Katya Virshilas | |
---|---|
Born |
Lithuania |
10 September 1983
Occupation | Actress and dancer |
Spouse(s) | Dmitry Ilyushenov (divorced) Klaus Kongsdal (7 July 2012-present) |
Children | 1 |
Katya Virshilas (born 10 September 1983) is a Lithuanian-Canadian dancer and actress.
Virshilas was born in Lithuania, to a Jewish family. She subsequently moved to Israel at age six, and to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at thirteen.
She was a Vancouver British Columbia Dancesport Champion four times, from 1998 to 2002. In 2001, she and her partner won the Canadian Latin Dance Championship. Virshilas has appeared in the Hollywood films Shall We Dance? (2004), Take the Lead and John Tucker Must Die (both 2006), and in the television shows Smallville, Supernatural, and others.
Based in the United Kingdom from the start of her appearances in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series, she has since 2009 been professionally partnered with Danish dancer Klaus Kongsdal.
Virshilas toured the UK with Pasha Kovalev from 26 March 2012 in their own show.
She also starred in John Tucker Must Die in a minor role.
She appeared as a professional dancer on series 7 (2009) of Strictly Come Dancing partnering cricketer Phil Tufnell. They were knocked out of the competition in week 9. Their scores were as follows (all out of a possible 40 marks):