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Amanda Lee Modano (née Williford; born January 22, 1981), known professionally as Willa Ford and often as Mandy Modano, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model, television personality and film actress. She released her debut album, Willa Was Here, in 2001. Ford also has acted in movies such as Friday the 13th, hosted several reality television shows, posed for Playboy and competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

Early life[link]

Willa Ford was born Amanda Lee Williford on January 22, 1981; she was raised in Ruskin, Florida. She began singing with the Tampa Bay Children's Choir at age eight. At age 11, she started singing with the Tampa-based children's performing arts troupe, Entertainment Revue. She attended East Bay High School in Gibsonton, Florida.

Career[link]

Music career[link]

In 1999, the 18-year-old Ford started performing under the stage name Mandah and was signed to MCA. While with MCA she wrote and recorded a song called "Lullaby," which was featured on the double-platinum soundtrack for the movie Pokémon: The First Movie. Ford's label decided to change her stage name from Mandah into Willa Ford, as to avoid confusion with Mandy Moore.

In 2000 she was one of the opening acts for the Backstreet Boys' Into the Millennium Tour.

In 2001, Ford signed on to a new label, Lava Atlantic Records, while on a mall tour for Nautica Kids. Ford wrote most of her own lyrics and served as executive producer for most of her first album. On July 17, 2001, she released her debut album, Willa Was Here. The album included the single "I Wanna Be Bad." Willa Was Here reached 56 on the Billboard 200 and sold about 200,000 copies. Ford went on to release a second single from the album, "Did Ya' Understand That," which failed to garner much attention.

Ford was the spokesperson for Pantene Pro-V's ProVoice campaign while promoting the album. She also appeared in Uncle Kracker's video for "In A Little While." On April 26, 2002, Willa Ford appeared in an episode of Raising Dad, playing a bully named Edie. Ford also went on to guest-host MTV's TRL and Say What Karaoke, which led to a hosting contract with Viacom. Ford hosted the MTV reality shows The Morning After and I Bet You Will. In 2001, Ford also co-wrote and recorded a duet with South Korean pop star Park Ji-yoon. The song, titled "Nastified," appeared on Park's fifth album, Man.

In 2003, Ford released a song titled "A Toast to Men." The song, which featured guest rapper Lady May, was featured in daytime promotional ads for soap operas. The single came from her unreleased second album Sexysexobsessive, which was previously titled Porn Poetry. The title track, "Sexysexobsessive," was to be the second single, but it was only released through Ford's official website.

In 2011, Willa has finally resumed her music career by a live in The Viper Room in LA. In the live, She revealed the first song since 2003, "Back, Back, Back." She also appeared in the Baub show and performed the song as well as opera singing and the acoustic self-coverage of I Wanna Be Bad.

Television, Magazine Appearances & Film[link]

In 2005, Ford hosted the first season of the fighting competition reality show The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV.The show aired between January 18 and April 9, 2005. After the show's finale, the 24-year-old singer was contracted as a summer's guest doll performer for the Las Vegas shows of The Pussycat Dolls. Ford was later featured as the June celebrity on FHM's 2005 pin-up calendar.

In early 2006, Ford played as one of the four celebrity quarterbacks for the Lingerie Bowl, which was shown during the half-time of Super Bowl XL. Later that year, she was featured in a nude pictorial in the March 2006 issue of Playboy. Stuff magazine ranked her #48 in the 101 Sexiest Online Women supplement later that year. In fall 2006, Ford competed on the third season of Dancing with the Stars. Ford and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, were eliminated in the fifth week of competition. She talked about her experience with Maxim in its January 2007 issue; she was featured in a photo shoot.

Ford and hockey player Mike Modano married in a small, private ceremony on August 26, 2007 in Athens, Texas.^[1][1] She also announced to Access Hollywood that she was dropping out of the Dancing With The Stars tour, since Maksim Chmerkovskiy was not signed on.

Ford appeared on an episode of My Celebrity Home on the Style Network, which aired on January 31, 2007.^[2] She also hosted the third season of Pants-Off Dance-Off on Fuse TV. On August 23, 2007, Ford and husband Mike were featured in an episode of MTV Cribs.

