Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Bautista Burke (born May 3, 1984) 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. She is of Filipino, Russian, and Irish descent. 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. 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. 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 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, Canada. Her celebrity partner for both tours was Drew Lachey.