From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Derek Hough
Derek Hough at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2009.
Born	Derek Hough May 17, 1985 (1985-05-17) (age 24) Salt Lake City, Utah
Occupation	dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, director
Years active	2005 – present

Derek Hough (pronounced /hʌf/; born May 17, 1985) is an American dancer and choreographer. A former world champion in Latin American Dance, he appeared on the fifth season of the ABC television series, Dancing with the Stars with actress Jennie Garth (earning fourth place in the competition), and was eliminated during the seventh Week of the sixth season, earning sixth place with actress Shannon Elizabeth. He returned for the seventh season, this time partnered with Brooke Burke, and won the competition. He returned for the eighth season, earning fifth place with rapper Lil' Kim. For season 9, Hough was partnered with model Joanna Krupa. They were eliminated during week 9, the semi-finals, on November 17, 2009. Hough also sang a duet, "Dreaming Under The Same Moon", with his sister, Julianne Hough, on her self-titled debut album. Julianne Hough is also a professional dancer and a two-time winner of Dancing with the Stars.

Early life

Hough was born in 1985 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a Mormon family. In 1998, he and his sister, Julianne Hough, moved to London to further their dance training with world renowned dancing couple, Corky and Shirley Ballas.^[1][2]

He(with sister Julianne and friend Mark Ballas were a pop sining trio called "2B1G"("2 Boys 1 Girl") in his younger years.

Dancing

He attended and subsequently taught at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. On this foundation, he built a career, which has included professional competition, television work, and roles in the West End Theatre.

Hough played the role of Ren McCormack in both the UK Tour and the West-End run of Footloose the Musical, which ran from April until November 2006.

Before this, Hough's theatre work included playing the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Millfield Theatre, and dancing in the company in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.

Hough is a former IDSF World Youth Latin Champion (2002) for Poland with Aneta Piotrowska. He has won the LA Outstanding Dancer of the Year and the New York Dance Alliance Outstanding Dance awards.^[2]

Hough is one of Bruno Tonioli's panelists on BBC One's DanceX, the first episode of which aired on July 14, 2007.^[3]

Dancing with the Stars

Hough joined Season 5 of Dancing With The Stars and was paired with Jennie Garth. Hough and Garth competed in the semi-finals and were the ninth couple eliminated from the competition. He competed in Season 6 of Dancing With The Stars, this time paired with actress Shannon Elizabeth. For Season 7, Hough was partnered with model/TV host Brooke Burke. In rehearsal on October 4, 2008, Hough tripped and fell, hitting his head on the floor and momentarily blacked out. He was sent to the hospital, but sustained no injuries.^[4] Hough and Burke earned the mirror ball trophy and won Season 7.

The cast of season 8 of Dancing With the Stars was announced in February 2009, and Hough was paired with rapper Lil' Kim. In week 9, they were eliminated from the show despite high scores from the judges.

For Season 9, Hough was partnered with model Joanna Krupa. They were eliminated during week 9, the semi-finals, on November 17, 2009, despite high scores from the judges. They finished fourth.

For Season 10, Hough will be partnered with Nicole Scherzinger from the singing group Pussycat Dolls. ^[5]

Hough's current DWTS pro average is 25.7. Joanna Krupa's Argentine Tango is not included in his average.

Performance history

Season 5: Celebrity partner Jennie Garth (Average - 25.7) :

Season 6: Celebrity partner Shannon Elizabeth (Average - 24.5) :

Season 7: Celebrity partner Brooke Burke (Average - 27.1) :

• Due to Len Goodman's absence in week 6 the 10 was awarded by stand-in guest judge Michael Flatley

Season 8: Celebrity partner Lil' Kim (Average - 25.8) :

Season 9: Celebrity partner Joanna Krupa (Average 25.5):

^* Due to Len Goodman's absence in week 2 the 7 was awarded by stand-in guest judge Baz Luhrmann.
^** Due to illness Derek Hough was unable to perform, Joanna Krupa performed this dance with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Music

Hough and his sister Julianne Hough, who is also a Dancing with the Stars professional dancer, sang a duet called "Dreaming Under the Same Moon" in Julianne's debut self-titled album.
Hough and another Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Mark Ballas formed a band named "Almost Amy." In November 2008, the band changed their name to Ballas Hough Band (BHB). This was primarily due to the fact that someone already owned the domain name Almost Amy, although their manager cited other reasons for the name change, such as input from the label's marketing department. The debut album of the band, titled BHB, was released on March 10, 2009. Hough plays Kate Voegele's love interest in her new music video "99 Times". He can also be seen in Lil Kim's video, Download and Cheryl Cole's video Parachute.

Personal life

Hough dated actress and former DWTS partner, Shannon Elizabeth for more than a year. On August 7, 2009, via their Twitter accounts, both Derek and Shannon announced their breakup. Derek later revealed they broke up in July. Previously, Hough dated British actress/singer/songwriter India de Beaufort for several years. In February 2010, Hough met up with British pop-star Cheryl Cole during her visit to Los Angeles, after rumours that she was to be splitting with soccer star husband Ashley Cole. There has been speculation that the pair were romantically involved after Hough and his pet dog spent seven hours in her hotel room one evening.

References

1. ^ Shenton, Mark (April 17, 2006). "Derek Hough". Fresh Face. Broadway.com in London. http://www.theatre.com/story/id/3001901. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Derek Hough Bio". Dancing with the Stars. ABC. http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=bio#t=pro&d=23271. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
3. ^ "DanceX". BBC. June 29, 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/06_june/29/dancex_teamb.shtml. 
4. ^ Deerwester, Jayme. "'Dancing' can be a pain in the ...". USA Today. October 27, 2008)
5. ^ "Nicole Scherzinger Begins ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Rehearsals With Derek Hough". PopDirt. March 2, 2010. http://popdirt.com/nicole-scherzinger-begins-dancing-with-the-stars-rehearsals-with-derek-hough/78062/. 

External links

• Derek Hough at the Internet Movie Database
• Derek Hough at MySpace
• Derek Hough - Mom's Blog about Derek
• "Derek Hough official fan site". http://www.derekhough.com. 
• "Almost Amy Band official website". http://www.almost-amy.com. Retrieved 2007-10-24.