ABC’s Dancing with the Stars season 33 celebrities include two 2024 Paris Olympics medalists who became social media stars, a Super Bowl Champion, and standouts from The Bachelor/The Bachelorette franchise. The subject of Netflix’s Inventing Anna, an NBA Champion, and Real Housewives royalty will also compete on the upcoming season of the dance competition.
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough co-host Dancing with the Stars season 33, which kicks off on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, on ABC and Disney+. Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough will be judging the stars on their moves on the floor.
Dancing with the Stars Season 33 Celebrities and Partners:
· Super Bowl Champion Danny Amendola with partner Witney Carson
· Notorious ankle bracelet fashionista Anna Delvey with partner Ezra Sosa
· From The Bachelor, Joey Graziadei with partner Jenna Johnson
· NBA Champion Dwight Howard with partner Daniella Karagach
· TV star Chandler Kinney with partner Brandon Armstrong
· Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher with partner Alan Bersten
· Model and cover girl Brooks Nader with partner Gleb Savchenko
· Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik with partner Rylee Arnold
· Reality royalty Phaedra Parks with partner Val Chmerkovskiy
· Movie star Eric Roberts with partner Britt Stewart
· TV icon Tori Spelling with partner Pasha Pashkov
· From The Bachelorette, Jenn Tran with partner Sasha Farber
· Sitcom and movie actor Reginald VelJohnson with partner Emma Slater
ABC provided the following brief biographies on this season’s Dancing with the Stars celebrity dancers.
DANNY AMENDOLA is a former NFL wide receiver who played 13 seasons and is a two-time Super Bowl Champion as a member of the New England Patriots. Amendola was recently inducted into the Texas Tech Red Raiders Hall of Fame in 2024. His professional football career in the NFL began when he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys in 2008. After one year on the practice squad with Dallas and Philadelphia, he got elevated to the active roster with the St. Louis Rams in 2009. He became a breakout star in St. Louis before signing a five-year contract with the New England Patriots in 2013.
While in New England, Amendola became a trusted receiver of quarterback Tom Brady and a fan favorite known for making his biggest plays and having his best games when the stakes were highest in the NFL playoffs. Amendola retired from the NFL in 2021.
ANNA DELVEY is an artist, fashion icon and infamous NYC socialite who gained international attention after Netflix purchased the rights to her story and developed it into the 2022 miniseries “Inventing Anna.” Delvey’s life story has been the subject of several other television shows, interviews, podcasts and theater productions. Some view her as a cunning scam artist, while others see her as a charismatic and ambitious entrepreneur who took advantage of New York City’s social elite in an effort to open a prestigious art studio. Her case has also sparked discussions about wealth, privilege, and social climbing in modern society. Her story continues to captivate the public’s imagination.
A 29-year-old teaching tennis pro from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, JOEY GRAZIADEI is most well known as the Bachelor from season 28 of the ABC hit show of the same name. With his loyalty, thoughtfulness, and compassion, Graziadei won the hearts of America and, ultimately, his fiancée, Kelsey Anderson. Now that finding love has been checked off his to-do list, Graziadei keeps busy spending time with family, traveling the world, and raising awareness for causes he’s passionate about like cancer research.
DWIGHT HOWARD is one of the NBA’s most charismatic veteran players. Playing basketball 19 years professionally as one of the greatest players in the NBA, he has made a global impact across the lives of people around the world. He is an NBA Champion, eight-time NBA AlI-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team member, five-time All-Defensive Team member, and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. He holds the record for having the most dunks in NBA history along with being the only player in NBA history to earn the honor of Defensive Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons.
Howard is also an entrepreneur, filmmaker, community leader, media figure and philanthropist. Expanding his focus over the past few years, he is currently the co-owner of a professional basketball league in Asia with plans to go global. He is an avid traveler, dedicated father and global ambassador of basketball internationally bringing smiles to everyone he encounters around the world.
CHANDLER KINNEY trained at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and the Los Angeles Ballet Academy, and discovered acting at age 9. Currently, Kinney can be seen starring in the HBO Max series Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. She also portrays Willa in the Disney Channel musical film franchise Zombies. Previously, she was in FOX’s Lethal Weapon, FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum, the CW’s 90210, Amazon’s Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, The Haunted Hathaways for Nickelodeon, and Disney’s Girl Meets World and K.C. Undercover.
