Carter Burke

Carter J. Burke was played by Paul Reiser in the movie Aliens.

Biography
Carter was a junior executive of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. He acted as a representative of Ellen Ripley, while she was being investigated because of her actions at the Nostromo after her rescue from deep space in 2179. As such he introduced himself to her and informed her about her situation.

Later he accompanied a squad of Colonial Marines on board the Sulaco to LV-426, the moon, where Ripley had first encountered the Xenomorph species, in order to investigate the loss of contact with the established colony there. He also convinced Ripley to go with them as an adviser.

While initially amicable towards the Marines and Ripley in particular, in reality, Burke had ulterior motives and his loyalties lay solely with Weyland-Yutani. He accompanied the mission to get some of the Xenomorphs for the company and it was also him, who sent the colonists to the derelict ship for that purpose without warning them.

Neither Ripley nor the Marines played along with his intentions. Still he continued scheming against the personnel from the Sulaco mission for the purpose of bringing a few specimens to the company to the extent of even trying to impregnate Ripley and Newt and then kill the marines later so he could bring the creatures home and smuggle them through quarantine. He was eventually stopped in the nick of time by them and he was nearly executed by the surviving Marines for his treachery.

Ultimately, he was killed by the Xenomorphs, when they attacked at that moment. In an attempt not to pay for his actions, he took advantage of the attack, betrayed them again and tried to reach Bishop on his own, but a Xenomorph was waiting for him halfway and killed him.

Personality
Burke is a a sociopath, a consumate liar and an emotional manipulator that lacks any conscience and human feelings. He only thinks about profit to the extension of even committing mass murder for that, which is probably the reason why the company selected him for this mission in the first place.