acting while still attending elementary school, and made his first appearances in the mid-1980s, in the romantic comedy movie “Touch and Go, the  movie “Lady Blue, the anthology series “ABC Afterschool Special”, the drama movie “Where the River Runs Black” and the  comedy film “Vice Versa”.

After he gained recognition for his performance in the movie “Office Space”, Ajay was invited to play supporting characters in many hit movies, such as the 2000 psychological drama “Requiem for a Dream”, the 2001 science fiction mystery “K-PAX” and the 2005 political drama “The War Within”.

As of June 2021, Ajay has appeared in over 90 movies and TV series, with his most recent appearance having been in the 2021 comedy movie “Americanish”.

In 1998, he was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, for his performance in the comedy movie “SubUrbia”, and in 2011, he won a Queens World Film Festival Jury Award for Best of Festival, for the crime movie “Ashes”, which he wrote and directed.

Author

Robbie is currently a reporter for TheBiography based in Santa Monica, CA. Prior to joining TheBiography in December 2020, he was an entertainment reporter in People.

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