Emmy-Nominated Actor & Host, Blues Clues
Steve Burns: Biography at a Glance
- Steve Burns is an actor and television host best known as the original host of the long-running children's preschool television program, Blue's Clues.
- The series was rebooted as Blue's Clues and You, with Burns serving as frequent writer, director, and producer.
- As a speaker, Burns refines and re-examines the message of empowerment and exceptionalism he delivered to a generation of children as they now struggle with the demands and realities of adulting.
- The New York Times notes that Burns has recently "struck a chord among many viewers, raising feelings of nostalgia and childhood comfort, especially juxtaposed with global crises like the coronavirus pandemic and extreme weather linked to climate change."
Media
Videos
Biography
Steve Burns is an American actor and television host best known as the original host of the long-running children's preschool television program Blue's Clues from 1996 until 2002, for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy. The series was rebooted as Blue's Clues and You, with Burns serving as frequent writer, director, and producer. As a musician, he collaborates with Grammy award winners The Flaming Lips, with whom he released the critically acclaimed album Songs for Dustmites and Foreverywhere, an album for children. Burns also wrote and performs the theme song for Young Sheldon on CBS. He is a frequent host and storyteller for NPR's The Moth.
Burns appeared in videos for the 25-year anniversary of Blue's Clues, including a widely watched Twitter video in which he – in character as the host of the show – explained reassuringly that he had never forgotten the viewers after leaving to go to college, and marveling at how much each of them had experienced since then. His return was unexpectedly profound and "struck a chord among many viewers, raising feelings of nostalgia and childhood comfort, especially juxtaposed with global crises like the coronavirus pandemic and extreme weather linked to climate change." (The New York Times). In less than 24 hours, the video had 30+ million views and today stands at over 100 million views and counting.
As a speaker, Burns refines and re-examines the message of empowerment and exceptionalism he delivered to a generation of children- carrying the thoughtful, care-driven conversation he began in their childhoods into their now-hoods as they struggle with the demands and realities of adulting.
Topics
The Cost of Showing Up Happy: Burnout and the Wisdom of Asking for Help
As the implacably happy, beloved host of Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, Steve Burns was the guy who sang, danced, and cheerfully bolstered your self-esteem. What you don’t know is that he was doing so with undiagnosed severe clinical depression. What is the cost of forcing joy? How can one maintain peak-level achievement and be completely burned out at the same time? And once it’s all over, how do you re-engage with your own life when the tank is completely empty? Steve Burns shares lessons from his struggles as the Happiest Depressed Person in North America and learns to personally take the messages he gave to an entire generation.
What Happened to Steve?
After years of being the face of the much-loved Blue’s Clues series, Steve said his goodbyes to Blue in 2001 and went off to college. In this speech, Steve shares what happened to him after he left the television show. With his heartfelt and open approach that brought him into the spotlight, he candidly talks about the successes and, more importantly, the failures he has experienced along the way. There may be laughter, and there may even be tears, but this event is sure to be insightful, authentic, and uplifting.
