Louis Van Amstel

Louis van Amstel (born June 23, 1972, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-American ballroom dance champion, professional dancer, and choreographer who appears on the American reality television series Dancing with the Stars.

Early life Louis van Amstel was born in Amsterdam; his grandparents were competitive ballroom dancers. He began dancing at 10 and entered competitions at 15. He stopped attending school at 16 to pursue dancing full-time.

Career

Early career Van Amstel competed professionally with Julie Fryer. They were coached by Ruud Vermeij. In 1990, Van Amstel and Fryer became Dutch Latin Champions and 10 Dance Champions. They also made the final in the 'under 21' category in Blackpool. During the same year, they received a bronze medal at the German Open, at the World Latin and at the European 10 Dance. In the Worlds 10 Dance Championship, Van Amstel and Fryer got fourth place.

In 1991, Van Amstel and Fryer won the national championships for the second time, and got fourth place in all major championships. A year later, Van Amstel decided that he wanted to retire from competing for a while and ended his partnership with Fryer for the first time. Three years later, in 1994, the partnership was re-established, and Van Amstel and Fryer went on to win three world Latin Dance championship gold medals in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

In 1997, Van Amstel retired from competitive ballroom dancing, moved to New York City, and became an American citizen in July 1999. He returned to competitive dancing with partner Karina Smirnoff; they won the United States national championship in 2000.

Dancing with the Stars Van Amstel was cast for season one of Dancing with the Stars in early 2005. He was partnered with Trista Sutter, but they were the first to be eliminated from the competition. In the show's second season, he was partnered with hostess Lisa Rinna, with whom he reached fourth place.

Van Amstel returned in season three and was partnered with High School Musical star Monique Coleman. During the eighth week of the competition, they received two 10s for their Cha-Cha-Cha marking Van Amstel's only 10s of Dancing with the Stars for an individual dance for many seasons to come. They made it to the semi-finals, but were eliminated, resulting in a fourth-place finish. He did not participate in the fourth season due to all the females being taller than him, but he nonetheless maintained a role as a performer and choreographer throughout the season and season five.

On September 2, 2015, he was announced as a pro for season 21 after a 5-season hiatus. He was paired with celebrity chef, Paula Deen. They were eliminated on week 6 of competition and finished in 9th place.

Van Amstel returned to the show for season 31. He was partnered with actress Cheryl Ladd.

Other work During his time off from Dancing with the Stars, Van Amstel set up a not-for-profit dance company called "Visionworx Dance Theater," which combines all four major dance forms. He also choreographed and appeared on numerous TV shows such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, and All My Children. On October 16, 2023, van Amstel announced on Instagram that the couple had divorced. They have two adopted sons, Daniel and Jonathan.

In November 2019, Van Amstel made headlines after he revealed that a substitute teacher shamed his son for having two gay dads and subjected his fifth-grade class to a 10-minute anti-gay lecture. The school promptly fired the teacher.

Dancing with the Stars performances

With Trista Sutter

With Lisa Rinna

With Monique Coleman

With Priscilla Presley

With Kelly Osbourne Due to Len Goodman's absence in week 2, the 7 was awarded by stand-in guest judge Baz Luhrmann.

With Niecy Nash

With Margaret Cho

With Kendra Wilkinson

The additional scores of 7 and 8 were awarded by guest judge Donnie Burns.

With Sabrina Bryan

The additional score of 8.5 was awarded by guest judge Paula Abdul.

With Paula Deen

1 Score given by guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro.

2 This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Deen performed with Mark Ballas instead of Louis van Amstel. Louis performed with Tamar Braxton.

3 Score given by guest judge Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

4 Score given by guest judge Olivia Newton-John.

With Cheryl Ladd