Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough was born July 20, 1988, in Provo, Utah to a family of dancers (all four of her grandparents were professional dancers and her parents met while ballroom dancing in Utah). She was one of five children and began dancing at the tender age of 3. By just 9 years old, she was already dancing competitively.
When she was 10, Julianne Hough moved to London, England, where one of her older brothers, Derek, was already living (their parents sent them abroad in the midst of their divorce in an effort to spare them the burden of the separation).
The siblings moved in with World Dance Champions Corky and Shirley Ballas, and Julianne began professionally dancing with their son Mark. Together, they became the Junior and Youth World champions while attending Italia Conti Performing Arts School.
When Julianne Hough was 12, she, her brother Derek and Mark Ballas started their own music group, 2B1G (two boys, one girl). The trio aggressively studied every aspect of dance and performing seven days a week -- singing, acting, tap, jazz, ballet, gymnastics, hip-hop, samba, jive, waltz, tango, quickstep, and more. The group was featured on various British TV shows.
JULIANNE HOUGH ON SHOW ME THE MONEY
When Julianne Hough was 15, she won the Junior Blackpool World Latin Championship and the International Latin Youth Championship, becoming the youngest dancer to win these titles. After these prestigious wins, she headed back across the pond to the U.S. and resided in Las Vegas for a year in order to attend the reputed Las Vegas Academy performing arts high school.
Her first professional gig was helping in the choreography of Gwen Stefani's video for the hit song "Wind It Up." Then, she became one of the "Million Dollar Dancers" on the William Shatner-hosted game show Show Me The Money.
JULIANNE HOUGH ON DANCING WITH THE STARS
Before joining the show, Julianne Hough was one of the company dancers on the Dancing with the Stars national tour group. However, she officially joined the cast for the fourth season of the popular reality dance show and was teamed up with Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. She was the youngest professional dancer to join the cast, and also the youngest to win: the duo took home the fourth-season championship.
Julianne Hough stayed on board for the fifth season of DWTS, this time being paired up with Indy 500 racer Hélio Castroneves. Once again, Julianne Hough led them to victory as the pair won the finals, beating out Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy to win the mirror ball trophy.
In the sixth season, Julianne Hough was teamed up with funnyman Adam Carolla. However, they were eliminated halfway through the season.
JULIANNE HOUGH RELEASES SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM
Always a hopeful country singer, Julianne Hough released her debut single, "Will You Dance With Me," in May '07 on iTunes and at Wal-Mart. It hit No. 100 on the Billboard Pop 100 charts and No. 8 on the country charts.
