Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Stephanie Bautista Burke (born May 3, 1984) 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. 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. 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,