Lauren May Oakley (born 28 February 1991) is an English professional dancer and choreographer, best known for appearing as a professional on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

television series ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''.

Early life

Oakley was born on 28 February 1991 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. She began dancing at the age of 2 and began competing in Ballroom and Latin dance at the age of 7.

Career

Oakley became Juvenile Champion at the Blackpool Dance Festival, winning across both Ballroom and Latin disciplines and has also became Under 21 British National Champion before beginning a career on stage. She has toured the world as part of the live dance show ''

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in New York City and the West End of London, West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries w ...

'' and has starred as the "leading lady" in the national tour ''Him & Me'' alongside

Giovanni Pernice Giovanni Pernice (born 5 September 1990) is an Italian professional dancer based in the United Kingdom, best known for his appearances on the British television show '' Strictly Come Dancing''. He is also an Italian Open Latin Dance Champion (201 ...

and

Anton Du Beke Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (), is a British ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dancer, and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and later a judge on the BBC One cele ...

. and has starred in Pernice's solo tour ''This Is Me''.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

In July 2022, Oakley was announced to be joining the twentieth series of ''

'' as a professional, along with

Vito Coppola ''Strictly Come Dancing'' returned for its twentieth series with a launch show on 23 September 2022 on BBC One, with live shows beginning the following day on 24 September. The launch show was originally scheduled to be broadcast on 17 Septembe ...

Carlos Gu ''Strictly Come Dancing'' returned for its twentieth series with a launch show on 23 September 2022 on BBC One, with live shows beginning the following day on 24 September. The launch show was originally scheduled to be broadcast on 17 Septembe ...

, and Michelle Tsiakkas. Upon her appointment as professional, Oakley said "

he had He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

grown up watching ''Strictly'', always hoping that one day hecould be part of the best show on television, doing what he lovesthe most. Now that it’s happening, it doesn’t quite seem real. I can’t wait to start this new sequined adventure and join this incredible family." Oakley did not partner a celebrity for her first series, and instead took part in the professional group routines. The following year, she was paired with presenter and journalist

Krishnan Guru-Murthy Krishnan Guru-Murthy (born 5 April 1970) is a British journalist. He is the lead presenter of ''Channel 4 News''. He also presents '' Unreported World'', a foreign-affairs documentary series. Early life Guru-Murthy's father, an Indian consul ...

for the twenty-first series. They were eliminated in the eighth week of the competition after losing the dance off to

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944)"Angela Rippon," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Detroit: Gale, (2008) ''Gale Biography In Context'' is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and tele ...

and

Kai Widdrington Kai Widdrington (born 23 August 1995) is an English dancer and choreographer. In 2010, he was the Junior World Latin American champion. In 2012, he reached the final of the sixth series of ''Britain's Got Talent''. Between 2017 and 2020, he was ...

Series 21: with celebrity partner Krishnan Guru-Murthy

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Lauren 1991 births Living people English female dancers British ballroom dancers 21st-century British dancers Entertainers from Birmingham, West Midlands