Delta Burke was born on July 30, 1956, in Orlando, Florida. Burke’s mother was a single mom and she never met her father. In 1974, as a senior in high school, Burke won the title of Miss Florida. This made her the youngest Miss Florida in pageant history. The Miss America pageant gave Burke a talent scholarship, which she used to attend the London Academy of Music and Art.

Burke and actor Gerald McRaney have been married since May 28, 1989. They have their primary residence is in Los Angeles, California, as well as a house in Telluride, Colorado, and one in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In 1980, Burke appeared in the miniseries The Chisholms. This role helped boost her television career.

In 1982, she portrayed Kathleen Beck in Filthy Rich. But it wasn’t until 1986 that she would be boosted to fame. That year she took on the role of Suzanne Sugerbaker in Designing Women.

When Burke was cast in the role she was very thin, however, the more she gained in fame the more she gained in weight. In 1990 and 1991, she was nominated for the Best Actress Emmy for the role. In 1990, Burke spoke out about her anger and dissatisfaction with the creators of the show. The cast started to splinter when Dixie Carter sided with the producers. In 1991, Burke was fired from the show.

She tried her hand at her own sitcom entitled Delta. However, the sitcom was short lived. She revived Suzanne Sugerbaker for a short time in Women of the House, but again, the show barely made it out of the gate.

Delta Burke has been trying to lose weight recently, after having type-2 diabetes for 10 years.  As of this post she has lost about 60 pounds. She reports that she is planning to keep the weight off in hopes of landing the role of Truly in the Broadway version of Steel Magnolias.