CELEBRITIES

Maksim Chmerkovskiy

BIO

Born in the Ukraine in 1980, Maksim Chmerkovskiy began dancing at the age of four. Chmerkovskiy moved to America at a young age, and continued to dance, becoming a professional Latin Ballroom dancer who later rose to fame on the ABC reality dance competition show Dancing With the Stars.

Chmerkovskiy made his first appearance during the show's second season and is now in his seventh season as a professional competitor. The classically-trained ballroom dancer helped celeb dancer Mel B take home a second-place trophy in season five. Chmerkovskiy most recently danced with Entourage actress Debi Mazar.

He is an owner of three dance studios in the New York City area and resides in Edgewater, New Jersey. Chmerkovskiy began dating fellow DWTS pro Karina Smirnoff in the summer of 2008, only to announce their engagement a few months later. In September 2009, the pair split for good, and called off their engagement.