Brandon Kelly Armstrong (born June 5, 1994) is an American professional

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

dancer best known for his appearances on the reality competition series ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''.

Early life

Brandon Kelly Armstrong was born on June 5, 1994, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He identifies as

mixed race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

; he is half

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and half Polynesian. Armstrong was

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

at birth by a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

military family and was raised

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

. He moved to

Lehi, Utah Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010, and it is the center of population of Utah. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to t ...

and began dancing when he was twelve years old; he trained with Corky Ballas,

Shirley Ballas Shirley Annette Ballas (née Rich, formerly Stopford; born 6 September 1960) is an English dancer and television personality. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles which earned her the n ...

, and Mark Ballas. After graduating from high school, Armstrong served a two-year mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

and

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

''Dancing with the Stars''

Armstrong started working on the reality competition series ''

'' as a troupe member on season 24, and remained in that role until season 26. He was promoted to pro in season 27 and was partnered with singer-songwriter

Tinashe Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe ( ; born February 6, 1993), known mononymously as Tinashe, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Pasadena, California, as a child, where she pursued w ...

. Despite consistently receiving high scores and praise from the judges, they were eliminated during the fourth week of competition on October 15, 2018, finishing in 10th place. In season 28, Armstrong was partnered with Mary Wilson of

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

. They were the first couple to be eliminated from the season, finishing in 12th place; Armstrong's lowest placement to date. In season 29, Armstrong was partnered with television host Jeannie Mai. They withdrew from the competition on November 2, 2020, after Mai was hospitalized for epiglottitis. In season 30, Armstrong was partnered with actress

Kenya Moore Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, author, entrepreneur, television personality and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1993. Since 2012, she stars on the reality TV series, ''The Real Housewives of Atlant ...

. They were eliminated during the sixth week of competition on October 25, 2021, finishing in 10th place. In season 31, Armstrong was partnered with singer-songwriter and actress

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the American Idol (season 6), sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. He ...

. They were eliminated during the seventh week of competition on October 31, 2022, finishing in 9th place. For season 32, Armstrong was partnered with social media personality and singer

Lele Pons Eleonora "Lele" Pons Maronese ( ; born 25 June 1996) is an American and Venezuelan YouTuber, actress and singer. Pons came to prominence on Vine before the platform was shut down in 2016 where she was the most followed woman and the third most ...

. They were eliminated during the seventh week of competition on November 7, 2023, finishing in 8th place. Armstrong had a breakthrough performance in season 33 with his partner, television actress and singer Chandler Kinney. Despite inconsistent remarks from the judges, especially from Carrie Ann Inaba and

Derek Hough Derek Bruce Hough (; born May 17, 1985) is an American professional Latin dance, Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer, actor and singer. From 2007 to 2016, Hough was a professional dancer on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC dance compe ...

, the couple earned both the highest cumulative points and the first perfect score, of the season. Armstrong and Kinney are the first Black couple in ''Dancing with the Stars'' history to advance to the finale. Their freestyle routine to " Hellzapoppin'" and "

Move On Up "Move On Up" is a song by Curtis Mayfield from his 1970 debut album, '' Curtis''. Nearly nine minutes long on the album version, it was released as a single in the United States, but failed to chart. An edited version of the song spent 10 weeks ...

" was the show's first performance to feature an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

of all-Black dancers. Armstrong and Kinney ultimately finished in third place on November 26, 2024; Armstrong's highest placement to date.

Season 27

Celebrity partner:

Season 28

Celebrity partner: Mary Wilson

Season 29

Celebrity partner: Jeannie Mai

Season 30

Celebrity partner:

was absent so score was given out of 30.

Season 31

Celebrity partner:

¹ Score given by guest judge Michael Buble.

Season 33

Celebrity partner: Chandler Kinney ¹ Score awarded by guest judge

Rosie Perez Rosa Maria Perez (born September 6, 1964) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came at age 24 with her portrayal of Tina in the film '' Do the Right Thing'' (1989), followed by '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992). Perez's performance in '' Fear ...

² Score awarded by guest judge

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

³ Score awarded by guest judge Mark Ballas

Personal life

Armstrong began dating social media manager Brylee Ivers in 2021 after meeting through

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. They got engaged on March 7, 2022, and were married on July 30, 2022, in the mountains of

Draper, Utah Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2020 census, the population is 51,017, up from 7,143 in 1990. Draper is part of two metropolitan area ...

References

} {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Brandon 1994 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American dancers American ballroom dancers American choreographers American male dancers African-American male dancers Entertainers from San Francisco Latter Day Saints from California Latter Day Saints from Utah Living people People from Lehi, Utah People from Napa, California