With over 25 years dancing experience and several championship titles under her belt, Emmy nominated professional dancer Cheryl Burke, tangoed and sambaed her way into the hearts of millions through the hit ABC television show Dancing with the Stars becoming champion twice with Emmitt Smith in Season 3 and Drew Lachey in Season 2.
In 2015, Cheryl starred alongside Joe Jonas, Ciara, and Marlon Wayans in NBC’s I Can Do That, a variety show that challenged celebrities to live outside their comfort zones. 2016 marked Burke’s return to Dancing with the Stars for her 19th season on the show, pairing her with infamous Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. In the fall of 2017, Burke partnered with NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens for her 20th season on the Emmy nominated program. Most recently, she partnered Backstreet Boy AJ McLean, with whom she hosts the Pretty Messed Up Podcast for iHeartRadio.
Cheryl kicked off 2016 with the production, Love on the Floor, a live stage show featuring professional dancers and Olympic and World Champion ice skaters coming together to tell the story of love and its many stages. The evocative stage show includes many forms of dance choreographed by Emmy Award winning choreographers. Cheryl, who created and serves as the show’s producer alongside live event giant IMG, was joined on stage by Kristi Yamaguchi, Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Daisuke Takahashi when the show made its worldwide premiere in June in Tokyo, Japan where is grossed over 2 million dollars in ticket sales in 10 sold out shows. In 2017, Cheryl again took Love on the Floor to Japan where it again played to sold out audiences.
Cheryl again made headlines when she was cast as the replacement coach on Lifetime’s long running reality series, Dance Moms. Hired to replace the legal battle embroiled and controversial Abby Lee Miller, Cheryl goes toe to toe with difficult dance moms this season as she strives to coach the girls to success by embracing their unique differences and becoming the best possible dancers they can be.
A Bay Area native, Cheryl first began dancing at the age of six, taking ballet lessons and performing throughout the Bay Area. At 10, she discovered what would be her winning talent, ballroom dancing, and decided to hang up her ballet shoes to begin training in both Standard and Latin ballroom dancing. By the age of 13, Cheryl was traveling and competing throughout the world.
In the spring of 2008 Cheryl opened her first of several dance studios, the highly successful Cheryl Burke Dance. In early 2011 Cheryl’s biography Dancing Lessons: How I Found Passion and Potential on the Dance Floor and in Life was released. The book addresses topics that shaped Cheryl throughout her life from the childhood molestation and abuse she lived through to harsh criticisms of her weight and body in her early 20’s.
In 2015 Cheryl launched her own clothing line Cee Bee with home shopping giant QVC as her retail partner. The line of active wear and workout attire features items that are designed to fit the active lifestyle of the average woman. In 2020, Cheryl partnered with Bailey Blue for a line of fashion face masks. The first collection included six fashionable and functional face masks inspired by the ballroom dances for which Cheryl is best known. With the success of the initial launch, the partnership has continued launching new styles and restocking the original favorites.
Currently in development on several unscripted television show concepts that she will also produce, Burke has turned an initial reluctance to leave the world of competitive dance to appear on television into a growing empire.
Cheryl has been named one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful and often appears on Maxim’s Hot 100 List. In 2008, Burke was awarded an Asian Excellence Award and in 2010, she made a much talked about appearance in the music video for Ne-Yo’s Camera Phone. In addition to her onscreen roles, Burke is a noted motivational speaker. Having been publicly attacked about her weight and battling body image issues her entire life, Burke often speaks at medical conferences, women’s conventions and to school age children about self-esteem and having a healthy body image. She also speaks about being a survivor of domestic sexual abuse. Her accomplishments in entertainment were celebrated in 2020 with an induction into the Robert Chinn Foundation’s Asian Hall of Fame.
For Cheryl, dancing is a way of life. It provides a medium for her to express her inner feelings and passions all while maintaining focus and composure during extremely high-pressure situations. It is dancing that has made her such a competitor, both on and off the floor, and made her strive for perfection in anything that she sets out to do.
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