Where Former Dancing With the Stars Pros Are Now—and What’s Next

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Since its premiere in 2005, “Dancing with the Stars” has paired scores of professional ballroom dancers with celebrity contestants. Some early standouts, including Mark Ballas, Derek Hough, and Julianne Hough, remain connected to the ABC competition in different roles, but many of the show’s original pros have moved on. With season 35 underway, it’s a fitting moment to see where some of those familiar faces ended up.

Which former “Dancing with the Stars” favorite traded the ballroom for the investment world? Who has introduced a self-tanning brand, and which ex-pro recently appeared on screen alongside Jennifer Lopez? Others are still teaching, judging, performing, or hoping for another chance under the studio lights. Here’s an update on 13 professional dancers who eventually stepped away from the hit primetime series.

Alec Mazo made “Dancing with the Stars” history as the show’s first professional Mirrorball Trophy winner. The Ukrainian-born dancer claimed the inaugural title in 2005 with “General Hospital” actor Kelly Monaco and remained part of the ABC hit for five seasons. His final appearance came in 2009, when he partnered with Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin.

These days, Mazo is more likely to be found discussing business in a boardroom than performing in a ballroom. He became chief financial officer of software company DGLogik, INC in 2012 before joining investment firm DGA Capital as a general partner in 2016. According to his LinkedIn profile, his work includes income-focused defensive investments as well as special-situation opportunities offering appealing risk-reward potential.

Mazo is not the only former “DWTS” professional in his household of four. During an interview with Jake’s Takes, he explained to Y! Entertainment why he and his wife, Edyta Śliwińska, ultimately chose different paths. “We had 15 seasons between us and it was a great experience, but it became very repetitive,” he said. After completing four “Dancing with the Stars” tours and building a strong professional network, the couple realized that staying for 15 or 20 seasons would not change the need to eventually move forward.

Alec Mazo and Edyta Śliwińska’s picture-perfect life was seriously derailed in the summer of 2024 when the latter discovered she had cancer. Luckily, 12 months on, she took to Instagram to share the news that after undergoing major surgery, she was now on the road to recovery, revealing that she now felt “healthier than I have ever felt in my life.”

Śliwińska also made major changes after her time on the show. “I made changes to my lifestyle, diet, environment, and exercise routine,” she said, adding that she hoped to share what she learned so others could pursue better health and avoid receiving the frightening medical news she once heard in a hospital bed. Unlike her husband, she has remained active in dance through her Dance Fusion classes for adults, Dance Sport programs for children, and ongoing choreography work.

However, Śliwińska, who partnered with the likes of Joey Lawrence, Evander Holyfield, and Ashley Hamilton during all 10 seasons of “Dancing with the Stars,” acknowledged on Instagram that her priorities have changed. “My daughter often asks me, ‘Mommy, what’s your favorite thing to do?'” she told followers. “It used to be dancing … but I love THIS more: spending time with the people I love and nature. And the combination of these two, hiking, skiing, going to the beach or horseback riding, is now my favorite thing.”

Anna Trebunskaya appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” for 11 seasons and came closest to winning in 2010, when she finished as runner-up with Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek. After leaving the series permanently six years later, she continued performing and teaching at You Can Dance, a studio in Hermosa Beach.

Trebunskaya also embraced life as a mother of two. She and actor Nevin Millan welcomed daughter Amalya before the arrival of their son, Kaspyan, in 2017. The Russian-born dancer, who had previously been married to fellow professional Jonathan Roberts for almost 10 years, later discussed her relationship status with Us Weekly.

Trebunskaya revealed that she and Millan had become engaged before Kaspyan was conceived, but never made a public announcement. “We just never really announced it or made a big deal about it because life is just so busy and I got pregnant and we didn’t want to bring too much attention to it,” she said. With their second child now in the family, she added that they might eventually have time to focus on their own plans. Nearly a decade later, however, the couple has not offered a further update about their marital status.

Alec Mazo was the first professional to win “Dancing with the Stars,” while Louis van Amstel holds the less celebrated distinction of being the show’s first pro eliminated. During the series’ debut season in 2005, the Dutch dancer and “The Bachelor” star Trista Sutter were sent home in the opening elimination.

Van Amstel did not stay away for long. He returned to the ABC competition periodically across the next 10 seasons, making his most recent regular appearance in 2022 with former “Charlie’s Angels” star Cheryl Ladd. In 2025, he reunited with the show’s other five original professionals for an anniversary opening number marking 20 years of “DWTS.” The celebration sparked fresh thoughts about returning to the ballroom for a longer stint. Van Amstel lives with his husband, Joshua Lancaster, and their two adopted sons.

