Cheryl Burke life and biography

Cheryl 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 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.

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.

Burke had a guest role on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, in the episode "Loosely Ballroom" along with fellow Dancing professionals Louis van Amstel, Ashly DelGrosso, and Lacey Schwimmer. She portrays Shannon, a nurse attending to the ensemble cast during a dance contest at the series setting, The Tipton Hotel. In the final round of the competition, Burke's character volunteers to replace an ill competitor. She and her partner go on to win the competition.

In November 2009, US Magazine magazine announced that Burke is in talks to star as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway during the hiatus from Dancing With the Stars.

Awards and honors:

2005 World Cup Professional Rising Star Latin Champion
2005 San Francisco Latin Champion
2005 Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Latin Champion
UK Championships
4th in U.S. in the "Under 21s."
Dancing with the Stars (season 2) champion with Drew Lachey
Dancing with the Stars champion Season 3 with Emmitt Smith
Two-time nominee: Prime Time Emmy 2006, Outstanding Choreography for Paso Doble and Outstanding Choreography for Freestyle; Burke is the youngest nominee to ever receive nominations in that category.
On October 20, 2007, Cheryl won the Role Model Award at the 7th Annual Filipino/American Library Gala.
On the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards, she won the Viewer's Choice award for Favorite T.V. Personality.

Molestation

In 2011, she released her autobiography, Dancing Lessons, describing how she, at age 6, was molested by a retired mailman. The mailman repeatedly pulled down her pants and fondled her. She believed it was wrong but wanted to gain the affection of the person. The molester was sentenced to 22 years in pri
son and was recently released. Burke said that she is fearful of the person.

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