ABC has unveiled the full 16-member celebrity cast for season 35 of Dancing With the Stars, bringing actors Julia Stiles, Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr. into the ballroom alongside athletes, television personalities, musicians and online creators. The lineup appeared with professional partners on Good Morning America in New York on Wednesday, September 2.
The competition will begin with a two-night premiere on September 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available on Hulu the following day. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough will return as hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough will again form the judging panel, according to ABC and the Associated Press.
Several contestants arrive with extensive performance experience. Dewan, who began as a professional dancer and starred in Step Up, is paired with Val Chmerkovskiy. Stiles, known for 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance, will dance with Ezra Sosa. Shum, a trained dancer whose screen work includes Glee and Everything Everywhere All at Once, is partnered with Jenna Johnson.
The roster also includes Tatyana Ali with Jan Ravnik, chef Giada De Laurentiis with Alan Bersten and Hanson musician Taylor Hanson with Britt Stewart. Reality television is represented by Tyler Cameron with returning professional Sharna Burgess, Maura Higgins with Mark Ballas, Ciara Miller with Brandon Armstrong, Conner Leavitt with newcomer Adele Zaikman and Sarah Jane Nader with Hailey Bills.
Athletes and digital entertainers broaden the field. Paralympic champion Ezra Frech will compete with Daniella Karagach, while Olympic figure-skating champion Amber Glenn is paired with Pasha Pashkov. Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson will dance with Emma Slater, comedian and podcaster Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold, and longtime Jimmy Kimmel Live personality Guillermo Rodriguez with Witney Carson.
Nader and Bills become the third same-sex partnership in the program's history, the AP reported. The cast announcement now shifts attention to rehearsals and the opening two-night broadcast, when viewers will see how competitors with formal dance backgrounds compare with contestants approaching ballroom performance from sports, cooking, comedy and reality television.
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