“There was a side of me that said, ‘Hey, I might be OG but I ain’t done,'” Van Amstel told his Instagram followers after the performance. “I want back in, I ain’t done. So if I would ever be asked back to be on the show, season 35, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.” Unfortunately, producers haven’t yet offered an invitation.

Tony Dovolani spent 21 seasons as a “Dancing with the Stars” professional and finally captured the Mirrorball Trophy in 2015 with reality personality Melissa Rycroft during the show’s All-Stars edition. He left the ABC series four years later and subsequently told the “Hollywood Life” podcast that he had become frustrated with the expectations surrounding his job.

“Some of these celebrities, or reality celebrities, I should say, they sometimes … they have an idea of what they think they are and who they are, and they didn’t realize that I wasn’t there to deal with them,” Dovolani said, according to Y! Entertainment. He stressed that his role was to teach dance, not manage celebrity attitudes or become involved in unrelated drama. Other than appearing in a 2023 tribute to the late judge Len Goodman, Dovolani has largely kept his distance from the show.

His career in dance, however, continues. Dovolani is the international dance director for Fred Astaire Dance Studios, and his work has also expanded into acting. In 2025, he appeared with Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” playing nightclub owner and gangster Johnny Desiderio. The pair had previously worked together when Dovolani helped choreograph Lopez’s 2004 film “Shall We Dance.” He also has two upcoming projects: the high school football drama “The Golden Knights” and the romantic comedy “If You Want.”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy finally secured a “Dancing with the Stars” victory on his 14th try in 2014, when he and Olympic ice dancer Meryl Davis took home the Mirrorball Trophy. By then, the Ukrainian-American performer had married fellow “DWTS” pro Peta Murgatroyd. Four years later, he decided to leave the competition.

Since departing, Chmerkovskiy has stayed visible across reality television. He finished as runner-up on “The Masked Singer” while disguised as a sloth, competed on season two of “The Traitors,” and joined JoJo Siwa and Allison Holker as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance?” He has also taken on scripted work, playing survivalist Jack in the vertical microdrama “Wild Silence.”

Chmerkovskiy drew widespread attention in 2022 after sharing emotional footage of his journey out of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. In an interview with “Good Morning America,” he explained that the posts were not intended as publicity. “This was me trying to cry for help,” he said, according to E! News. “I literally, I was just screaming out, ‘This is what I just saw. I just want you to see it, whoever you are.'”

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Karina Smirnoff won season 13 of “Dancing with the Stars” with “All My Children” actor J. R. Martinez before leaving the series in 2016. She returned briefly in 2023 for a tribute to longtime judge Len Goodman, but her professional life has remained rooted in dance. In 2025, she discussed her continuing work with San Francisco station KRON 4.

Smirnoff said she has taken on judging assignments and works with competitive couples, helping them prepare in a demanding environment where performers want both enjoyment and victories. Even so, she said the atmosphere remains positive once the music begins and the rivalry fades into the background. The five-time U.S. champion has also appeared in the film “Tango Shalom” and competed on the reality series “Dancing Queens.”

The Ukrainian-born star has also been adjusting to life as a mom, having welcomed her son Theo into the world with her partner, Justinas Duknauskas, in 2020. “I love babies, but when I would come to my friends who had a newborn and they were like, ‘Here, hold,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, how do I?'” Smirnoff admitted to Us Weekly about her parental anxieties. 

Kym Johnson-Herjavec first danced with the stars on the Australian version for three seasons before making the leap to the American equivalent in 2006, going on to win the mirrorball trophy with both the oft-tragic Donny Osmond and American football coach Hines Ward.

In 2015, Johnson-Herjavec got engaged and then married Robert Herjavec, the businessman and “Shark Tank” regular who’d just been her dancefloor partner for what proved to be her penultimate season. The couple went on to have twins and, a decade on, are very much still an item. In fact, they recently gave People magazine readers a sneak peek into their luxury vacation home. “When we had our kids, I think it was really important to them to have a little bit of Canadian roots,” Johnson-Herjavec explained about the choice of destination. “I think it doesn’t get more Canadian than the lakes.”

Johnson-Herjavec still has one foot in the showbiz world. In 2026, she revealed that she’d be reuniting with fellow former “DWTS” pro Tristan MacManus for a tour named “Burn the Floor.” “The thing I miss about dancing is the rehearsals!” she captioned behind-the-scenes footage uploaded to Instagram. And she’s also found the time to show off both her dancing and her acting skills while playing opposite Gilles Marini in a seasonal TV movie titled “Christmas in the Ballroom.”

Kym Johnson-Herjavec isn’t the only former “Dancing with the Stars” pro who’s pivoted into acting. Chelsie Hightower, who enjoyed seven seasons on the ABC show, has appeared in several seasonal movies including “Enchanted Christmas” and “The Nutcracker Wish.” And in 2021, she took the lead in Lifetime’s “Stalked in Paradise.”

