Shirley Ballas
Shirley Ballas is a champion ballroom dancer, world-renowned dance teacher and adjudicator, bestselling author, and the head judge of BBC1’s flagship show “Strictly Come Dancing.”
Originally from Wallasey, Ballas has been dancing since age 7. She is three-time British Open to the World Latin American champion, 10-time United States Latin American champion, and multiple-time British National champion. By 21, Ballas had won nearly every major title she competed in worldwide. She is the only person to have ever won the British Open to the World Latin American Championships in Blackpool with two different partners and reached the finals an impressive 17 times. She still remains the youngest-ever female to reach the British Open to the World Dance Championship finals. Ballas has been the recipient of three Carl Alan Awards (the Oscars of the world of dance), Teacher of the Year Award, The Variety Club Legends of Industry Award, and has been inducted into both the United States and Great Britain Dance Hall of Fame.
In addition to her role on “Strictly,” Ballas has been seen giving masterclasses and commentating on the American series “Dancing with the Stars,” is a frequent panelist on “Loose Women,” and was the subject of BBC1’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” She presented two series of the popular “This Morning” feature “Matchmaker Mountain” for ITV and fronted the CBBC series “Our School Summer Camp.” Ballas’ numerous other appearances include “The Jonathan Ross Show,” “Britain’s Got More Talent,” “Through the Keyhole,” “Crystal Maze,” “Catchphrase,” “Blankety Blank,” “The One Show,” “Tipping Point: Lucky Stars,” “Would I Lie to You?,” “The Graham Norton Show” and “Celebrity Juice,” amongst many others. Further to this, Ballas was asked to lend her voice to the “Puss in Boots” story for the CBeebies channel in collaboration with Northern Ballet and presented a “Friday Night Is Music Night special for BBC Radio 2.”
In 2019, Ballas was one of nine celebrities selected for BBC1’s “Kilimanjaro: The Return”, where they climbed the 5,895-meter mountain to raise funds for Comic Relief supported projects in the UK and internationally. She is also an ambassador for the charities Macmillan Cancer Support, CALM, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Centrepoint and Suicide&Co.
Ballas’ sensational biography “Behind The Sequins” was released in 2020 to critical acclaim, immediately becoming an Amazon bestseller. Following the success of the book, she secured a two-book deal with HarperCollins to publish “The Sequin Mysteries,” a duo of cozy-crime novels that waltz through the glittering and highly competitive world of ballroom dance. Both “Murder on the Dance Floor” and “Dance to the Death” proved to be immediate hits and once again topped the Amazon charts. Last year Ballas released “Best Foot Forward” — a sparkling toolkit for living one’s best life, with new stories from her life on and off the dance floor.
Whilst Ballas continues in her role as head judge on the biggest show on British television, she has also proved herself to be one of the country’s most versatile and much-loved personalities. She was a celebrity contestant on Netflix’s “Bear Hunt,” co-hosted BBC1’s “Morning Live,” presented on BBC Radio 2, appeared on “Celebrity Sewing Bee,” competed on ITV’s “Cooking With The Stars,” taken part in the documentary “Womanhood,” appeared in BBC1’s “Unbreakable,” and surprised and delighted television audiences when she was revealed as Rat in the hugely popular ITV series “The Masked Singer.” She has also performed in her own stage show “An Audience with Shirley Ballas” and continues to delight audiences up and down the country appearing each year in “Strictly Come Dancing Live!”
PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOMETOWN: Wallasey, England
BIRTHDATE: September 6
