Tony Dovolani Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Driton "Tony" Dovolani (born July 17,1973 in Pristina, Yugoslavia " now Kosovo) is a professional ballroom dancer based in New York City. Dovolani, who is an ethnic Albanian, began folk dancing at age three. When he was 15, his entire family moved to the United States and Dovolani got the opportunity to attend classes at a Fred Astaire Dance Academy. From that moment on, he knew he had found his passion. Since that time, Dovolani has traveled the world and won many championships. He is best known for his involvement in the American version of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Dovolani also had role as a Latin bad boy in the hit film, Shall We Dance? and spent time coaching Jennifer Lopez. While not dancing, Tony enjoys spending time at home with his wife and daughter.

Dancing with the Stars

He was partnered with Stacy Keibler in the second season, where they made it to the finals and ended up coming in third place.

In the third season of Dancing with the Stars he partnered with country music star Sara Evans. Midway through the season Evans withdrew from the competition because of her divorce proceedings.

Tony returned to the ballroom on March 19 for Season 4, this time partnered with Talk show host Leeza Gibbons. They were the third couple eliminated from the competition and came in 9th place.

He recently competed on season 5 and was partnered with actress, Jane Seymour. They were the seventh couple eliminated from the competition and finished in 6th place.

It was revealed on February 18, 2008 that Dovolani would be back on Dancing with the Stars for the sixth season. This time he was partnered with Broadway actress Marissa Jaret Winokur. They were eliminated in the semi-finals and finished in 4th place.

His wife is expecting twins in late August 2008, one boy one girl.

Performances

With celebrity partner Marissa Jaret Winokur:

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
Week #	Dance/Song	Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli	Result
1	Cha-cha-cha/ "Low"	6	6	6	N/A
2	Quickstep/ "Flip, Flop and Fly"	7	7	7	Last to be called Safe
3	Jive/ "Girlfriend"	6	7	6	Safe
4	Paso Doble/ "My Family Is My Life"	8	8	8	Safe
5	Samba/ "Tambourine"	8	8	8	Safe
6	Viennese Waltz/ "Delilah"	9	8	9	Safe
7	Tango/ "Champagne Tango" Rumba/ "Quando, Quando, Quando"	9 9	9 8	9 8	Bottom Two
8	Foxtrot/ "New York, New York" Mambo/ "Ritmo De Chunga"	9 8	8 8	8 9	Safe
9 Semi-finals	Quickstep/ "Around the World" Rumba/ "Just the Two of Us"	9 8	9 9	8 9	Eliminated

Dancing

Ballroom dancing is all about the woman, according to Dovolani. He believes the man is meant to be the frame for the picture of beauty as presented by the woman.

Dovolani and his partner Elena Grinenko have recently retired from competing in the American rhythm division.

Achievements

2006 nominated for an Emmy for outstanding choreography for Dancing with the Stars for episode #208 (Dance: Jive).
2006 PBS America's Ballroom Challenge Rhythm Champion
2006 Emerald Ball Open Professional American Rhythm Champion
2006 United States Open Rhythm Champion with Elena Grinenko
2006 World Rhythm Champion with Elena Grinenko
2005 Ohio Star Ball American Rhythm Champion
2005 United States Open Rhythm Champion with Inna Ivanenko
2005 World Rhythm Champion with Inna Ivanenko

Outside of dancing

Tony and Len Goodman appear along with Mary Murphy in an infomercial for the Core Rhythms workout system.

Dovolani and fellow dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Elena Grinenko have created a website called the Ballroom Dance Channel. It is to help bring awareness to dancing. Dovolani and best friend Chmerkovskiy can often be found interviewing each other. The website is called BDCsocial.com

In a return to film, Dovolani was recently cast in the independent feature "355" as "The Mute".