She attended both Sahuaro High School and Palo Verde High School in Tucson where she was homecoming queen in 1989. She later studied broadcast journalism.

Burke’s first national exposure came in the early 1990s modeling lingerie for the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog, but her first television claim to fame was her hosting of Wild On! on the E! network from 1999 to 2002. In 2001, Burke competed in the TV show host edition of The Weakest Link and was voted off in the second round. In 2005 and 2006, she hosted the CBS summer reality show, Rock Star, a series in which aspiring singers competed to front a rock band.

Burke started dating actor and singer David Charvet in 2006. While living together, they had a daughter born in 2007 and a son born in March 2008. Burke and Charvet married on August 12, 2011; Brooke announced that she would be known as Brooke Burke-Charvet. In April 2018, the couple announced that they were divorcing after seven years of marriage. Their divorce was finalized in March 2020.

Burke has appeared in men’s magazines such as Maxim, Stuff, Playboy, and FHM. In 2007, she was listed as one of Blender’s hottest women of film and TV.

In 2007, Burke started a company, Baboosh Baby, which offers wraps for pregnant women. The company’s website features a blog from Burke about her children.

On November 25, 2008, Brooke Burke & her partner Derek Hough won the competition, beating Super Bowl Champion Warren Sapp & his partner Kym Johnson. She is tied with Kristi Yamaguchi and Nicole Scherzinger for the most weeks at the top of the leaderboard with 8 out of 10 weeks.

In 2009, she hosted NBC’s pre-show for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards with Tiki Barber and Nancy O’Dell.

In August 2010, she hosted the third season of the TV Land series She’s Got the Look, a modeling competition show for women over 35. She co-hosted the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Miss America pageants with Chris Harrison. She once again served as the co-host of Miss America for its 2016 pageant. Burke-Charvet was a participant on The New Celebrity Apprentice (also known as The Apprentice 15 and The Celebrity Apprentice 8) but was eliminated after twelve tasks, finishing in third place.

On November 8, 2012, Burke-Charvet announced she had thyroid cancer and underwent surgery. On December 12, 2012, she made another announcement that all cancer had been removed.

Burke, with Derek Hough as her partner, won season 7 of Dancing with the Stars. She later replaced Samantha Harris as co-host of the program. She began hosting season 10 of Dancing with the Stars alongside Tom Bergeron. On February 22, 2014, it was announced that she would not return to the show for its 18th season.

Since January 2020, Burke has co-hosted an iHeartRadio podcast titled Intimate Knowledge with former The Real Housewives of Orange County star Meghan King Edmonds and Lila Darville.