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.
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.
Hough is one of Bruno Tonioli's panelists on BBC One's DanceX, the first episode of which aired on July 14, 2007.
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. 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.
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):
Week #
Dance/Song
Judges' score
Result
Inaba
Goodman
Tonioli
1
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Uptown Girl"
7
7
7
Safe
2
Quickstep/"Suddenly I See"
7
7
7
Safe
3
Tango/"Cite Tango"
9
8
9
Safe
4
Paso Doble/"Because We Can"
8
10
9
Safe
5
Samba/"Cosmic Girl"
8
9
8
Safe
6
Mambo/"Mambo Baby"
Rock N' Roll/"Rockin' Robin"
9
No
9
Scores
9
Given
Safe
7
Viennese Waltz/"Runaway"
Rumba/ "Fallen"
8
9
8
9
9
10
Last to be Called
Safe
8
Jive/"It Takes Two"
Foxtrot/ "I've Got You Under My Skin"
8
9
8
9
8
8
Last to be Called
Safe
9
Semi-finals
Tango/"The Take Over, The Breaks Over"
Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Mustang Sally"
9
10
10
10
9
10
Eliminated
Season 6: Celebrity partner Shannon Elizabeth (Average - 24.5):
Week #
Dance/Song
Judges' score
Result
Inaba
Goodman
Tonioli
1
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Shut Up and Drive"
7
7
7
N/A
2
Quickstep/"Swing with Me"
8
8
8
Safe
3
Jive/"Goody Two-Shoes"
8
8
8
Safe
4
Viennese Waltz/"Keep Holding On"
9
10
9
Safe
5
Samba/"Pon de Replay"
8
8
7
Safe
6
Rumba/ "True Colors"
Country Western/"Cotton-Eyed Joe
8
No
8
Scores
8
Given
Safe
7
Tango/"Tanguedia III"
Mambo/ "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That"
9
8
9
8
9
8
Eliminated
Season 7: Celebrity partner Brooke Burke (Average - 27.1):
Week #
Dance/Song
Judges' score
Result
Inaba
Goodman
Tonioli
1
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)"
7
8
8
Safe
1
Quickstep/"Lover, Come Back to Me"
9
8
9
Safe
2
Paso Doble/"Palladio, first movement"
8
8
8
Safe
3
Viennese Waltz/"Daughters"
9
10
9
Safe
4
Samba/"Hip Hip Chin Chin"
9
8
9
Safe
5
Jitterbug/"Don't Be Cruel"
10
9
10
Safe
6
Rumba/"No Air"
8
10*
8
Safe
7
Foxtrot/"Lullaby of Birdland"
Group Paso Doble/ "Rocks"
10
10
10
9
10
10
Safe
8
Tango/"Tango Diabolo"
Mambo/ "Cuban Mambo"
10
9
8
9
10
9
Safe
9
Jive/"The House is Rockin'"
Salsa/ "Barbarabatiri"
7
9
7
10
7
9
Safe
10
Samba/"Blame It On the Boogie"
Freestyle/"You're the One That I Want"
Viennese Waltz/"Daughters"
9
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
WON
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):
Week #
Dance/Song
Judges' score
Result
Inaba
Goodman
Tonioli
1
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Nasty"
7
7
7
Safe
2
Quickstep/"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"
8
7
8
Safe
3
Samba/"Remedio P'al Corazon"
8
8
9
Safe
4
Argentine Tango/"Taquito Militar"
9
8
10
Safe
5
Viennese Waltz/"I'll Be"
9
8
9
Safe
6
Jive/"Jailhouse Rock"
10
8
10
Safe
7
Rumba/"Lost Without U"
9
8
9
Safe
8
Paso Doble/"El Gato Montes"
Team Tango/"Womanizer"
9
9
9
9
10
10
Safe
9
Waltz/"When I Need You"
Salsa/"Por Arriba, Por Abajo"
8
9
9
9
8
9
Eliminated
Season 9: Celebrity partner Joanna Krupa (Average 25.5):
Week #
Dance/Song
Judges' score
Result
Inaba
Goodman
Tonioli
1
Salsa/"Meddle"
Foxtrot/"The Best Is Yet to Come"
8
8
8
Safe
10
2
Jive/"What I Like About You"
6
7*
7
Safe
3
Samba/"La Bomba"
7
8
8
Safe
4
Lambada/"Danando Lambada"
9
8
9
Safe
5
Argentine Tango/"Whatever Lola Wants"**
8
8
8
Safe
6
Waltz/"Be Here To Love Me"
Mambo/"Ran Kan Kan"
8
9
9
Safe
10
7
Rumba/"The Look of Love"
Team Tango/"You Give Love A Bad Name"
9
9
9
9
9
10
Safe
8
Quickstep/"Valerie"
Paso Doble/"Living on Video"
8
9
7
10
8
10
Safe
9
Viennese Waltz/"Hallelujah"
Cha-Cha-Cha/"Can't Get You Out of My Head"
Salsa/"Lal Luz Del Ritmo"
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
Eliminated
^*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
Main article: Ballas Hough Band
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 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
^ Shenton, Mark (April 17, 2006). "Derek Hough". Fresh Face. Broadway.com in London. http://www.theatre.com/story/id/3001901.
^ 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.
^ "DanceX". BBC. June 29, 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/06_june/29/dancex_teamb.shtml.
^ Deerwester, Jayme. "'Dancing' can be a pain in the ...". USA Today. October 27, 2008)
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.
Links to related articles
Precededby
Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas
Dancing with the Stars (US) winner
Season 7 (Fall 2008 with Brooke Burke)
Succeededby
Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas
vde
Dancing with the Stars
Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Dances (Season 10 only)
American Smooth Argentine Tango Bolero Cha-Cha-Cha Charleston Foxtrot Jive Lambada Lindy Hop Mambo Merengue Paso Doble Quickstep Rock 'n' Roll Rumba Salsa Samba Tango Viennese Waltz Waltz Freestyle
Kelly Monaco Drew Lachey Emmitt Smith Apolo Anton Ohno Hlio Castroneves Kristi Yamaguchi Brooke Burke Shawn Johnson Donny Osmond
Professional champions
Alec Mazo Cheryl Burke (Seasons 2 & 3) Julianne Hough (Seasons 4 & 5) Mark Ballas (Seasons 6 & 8) Derek Hough Kym Johnson
Celebrity runners-up
John O'Hurley Jerry Rice Mario Lopez Joey Fatone Mel B Jason Taylor Warren Sapp Gilles Marini Ma
Professional runners-up
Charlotte Jrgensen Anna Trebunskaya Karina Smirnoff Kym Johnson (Seasons 4 & 7) Maksim Chmerkovskiy Edyta liwiska Cheryl Burke Dmitry Chaplin
Alternate versions
Dancing with the Stars (International) Strictly Come Dancing (United Kingdom)
Games
Dancing with the Stars We Dance! Dancing with the Stars (card game)
Spin-offs
Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann
vde
DanceX
Series
1
Hosts
Ben Shephard
Judges
Arlene Phillips Bruno Tonioli Ashley Wallen Joshua Alamu Derek Hough
CeCe Sammy
Winners
Pulse
Categories: 1985 births | American male singers | Musicians from Utah | Living people | American ballroom dancers | American Latter Day Saints | Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) participants | People from Salt Lake City, Utah | Reality television judges
