Karina Smirnoff
Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 13th, 1978, Halina Smirnova grew up as an only child with her parents before immigrating to the United States at the age of 12, later changing her name to Karina Smirnoff when she entered the world of professional dance. When she was only five years old, Smirnoff’s parents enrolled her in ballet lessons and then figure skating, which she pursued for five years until being exposed to ballroom dance at the age of nine. She immediately fell in love with the style of dance, and shifted her focus.
After completing high school, Smirnoff attended Fordham University where she completed a double major degree in Economics and Information System Programming, although her primary goal was to attend law school. Though she had stopped dancing for several years while attending school, she found a dance school in Brooklyn, New York, and slowly began to integrate herself back into the world of dance.
In January 2001, Smirnoff paired up with dancer Slavik Kryklyvyy and the two began to win numerous American competitions. Smirnoff has been crowned the World Trophy Champion, Asian Open Champion, is a five-time U.S. National Champion, and has been ranked second in the world in Latin dance. At the British Open Blackpool Dance Festival, Smirnoff took home second place, and has been cited as being the first woman to ever make the British Professional Final with three different partners.
Although she recently split from Kryklyvyy, the two were coached by dance experts Espen Salsberg, Donnie Burns, Tone Nyhagen and Ralf Lepehne, earning them a small role in the film Shall We Dance?, starring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. She currently dances with a new Russian partner.
As a small child, Smirnoff admired the dance prowess of American dance legend Cyd Charisse, and also earned herself the nickname ‘Kit Kat’, due to her love of the chocolate bars of the same name. To improve her own personal well-being, Smirnoff also had LASIK surgery on both eyes while in New York, and became a temporary spokesperson after her own experience with the company.
Smirnoff joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars in its third season, performing with celebrity dancer Mario Lopez, whom she would later begin to date seriously. In 2007, Smirnoff returned for Season 4, paired with celebrity country star Billy Ray Cyrus. Smirnoff is also scheduled to make a guest appearance in an episode of Cyrus’ Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana.
Read these other great entries