Karina Smirnoff

Karina Smirnoff
Smirnoff in 2008
Born
Karina Smirnova

(1978-01-02) January 2, 1978 (age 46)
Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Ukraine)
Alma materFordham University
OccupationDancer
PartnerJustinas Duknauskas
Children1

Karina Smirnoff (Ukrainian: Каріна Смірнова; born January 2, 1978)[1] is a Soviet-born American[2] professional ballroom dancer of Ukrainian origins.[3] She is known as a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars, where she won the thirteenth season with army veteran and soap opera star J. R. Martinez. She has also won two runner-up titles, a semifinal title, and several quarterfinal titles.

She is a five-time U.S. National Champion, World Trophy Champion, and Asian Open Champion. She has won the title at the UK Open, is a three-time champion at the US Open, two-time champion at the Asian Open, five-time champion at the Dutch Open, and five-time US National Professional Champion. She has taken second at the British Open Blackpool Dance Festival,[4] and the first woman to reach the British Professional Final with three different partners, and surpassed her own distinction by being the only woman to have made the final with four different partners between 1999 - 2006.[5]

  1. ^ "Karina Smirnoff". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  2. ^ "Dancing with the Stars - Professional Bio - Karina Smirnoff". 2011. Archived from the original on November 18, 2011. Nationality: American
  3. ^ Smirnoff, Karina (October 5, 2013). "Twitter: Karina_Smirnoff : @sosmallgurl I'm actually half russian half greek. :-)". Twitter.com. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MCDbio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Ballas, Corky; Didio Barrera (September 1, 2002). "Open British Professional Latin Championship". dsninternational.com. Retrieved September 2, 2007.