Sharna May Burgess (born 21 June 1985) is an Australian

ballroom dancer Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and tel ...

who is best known for being a professional partner and troupe member on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

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) ...

''. She is the winner of season 27 of American television show ''

'' with her celebrity partner

Bobby Bones Bobby Estell, (born April 2, 1980) known professionally as Bobby Bones, is an American radio and television personality, best known for hosting the nationally syndicated '' The Bobby Bones Show'', originating from the iHeart Studios in Nashvill ...

, where she has also been a runner-up in several other seasons. She has also been a judge on the Australian version of the show since 2019, along with

Craig Revel Horwood Craig Revel Horwood (born 4 January 1965) is an Australian-British author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen in the United Kingdom. He is also a patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Horwood is a jud ...

and

Tristan MacManus Tristan MacManus (born 23 July 1982) is an Irish dancer and television presenter. He is best known for his professional appearances on ''Dancing with the Stars (American TV series), Dancing with the Stars'', ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and ''Danc ...

Early life

Burgess was born in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia to Ray and Lucy Burgess. Growing up, she was involved in several sports and different styles of dance. At the age of five, she began training in ballet, jazz and gymnastics. When she turned eight, her study of ballroom began, and she went on to win many local and national titles. At age 15, she was chosen to represent Australia at the World Championships in both the Standard and Latin styles, and performed in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Closing Ceremonies.

Career

At age 18, Burgess moved to London, where she collected numerous titles and appeared in a UK tour with the show, Simply Ballroom. Post Simply Ballroom, choreographer

Jason Gilkison Jason Gilkison is an Australian professional ballroom dance champion and choreographer. Early life Gilkison was born in Perth, Australia. He was raised by his single mum, Kay. At age 4, he began dancing at the Perth ballroom dance studio, fo ...

gave her a spot on tour with

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in New York City and the West End of London, West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries ...

. She was in the cast for six years. Burgess was a member of the Burn the Floor cast when the show moved to Broadway. Burgess' first television appearances were on the Australian ''

'' and ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'' in Belgium and the Netherlands. She joined the cast of season 13 of ''

'' as a troupe member. While on the troupe, she also assisted ''

'' choreographer Jason Gilkison on both the Australian and American versions of the show. She remained on the troupe until the end of season 15. For season 16, Burgess was bumped to regular pro and was partnered with

Andy Dick Andrew Roane Dick (born Andrew Thomlinson, December 21, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Dick was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and joined The Second City and studied improvisational theater. Dick has had a long career as a stand ...

. She returned as a professional for season 17, this time partnered with retired

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

star

Keyshawn Johnson Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football for the USC Trojans, and earned All-American ho ...

. They were the first couple eliminated. For season 18, she was paired with Olympic ice dancer Charlie White. They were eliminated during week 9 (the semi-finals) and ended in 5th place despite raves from the judges and high scores throughout the season. Sharna was then confirmed for season 19 on 27 August. For season 19, she paired with talk-show host

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...

. They were eliminated on week 2, finishing in 12th place. For season 20, Burgess was paired with combat veteran and motivational speaker, Noah Galloway. The pair made it to the finals and finished in third place. For season 21, she was paired with

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

singer

Nick Carter Nickolas Gene Carter (born January 28, 1980) is an American singer, the lead vocalist of the vocal group Backstreet Boys, and an alleged rapist. As of 2015, he has released three solo albums, '' Now or Never'', '' I'm Taking Off'' and '' All A ...

. The couple made it to the finals and ended in second place behind winners Bindi Irwin, and her partner

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 ...

. For season 22, she was paired with

player

Antonio Brown Antonio Tavaris Brown Sr. (born July 10, 1988), nicknamed "AB", is an American former professional American football, football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. During his first nine seasons with t ...

. The couple made it to the semi-finals but were eliminated and finished in 4th place. For season 23, Burgess was partnered with race car driver

James Hinchcliffe James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship driving the No. 9 Lamborghini for Pfaff Motorsports. He is also a commentator for Fox Sports, FOX Sp ...