Willa Ford appeared in the motion picture Friday the 13th. To promote the project, Ford appeared as a guest on E!'s late night talk show Chelsea Lately on February 5, 2009. Ford and Modano also attended the film's Los Angeles premiere ^[3]

On October 10, 2009, she was cast as Becca in Dreamfly Production's new movie, Universal Squadrons, which was originally titled Minuteman.^[4] The movie premiered at the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival 2010^[5] and the Angelika Theater in Dallas in December. According to the blog of the production, the movie was released for pay per view/video on demand in April, then DVD in June 7, 2011 from Maverick Films.^[6] She also made a guest appearance in one episode of The Glades aired on August 28, 2011. In 2012, she is on 4 episodes (#1,5,6,8) of Magic City.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2001: Willa Was Here
• 2004: Sexy Sex Obsessive (shelved)
• 2012: TBA

Singles[link]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Music videos[link]

• "I Wanna Be Bad" (2001)
• "Did Ya' Understand That" (2001)
• "Santa Baby (Gimme, Gimme, Gimme)" (2001)
• "In A Little While" (2001) - Uncle Kracker Video (Acting Role)
• "A Toast to Men" (2003)

Television appearances as herself[link]

• I Bet You Will - Host (2002)
• The Ultimate Fighter - Host (2005)
• Lingerie Bowl III - Celebrity Quarterback for the Dallas Desire (2006)
• Dancing with the Stars - Celebrity Dancer (2006)
• Pants Off Dance Off - Host (2007)
• MTV Cribs - Herself (2007)
• My Celebrity Home - Herself (2007)
• Chelsea Lately - Herself (2010)

Television drama roles[link]

• The Mind of the Married Man - Popstar (2001)
• Raising Dad - Edie (2002)
• The Glades - Shelby Daniels (2011)
• Magic City - Janice Michaels (2012)

Television live performances[link]

• Teensasion Hard Rock Live
• Total Request Live
• Tonight Show With Jay Leno
• Live with Regis and Kelly

Television commercials[link]

• Six Flags Magic Mountain

Other Events[link]

• Pantene Pro-Voice Live
• Guavaween

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (October 2011)

External links[link]

• Willa Ford at the Internet Movie Database

Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Maksim Chmerkovskiy on May 2, 2007
Born	Maksim Aleksandrovich Chmerkovskiy (1980-01-17) January 17, 1980 (age 32) Odessa, Ukraine
Occupation	Dancer Choreographer Instructor

Maksim (Maks) Aleksandrovich Chmerkovskiy (Ukrainian: Максим Олекса́ндрович Чмерковський, Maksym Oleksándrovych Čmerkovsʹkyj, pronounced [mɑkˈsɪm olɛkˈsɑndroβ̞ɪtʃ ˈtʃmɛrkou̯sʲkɪj]; Russian: Максим Александрович Чмерковский; born January 17, 1980) is a Ukrainian-American Latin Ballroom dance champion, choreographer, and instructor. He is best known as one of the professional dancers on the American television series Dancing with the Stars, on which he first appeared in season two. In his ten appearances on the show, Chmerkovskiy has made it to the final round four times, with two runner-up and two third place finishes.

Early life[link]

Born on January 17, 1980, in Odessa (Ukraine) to Aleksandr and Larisa Chmerkovskiy, he began dancing at the age of four. His brother, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, is also a champion dancer.^[1] His father is Jewish and his mother is Christian.^[2][3] Chmerkovskiy's Ukrainian heritage was referenced on an episode of Dancing with the Stars.^[4]

The challenges of immigration for Chmerkovskiy and his family included financial and language barriers. A skiing accident as a child broke Chmerkovskiy's right leg. Doctors informed him that there would be difficulties with his leg and that dancing might not be possible.^[5] He made a successful recovery and went on to become a professional Latin Ballroom dancer.

Chmerkovskiy owns four dance studios in the New York City area, one of which is the Rising Stars Dance Academy (RSDA).^[6] The other three studios are social dance studios located in Ridgefield, New Jersey, and Glen Head, New York, as well as the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan. He has been a resident of Edgewater, New Jersey.^[7]

Chmerkovskiy is one of the creators and directors of Dance Team USA, a non-profit educational and charitable organization dedicated to recruiting, supporting, and training future DanceSport participants. This sport is particularly popular with Eastern European families. Through his company Maksim Chmerkovskiy Productions, he organizes performances globally.

