Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Stephanie Bautista Burke (born May 3, 1984 in San Francisco, California) is a professional dancer. She is best known for being one of the professional dancers on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, where she was the first female professional to win the show and the first professional to win twice and consecutively.

Early Life
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.

Dancing with the Stars
That same year, Cheryl was called to do something that really changed her life. She was called to become a pro on Dancing with the Stars. She joined the show on it's second season & second year on the air.

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

Cheryl 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 in Austin, Texas and July 24, 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 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. Cheryl 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.

The dancer 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. She 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, Cheryl and DeLay withdrew from the competition because DeLay had stress fractures in both feet.

In season ten she 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 and came in 6th place. For the twelfth Season, she was partnered with wrestler Chris Jericho. They were voted off in the sixth week of the competition. In the thirteenth season, Cheryl Burke was partnered with reality star Rob Kardashian. They came in second place, losing to J.R. Martinez & Karina Smirnoff. In the fourteenth season, Cheryl Burke was partnered with actor William Levy. The couple made it to the finals and finished in third place.

In Season 15, Burke returns with former partner and Season 3 Champion, Emmitt Smith for a chance to win another mirrorball trophy.

Since her start in the second season of the show, Cheryl has achieved 18 perfect scores and 88 perfect 10s (without counting the marathons and relays). Additional feats include making it into the final stage of the show six times and her eight appearances in the show's semi-final stage. She is the only pro that has gotten all places in the finals twice (1st with Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith, 2nd with Gilles Marini and Rob Kardashian, 3rd with Cristian de la Fuente and William Levy).

While doing the show, Cheryl guest starred on an episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody along with fellow pros Louis van Amstel, Ashly DelGrosso, and Lacey Schwimmer. She played nurse Shannon Kwine who was tending to a dance student played by Rip Taylor and a few others. Near the end of the episode during a dance contest, Cheryl's character asked Estaban (Adrian R'Mante) to volunteer herself to replace the title characters' mother Carey Martin (Kim Rhodes) since she fell ill prior to this. At first she was underdressed for the occasion, but brainless heiress London Tipton (Brenda Song) fixed her up. Mr. Moseby the manager (Phill Lewis) replied "And yet, she can't figure out a pay phone."

In 2011, she released her autobiography, Dancing Lessons. Included in it is a description of how she, at age 6, was molested by a handyman helping her family, who repeatedly fondled her. She believed it was wrong but wanted to gain the affection of the person. The molester was sentenced to 22 years in prison and was recently released. Burke said that she is fearful of the person.

Links

 * Her Official Website (1)
 * Her Official Website (2)
 * Her Twitter Page