Oliver Burkia was born in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, in 1981.
From 1999 to 2001, he attended the vocational school for music in Upper Franconia, where he successfully completed his training as a choir director. He then continued his musical education at the Academy of Music in Darmstadt, where he specialised in opera singing and piano.
In 2005, he enrolled at the drama school in Mainz, graduating in 2008. During the 2007/08 season, he gained stage experience through guest engagements at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Kreuzgangfestspiele in Feuchtwangen, among others. He then received a permanent engagement at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, where he worked until 2023. During this time, he played a variety of roles, such as Kasimir in »Kasimir und Karoline« by Ödön von Horváth; Andri in »Andorra« by Max Frisch; Judas in »Judas« by Lot Vekemans; Roberto Zucco in »Roberto Zucco« by Bernard-Marie Koltés and Hamm in »Endspiel« by Samuel Beckett. In the 2023/24 season, Oliver Burkia appeared on stage at the Staatstheater Innsbruck, where he performed in »Alltagsgeschichten« by Elisabeth T. Spira; and he played Ossip in Gogol’s »Der Revisor« at the Hans Otto Theatre in Potsdam.
In the 2024/25 season, he appeared as the arsonist Schmitz in »Biedermann und die Brandstifter« at the Altes Schauspielhaus.