Hightower, whose highest “DWTS” finish was the fifth place achieved with rapper Romeo in season 12, hasn’t given up on her first love, though. She’s still busy teaching at her Dance Elevated camp and in 2020, she launched a new dancewear firm, Inside Out. In an interview with Fox 13, the multi-talented star explained how the former was heavily inspired by her time on America’s premier dance show.

“I felt a desire to give back to the next generation, to teach them what I have learned through my careers and what helped me succeed and what gave me motivation on those hard days when I wanted to do anything but dance,” Hightower said. “I wanted to share what helped me reach those milestones that gave me motivation and momentum to achieve and reach higher.”

Tristan MacManus spent five seasons on “Dancing with the Stars,” achieving a high of fifth place with legal commentator Nancy Grace in 2011. But his journey with the franchise didn’t end there. He also enjoyed two years on the British equivalent, “Strictly Come Dancing,” and then served as a judge on the Australian version in 2019.

MacManus has since become a screen regular Down Under, co-hosting the live morning show “Studio 10,” reporting on his beloved soccer team Leeds United for 10 Football, and heading into the jungle for the 2024 edition of “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.”

Unfortunately, MacManus has lately found himself in the headlines for his eventful personal life rather than his professional life. In 2023, he told Instagram followers (via Yahoo! Life) that he’d “spent the last few months in agony” after suffering nerve damage to his back, chest, and neck. “It finally got too much and I had to go in for an operation on my neck and sort out and take out some rogue vertebrae,” he added alongside a selfie from his hospital bed. And then, in 2025, reports emerged that he’d split from his actor wife of 10 years — and the mother of his three kids — Tahyna Tozzi. Here’s a look at other real-life partners of “Dancing with the Stars” pros.

Ashly DelGrosso, who now performs under her married name, Ashly Costa, placed third in the original “Dancing with the Stars” alongside her partner, New Kids on the Block pin-up Joey McIntyre. That same year, she began dating one of the show’s producers, Mike Costa, a development that led the show to amend its fraternization policies. And by the time she moved on to pastures new in 2010, they were married with two kids.

The couple has since expanded their family. In fact, Ashly gave birth to their fifth child, Emma, as recently as 2023. Two years on, their eldest achieved a major milestone as his mom proudly shared on Instagram. “Ammon is graduating from my same high school exactly 25 years later!” she captioned (via TV Insider) a photo of the big day.

While raising her family, Ashly has also remained in the dance world, most notably as a ballroom teacher at the NUVO Dance Convention, where, according to its official website, she “enjoys working with talented studios and intensives across the country, sharing her passion for dance.”

Peta Murgatroyd, who won the Mirrorball Trophy with both former wide receiver Donald Driver and model Nyle DiMarco during her 15-season stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” has been relatively quiet of late. Little surprise, considering that in 2024 she gave birth to her third child with fellow former pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy, not to mention that they’ve just moved from Los Angeles to Florida.

However, there are signs that she’s now getting back in the game. In 2026, she and her other half uploaded a clip of themselves busting some moves to Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole” in a dance studio on Instagram, captioned, “Mom and Dad are back … and back at it! See y’all soon.” The footage quickly got fans excited about the prospect of a new project involving the pair including “DWTS” favorite Sharna Burgess who commented, “SO FIRE I LOVE YOU BOTH!!!”

Murgatroyd has also been busy launching her own self-tanning range, Peta Jane Beauty. In an interview with Target, the New Zealander spoke about how hands-on she’d been with its products: “I tested countless formulas, worked alongside chemists, and paid attention to every detail, from the color to the packaging and spray performance. I wanted to be recognized as a businesswoman and founder, not just a dancer.”

Lindsay Arnold, who won the Mirrorball Trophy with actor Jordan Fisher during her ten-season run, might no longer be a “Dancing with the Stars” professional. But she’s still intrinsically linked to the hit show.

Indeed, Lindsay joined Brandon Armstrong and her younger sibling Rylee Arnold for a performance at the Dancing with the Stars Con 2026. And she’d only given birth seven weeks earlier! “Truly a dream come true dancing with my baby sis,” she captioned an Instagram Story (via People) of the occasion.

In an interview with Us Weekly, Rylee — who’s been a part of the “DWTS” team herself since partnering with Harry Jowsey in season 32, having previously competed on its junior version — revealed that she still seeks advice from Lindsay. “… I call her all the time in rehearsals, and I’m like, ‘Do you like this dance move? Is this good?’ So, she’s a part of this whole process for me, and she’s the best.” When asked by The Hollywood Reporter whether her sister would ever head back to the show, Rylee said that although she would love her to, she doesn’t believe a return is on the cards.