# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/karla-burns
# Generated: 2026-08-13T17:49:39.273Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/karla-burns"
name: "Karla Burns"
slug: "karla-burns"
description: "Karla Burns was an American mezzo-soprano and actress who performed nationally and internationally in opera houses, theatres, and on television. Her first major success was as Queenie in the Houston Grand Opera's 1982 revival of Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern's 1927 musical Show Boat. This production premiered in Houston, and then toured nationally and on Broadway. For her portrayal of Queenie, Burns won a Drama Desk Award and received a nomination for the Tony Award. The role of Queenie became a pivotal part in Burn's career, and she portrayed the character in many productions internationally for two decades. For this part, she became the first black person, African-American or otherwise, to win the Laurence Olivier Award, Britain's most prestigious award for theatre."
tagline: "American singer and actress"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1954-12-24"
deathDate: "2021-06-04"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           40.85
  momentum:             6.857142857142859
  historical:           6.139345333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     44.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122734/"
    handle:    "nm0122734"
sources:
  - url: "https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Burns"
    title: "Karla Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%84%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B2"
    title: "كارلا بيرنز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Burns"
    title: "Karla Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%84%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B2"
    title: "کارلا برنز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Burns"
    title: "Karla Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Burns"
    title: "Karla Burns"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6372427"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2128239"
    title: "Karla Burns"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump