Burhanuddin Md Radzi

Prior to his Les' Copaque stint, Burhanuddin used to work for Petronas. While in Petronas, he became the Petroleum Engineer at the Petronas Carigali in Miri, Sarawak. In 1990, he received the President's Award and afterwards, appointed as Head of Operations Production until 1992. After leaving Petronas, Burhanuddin joined Dayang Enterprise in 1994 and become its Managing Director until 2004 when he resigned from the company and sold his shares.^[1][2][3]

He and his wife, Ainon Ariff venture into animation industry and co-founded Les' Copaque Production in December 2005.^[4][2] Burhanuddin says that the company name was inspired by Malay phrase, "last kopek", which means "last chance".^[5][6] The company's first release is Upin & Ipin, an animated series about the eponymous twin brothers. The series, which was launched in 2007, quickly found global critical and commercial success as it expanded to air in several countries,^[7][8][2] including Indonesia, Brunei, United Kingdom and Australia.

In 2009, Les' Copaque's first feature film Geng: The Adventure Begins was released and collected RM 6.2 million, making it one of the highest-grossing Malaysian films in history.^[9] Burhanuddin provide his voice for the bus driver and also become financier.^[10]

Exploring the storytelling of animal folklore, Burhanuddin began developing Pada Zaman Dahulu in 2011. The series is a collection of famous local animal folklore told in a style different from Upin & Ipin.^[11] The series began aired on TV Alhijrah, and later on Astro Ceria.

Three years later, Burhanuddin created a short-form series Puteri. It tells the story of the adventures of five sisters princesses of Limau.^[12] The series earned a Grand Prize at the 2015 ASEAN Character Awards.^[13]

Expanding further the Upin & Ipin franchise, Burhanuddin produced the franchise's second film, Upin & Ipin: Jeng Jeng Jeng! which took 2 years to completed. Co-produced by his company Les' Copaque and KRU Studios, he also made his acting debut in the film by took his role as Awie's producer. The film was released on 24 November 2016 and receive positive reviews.^[14][15]

Upin & Ipin's third film, Upin & Ipin: The Lone Gibbon Kris was released three years later, on 21 March 2019. The film saws Burhanuddin and most of the series' voice actors reprise their respective roles.^[16] With the production budget costing RM20 million, it became the most expensive animated film ever made by Burhanuddin and his company.^[17]

Burhanuddin attended the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, but didn't finished his studies there. He then return to Malaysia and pursue studying at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and graduated with Bachelor's Degree in Engineering (Petroleum and Natural Gas) in 1982.^[18]

He is married to Ainon Ariff. They have 4 children.^[1] His daughter, Nur Naquyah serves as a Director of Les' Copaque's subsidiary, LC Merchandising and as a creative director of Upin & Ipin.^[19]