Tony Dovolani

Infobox actor television
name= Tony Dovolani
birthname= Driton Dovolani
birthdate=birth date and age|1973|7|17
birthplace=Pristina, Kosova, flagicon|Kosovo
age=
death_date=
death_place=
occupation=Dancer
alias=
gender=Male
status=
title=
family=
spouse=
children=1 Daughter
relatives=
ethnic=Albanian
religion=
salary=
networth=
credits=Dancing with the Stars
URL=http://www.dovolani.com/
agent= Driton "Tony" Dovolani (born July 17, 1973 in Pristina, 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. [cite news |title=Tony Dovolani, BDC Online Instructor|url=http://www.ballroomdancechannel.com/tony-dovolani
work=Ballroom Dance Channel|year=2008|accessdate=2008-09-25] 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 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. [cite news |title=The Stars Align for a fourth season of ABC's hit alternative series, Dancing With the Stars|url=http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancing/newseason.html
work=abc.go.com|year=2007|accessdate=2007-02-21] They were the third couple eliminated from the competition and came in 9th place.

He competed on season 5 and was partnered with actress, Jane Seymour. [ [http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20053574,00.html Dancing with the Stars Announces New Contestants - Dancing With the Stars : People.com ] ] They were the seventh couple eliminated from the competition and finished in 6th place.

Dovolani was back 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.

Tony is currently competing on the seventh season of "Dancing with the Stars"; his partner is "All My Children" star Susan Lucci.

Performances

With celebrity partner Marissa Jaret Winokur:

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. Prior to his partnerhship with Elena, he danced with Inna Ivanenko. [http://www.reality-tv-online.com/blog/tony-dovolani/]

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 [ [http://www.dancesportal.com/?p=23 DanceSport Portal » Blog Archive » 2006 Emerald Ball ] ]
*2006 United States Open Rhythm Champion with Elena Grinenko
*2006 World Rhythm Champion with Elena Grinenko
*2005 Ohio Star Ball American Rhythm Champion [ [http://www.dancesportal.com/?p=14 DanceSport Portal » Blog Archive » 2005 Ohio Star Ball ] ]
*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."

Personal life

Tony is married to wife, Lina, and the couple have a three-year-old daughter named Luana. In April 2008 they announced they were expecting twins in late August. [http://tvwatch.people.com/2008/04/01/exclusive-dwts-baby-news-tony-dovolani-and-wife-expecting-twins/] On September 8, 2008, they welcomed fraternal twins, son Adrian Driton and daughter Ariana. Tony was in the middle of rehearsals for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars with partner Susan Lucci when he got the call that Lina had gone into labor. [http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2008/09/tony-dovolani-t.html/]

ee also

*Dancesport World Champions (rhythm)
*U.S. National Dancesport Champions (Professional Rhythm)
*Dancing with the Stars (US TV series)

References

External links

* [http://www.dovolani.com/ Tony Dovolani Official Website]
*imdb name|id=1815588|name=Tony Dovolani
* [http://www.abc.go.com/primetime/dancing/bios/2/tony_dovolani.html Dancing with the Stars Biography]
* [http://www.fredastaire.com/tony-dovolani.html Tony Dovolani information at Fred Astaire.com]
* [http://www.myspace.com/dtonydovolani Tony Dovolani Official MySpace Page]
* [http://www.ballroomdancechannel.com Ballroom Dance Channel]
* [http://ballroomdancechannel.ning.com/ Ballroom Dance Channel Social]

Persondata
NAME=Tony Dovolani
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Driton Dovolani
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Ballroom dance champion and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH=17 July, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH=Kosovo, Serbia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=