Derek Hough is an American professional Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer, actor and singer.
These are some facts you should know about him!
- He was born on the 17th of May, 1985.
- He grew up the fourth of five children in a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) family in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
- Yes, he is the brother of Julianne Hough.
- His parents met while on a ballroom dancing team in college in Idaho.
- When Hough was 12, his divorcing parents sent him to London to live and study with dance coaches Corky and Shirley Ballas. Hough’s sister Julianne joined him in London several months later.
- He won the WDSF World Latin Champiomship in 2002, and the Blackpool U-21 Latin title with Aneta Piotrowska in 2003. He has won the LA Outstanding Dancer of the Year and New York Dance Alliance Outstanding Dance awards.
- In 2013, Hough worked with world champion ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White on a number for their upcoming 2014 Sochi winter Olympics short dance program that had to contain quickstep and foxtrot rhythms.[19][20] Davis and White went on to win the gold medal with the routine.
- He made his first appearance on Dancing with the Stars in season four (week 6) as a guest instructor with Julianne and Apolo Anton Ohno.
- He then joined the cast of professional instructors in season five and was paired with Jennie Garth.
- On July 27, 2012, Hough announced that season 15 of Dancing with the Stars would be his last.
- In May 2017, Hough joined NBC’s new dance competition series World of Dance as a judge, alongside Jennifer Lopez and Ne-Yo and host/mentor Jenna Dewan-Tatum.
- He has made two cameo appearances; one in 2001 in the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and one in the movie Rock of Ages.
- In 2016, Hough appeared alongside Lindsey Stirling in the music video for The Arena which he also choreographed.
- He directed Mark Ballas’ music video for his song “Get My Name” that was released on MTV on May 14, 2014.
- He is a two-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Choreography and has earned eight Emmy Award nominations in total for his work on Dancing with the Stars.
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