. Due to a knee injury from the previous week's dress rehearsal, Burgess had to sit out during week 8–9. Jenna Johnson substituted for her as Hinchcliffe's partner. The couple made it to the finals, and finished in 2nd place behind winners

Laurie Hernandez Lauren Zoe Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American retired artistic gymnast. During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the " Final Five" that won the team gold medal at ...

and her partner

Valentin Chmerkovskiy Valentin Aleksandrovich "Val" Chmerkovskiy (born March 24, 1986) is a Ukrainian-American professional dancer, best known for his appearances on the U.S. version of '' Dancing with the Stars'', which he won three times. Chmerkovskiy is a two-time ...

. For season 24, Burgess was partnered with professional bull rider Bonner Bolton. The couple were eliminated on week 8, and finished in fifth place. Burgess returned for season 25 and was paired with former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player,

Derek Fisher Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. Fisher played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, spending the majority of his career with the Los ...

. The couple were eliminated on week 4, and finished in eleventh place. For season 26, she was paired with

player Josh Norman. The pair made it to the finals, finishing in second place overall. For season 27, she was partnered with radio personality

. Despite low scores from the judges, they were consistently saved by the viewers' votes and won the competition. On 2 February 2019, it was announced that Burgess was joining the Australian version of the reality dancing competition series as its sole female judge. Burgess did not appear on season 28 of the American version. She returned the following year for season 29 of the American version and was partnered with actor

Jesse Metcalfe Jesse Eden Metcalfe (born December 9, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for being John Rowland on ''Desperate Housewives''. Metcalfe has also had notable roles on ''Passions'' and played the title role in '' John Tucker Must Die''. He sta ...

. The couple was eliminated in the fifth week of competition and finished in 12th place. In Season 30, she returned with real life partner

Brian Austin Green Brian Austin Green (born Brian Green; July 15, 1973) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of List of Beverly Hills, 90210 characters#Main characters, David Silver on the Television show, television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1 ...

and finished 13th.

Performances on ''Dancing with the Stars''

Season 16: Celebrity partner Andy Dick

* Average: 19.3 * Placed: 7th In an interview with ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', briefly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...

'', Burgess admitted she knew nothing of Dick's tumultuous past, due to the fact that she was living out of the country. Andy and Sharna continually received low scores and harsh criticisms from the judges. However, Burgess was praised for her work with him.

Season 17: Celebrity partner Keyshawn Johnson

* Average: 17.5 * Placed: 12th

Season 18: Celebrity partner Charlie White

* Average: 27.0 * Placed: 5th

Season 19: Celebrity partner Tavis Smiley

* Average: 28.5 * Placed: 12th

Season 20: Celebrity partner Noah Galloway

* Average: 32.9 * Placed: 3rd

Season 21: Celebrity partner Nick Carter

* Average: 27.2 * Placed: 2nd

Season 22: Celebrity partner Antonio Brown

* Average: 24.7 * Placed: 4th

Season 23: Celebrity partner James Hinchcliffe

* Average: 36.6 * Placed: 2nd

Season 24: Celebrity partner Bonner Bolton

* Average: 28.9 * Placed: 5th

Season 25: Celebrity partner Derek Fisher

* Average: 20.0 * Placed: 11th

Season 26: Celebrity partner Josh Norman

* Average: 25.8 * Placed: 2nd

Season 27: Celebrity partner Bobby Bones

* Average: 22.8 * Placed: 1st

Season 29: Celebrity partner Jesse Metcalfe

* Average: 19.6 * Placed: 12th

Season 30: Celebrity partner Brian Austin Green

* Average: 24.8 * Placed: 13th

Personal life

After her performance in the World Championships semi-finals, Burgess discovered she had a small tear in her knee ligament. Rather than take immediate action, she insisted on finishing the competition. She dated choreographer and dancer Paul Kirkland from 2010 to 2015. On September 22, 2023, Burgess announced via Instagram that she and actor

were engaged. They met in 2020 after being set up by mutual friends. In February 2022, they announced they were expecting their first child together. Their son was born on June 28, 2022. On 6 October 2022, Burgess announced that she had become a United States citizen.

Filmography

As herself

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Sharna 1985 births Australian ballroom dancers Living people People from Wagga Wagga Participants in American reality television series Australian expatriates in the United States 21st-century Australian dancers Dancing with the Stars (American TV series) winners Naturalized citizens of the United States