Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Stephanie Burke is a professional dancer. She is best known for being the first two-time champion of ABC's American version of Dancing with the Stars.

Burke grew up in Atherton, California. Her father is of Irish and Russian descent and her mother is Filipino. Her family dances for recreation and has a dance floor at home. At age four, she began taking ballet lessons and performing locally. She then began ballroom dancing and decided to change her focus. She trained in both standard ballroom and Latin dances. She began competing at age 13. Cheryl attended Menlo-Atherton High School, graduated in 2002. In fall of 2007 Cheryl was awarded the key to the city from the mayor of Atherton at her old high school.

Burke won her first Dancing with the Stars championship with 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey in the second season. She won her second championship with retired football star Emmitt Smith in the third season.

Burke returned to the ballroom on March 19, 2007 for Season 4, partnered with actor Ian Ziering. Burke and Ziering were eliminated in the semi-finals on May 15, 2007.
Burke in 2008

Burke participated in a 38-city Dancing with the Stars Tour from December 19, 2006 to February 11, 2007. She also joined the second summer tour, which visited 24 cities between June 20, 2007 and July 24, 2007. Her celebrity partner for both tours was Drew Lachey.

Burke competed on Season 5. Her partner was Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. They were the third couple eliminated from the competition on October 9, 2007.

Burke participated with both Lachey & Newton in the Dancing with the Stars winter tour that kicked off December 18, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. The tour wrapped in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 10, 2008.

Burke competed on Season 6 and was partnered with actor Cristián de la Fuente. They trained at Palm Beach, Florida's "Paramount Ballroom," which is owned by former U.S. Nine-Dance Champion Alec Lazo. They made it to the finals and on May 20, 2008, Cheryl and Cristián placed 3rd in the Season 6 competition.

Burke returned to the show for Season 7 with partner Maurice Greene. They were eliminated in Week 8 on November 11, 2008 and came in 5th place.

Burke returned to the show's eighth season, in which she was paired with actor Gilles Marini. They were the runners-up for the season, losing to Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas.

On August 17, 2009, it was announced that Burke would compete on the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars with partner Tom DeLay (former U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader). On October 6, 2009, Burke and DeLay withdrew from the competition because DeLay had stress fractures in both feet.

In season ten Burke was partnered with Chad Ochocinco. They were eliminated in the semi-finals and came in fourth place.

Rick Fox was partnered with Burke in the show's eleventh season. They were voted off in the seventh week of the competition in came in 6th place.

For the 12th Season, Burke was partnered with wrestler Chris Jericho. They were voted off in the sixth week of the competition.

The thirteenth season of Dancing with the Stars pairs Burke with reality TV personality Rob Kardashian. Hide