ILONA MAHER is a Team USA Rugby Sevens bronze medalist and two-time Olympian, having represented the United States in Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020. Maher is a viral sensation across social media for sharing her authentic and witty journey as a professional female athlete to help grow the game of rugby and promote body appreciation. An ambassador for ChildFund Rugby, an organization that uses integrated rugby and life skills to help young people from vulnerable communities across the world overcome challenges, Maher traveled to Laos to help in their mission of inspiring positive social change.
BROOKS NADER is a supermodel and actress, known for her impeccable style and captivating presence. Through campaigns, runway shows, branded partnerships, strategic collaborations and more, Nader’s career has continued to skyrocket since she made her debut in the 2019 edition of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Throughout her career, Nader has worked with esteemed brands and fashion houses. Most recently, in May 2024, she was named a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Legend and featured on the cover of the magazine for the second time in celebration of the magazine’s 60th anniversary.
STEPHEN NEDOROSCIK, more popularly known as the “pommel horse guy,” is a distinguished American gymnast. At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, he captured America’s heart by helping the U.S. Men’s Gymnastics team secure their first team medal (bronze) in 16 years. He also won an individual bronze medal on the pommel horse. Beyond his athletic achievements, Nedoroscik is a passionate advocate for men’s gymnastics and works to raise awareness for the sport. He is also dedicated to supporting individuals with low vision, using his platform to promote inclusivity and accessibility in the gymnastics community and beyond.
PHAEDRA PARKS is a successful attorney, businesswoman, author, mortician, television personality, motivational speaker, social activist, certified reiki master healer and mother to two young sons. As managing partner of The Parks Group, Parks practices law in the areas of entertainment, intellectual property rights, and civil and criminal litigation. Parks has been an on-air legal analyst for media outlets including NBC, Fox, CNN, truTV, EXTRA and Entertainment Tonight. As a television personality, she has appeared on Real Housewives of Atlanta, Ultimate Girls Trip, four-time Emmy® Award-nominated and Peoples Choice Award-winning series The Traitors as well as Will Trent.
Parks earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Wesleyan College, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia as well as a degree in mortuary sciences from Jefferson State College.
ERIC ROBERTS is a Georgia native, whose first professional acting job in front of a camera was “Another World” at age 19 in New York. He entered into features in King of the Gypsies at 21 and earned multiple Golden Globe® nominations and an Oscar® nomination. One of his favorite jobs was the portrayal of Junior in Danny McBride’s Righteous Gemstones. He has also made proud appearances in music videos from The Killers, Keaton Simons, Akon, Ja Rule, Mariah Carey, Rihanna and numerous artists from around the world.
TORI SPELLING is best known for playing Donna Martin on the long-running hit show Beverly Hills 90210, which she also executive produced. She created, executive produced and starred in the long-running series Tori and Dean, the spinoff series sTORIbook Weddings, as well as True Tori, HGTV’s Tori & Dean: Cabin Fever and At Home With Tori.
Spelling is also a five-time NY Times bestselling author with her first (of six) memoirs, sTORI Telling, reaching No. 1 and being named the best celebrity autobiography of 2009. She has also authored the children’s book Presenting Tallulah, as well as the coffee table, party planning book CelebrTORI. Spelling has had multiple product lines and she currently hosts two podcasts on iHeart, “90210MG with Jennie Garth,” and her own podcast “MisSPELLING,” which she also executive produces.
JENN TRAN is a sweet and compassionate woman who has dedicated her life to helping others and is currently studying to become a physician assistant. The bilingual Vietnamese beauty currently resides in Miami; and when she’s not studying, the 26-year-old Bachelor Nation fan-favorite loves reading, paddleboarding, and traveling whenever she has the chance.
REGINALD VELJOHNSON is the iconic TV dad from the sitcom Family Matters and well known as Al Powell in Die Hard and Die Hard 2. He was recently the TV dad on five versions of Progressive’s national commercial campaign and sings on the Planters Christmas commercial. He recently costarred in the indie feature Roswell Delirium, played the lead in the TV movie of the week Ghost of Christmas Always, had a recurring role on Disney+ Turner & Hooch and was featured in the leading role in the indie feature Christmas Lottery.
He also appeared in the mega-successful feature Avengers: Endgame The Prayer Box, and The Very Excellent Dundee. Additionally, VelJohnson guest starred on CBS’s Mom, ABC’s Station 19, Sydney to the Max, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ryan Hanson Solves Crimes on Television and Ray Donovan; was the lead in the Lifetime movie Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta, and was a recurring character on Hart of Dixie.
This post was last modified on September 3, 2025 1:14 pm