Burke worked as a dental assistant in Chicago, before winning a talent contest sponsored by Paramount Pictures to play Lota the "Panther Woman" in Island of Lost Souls (released December 1932), the first screen version of H.G. Wells's novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. The contest, announced in July 1932, allegedly had 60,000 applicants from around the country. Burke was announced as the winner on September 29.
This success led to more than a score of screen appearances over the following six years, most notably as the leading lady in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) opposite Gary Cooper, and The Last Outpost with Cary Grant that same year. Her final film role was in 1938, whereupon she retired from screen acting at the age of 25.