A ballroom and DanceSport choreographer, among his professional works is the Wynn Las Vegas's water-based show Le Rêve.^[8] He implemented ballroom-inspired numbers in the Franco Dragone production.

[edit] Dancing with the Stars

Chmerkovskiy first appeared in the 2nd season of the ABC series Dancing with the Stars partnered with actress Tia Carrere. They finished in sixth place. The following season, he and partner singer Willa Ford came in seventh place. Chmerkovskiy returned to Dancing with the Stars in March 2007 for Season 4, this time partnered with boxer Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali. They made it to the finals and finished in third place. In Season 5 of Dancing with the Stars, he was partnered with Mel B and had his best finish to date; the couple received second place. Chmerkovskiy did not participate in Season 6, although he and former partner Mel B made an appearance for the 100th episode.

He returned for the show's 7th season, this time paired with two-time Olympic volleyball gold medalist, Misty May-Treanor. Chmerkovskiy and May-Treanor were forced to withdraw from the competition in Week 3 on October 6, 2008. During a practice for their jive, May-Treanor ruptured her Achilles tendon and required surgery. Her withdrawal gave them a finish in tenth place.

On February 9, 2009, on Good Morning America it was announced that he would be paired with Denise Richards for the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars. They were eliminated second in the competition, on March 24, 2009, giving the pair a finish of 12th place. In the ninth season, he was paired with actress Debi Mazar, during which they were eliminated 4th. In season 10, Chmerkovskiy, returning for his 8th season, was partnered with Erin Andrews.^[9] They ended up coming in 3rd place during the two hour finale on May 25, 2010.

For season 11, Chmerkovskiy partnered with singer and actress, Brandy. They made it to the semi-finals but were eliminated on November 16, 2010, giving them a 4th place finish.^[10] For Season 12, he was paired with actress Kirstie Alley. On week 3, his leg gave out causing her to fall heavily on him, earning 21 out of 30. The next week, Alley's shoe fell off during their routine. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba called Alley The Queen of the Unexpected Mishap; they earned 22 out of a possible score of 30. They made it to the finals and finished in second place.

For season 13, he was partnered with Hope Solo and they finished in 4th place.

For season 14, he is partnered with actress Melissa Gilbert. In week 4, while performing the paso doble, Gilbert hit her head on the dance floor and suffered a mild concusion. She was rushed to the hospital and was unable to be at the results show the following night due to recovering. The couple was called safe. Chmerkovskiy also suffered a injury. He pulled a muscle in his shoulder. However, he told host Tom Bergeron on the results show that he was okay. The couple was eliminated four weeks later, finishing in 5th place.

Dancing With the Stars performances[link]

• Season 4 - With celebrity partner: Laila Ali (Average - 27.0)

• Season 5 - With celebrity partner: Mel B (Average - 27.6)

• Season 7 - With celebrity partner: Misty May-Treanor (Average - 21.0)

• Season 8 - With celebrity partner: Denise Richards (Average - 18.3)

• Season 9 - With celebrity partner: Debi Mazar (Average - 18.0)

• Score was awarded by stand in judge Baz Luhrmann.

• Season 10 - With celebrity partner: Erin Andrews (Average - 25.1)

• Season 11 - With celebrity partner: Brandy (Average - 26.3)

• Season 12 - With celebrity partner: Kirstie Alley (Average - 24.7)

• Season 13 - With celebrity partner: Hope Solo

• Season 14 - With celebrity partner: Melissa Gilbert

Dancing titles[link]

• 2005 Yankee Classic Professional Latin Champion^[11]
• 2005 Blackpool Dance Festival Semi-Finalist
• 2004 Manhattan Dancesport Professional Latin Champion
• 2004 Nevada Star Ball Champion
• 2004 World Masters Finalist
• 2004 Moscow Kremlin Cup Finalist
• 2004 Philadelphia Dancesport Festival Champion
• 2003 All England Champion
• 2003 Ohio Star Ball Latin Champion
• 2003 La Classique du Quebec Champion

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Maksim Chmerkovskiy web site

Look up Regis Kelly in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Regis Kelly may refer to:

• Regis B. Kelly, director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3)
• Regis "Pep" Kelly, ice hockey player

See also[link]

• Live with Kelly, the American talk show (formerly known as "Live with Regis and Kelly")

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