Mark Ballas

Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. (born May 24, 1986) is an American dancer. Ballas is a professional ballroom dancer on the ABC program Dancing with the Stars. He began competing on the show in the fall of 2007. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography in 2011. He is also a singer/songwriter/musician and released his first solo CD HurtLoveBox in March 2011. Ballas was born in Houston, Texas, with family ties in Laredo, Texas. His paternal grandparents are George Charles Ballas and Maria Luisa Marulanda Ballas of Mexican, Spanish and Greek background. His parents are Corky Ballas and British-born Shirley Ballas (née Rich). Grandfather George Ballas is the inventor of the Weed Eater lawn-trimming device. Ballas attended Rosemead Preparatory school in South London, and was in the same year as acclaimed British ballet dancer Max Westwell of the English National Ballet. At the…