Hough was one of the Million Dollar Dancers in the 2006
ABC game show called
Show Me the Money. She won
season four of the U.S. edition of
Dancing with the Stars with her partner,
Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater
Apolo Ohno, making Hough the youngest professional dancer to win on the program. On November 27, 2007, Hough and her partner, three-time
Indianapolis 500 champion
Hélio Castroneves, became the winners of season five. Hough returned for season six with radio host/comedian
Adam Carolla, but they were eliminated in week four. In July 2008, Hough was nominated at the
60th Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of "
Outstanding Choreography" for her mambo "Para Los Rumberos" (performed with partner Hélio Castroneves) on
Dancing with the Stars. On August 25, 2008, the cast of
season seven was announced, and Hough was partnered with
Hannah Montana actor
Cody Linley. She felt abdominal pains during their jitterbug performance on October 21, 2008, and she was immediately rushed to a hospital 40 minutes after the encore performance. She subsequently had surgery to have her appendix removed after being diagnosed with
endometriosis, causing her to miss several performances,
Edyta Śliwińska stood in for her. Hough returned to the show, although the pair was ultimately eliminated in the semi-finals. She appeared on the November 12 results show dancing the
jive to "
Great Balls of Fire" with her brother for the "Design-A-Dance" contest. On November 20, 2008, Hough was on
Ryan Seacrest's radio show,
On Air with Ryan Seacrest. She announced that, in order to further her music career, she would not be returning to
Dancing with the Stars for the foreseeable future. However, she did return for one final time in season eight, partnering with country singer
Chuck Wicks. They were voted off in week eight of the competition and came in sixth place. They then began dating after the season was over. On October 11, 2011, Hough returned to
Dancing with the Stars and danced with her
Footloose co-star
Kenny Wormald twice, and with her brother. She returned again on May 15, 2012, in a dance performance to promote her film
Rock of Ages. On October 7, 2013, she was guest judge in place of
Len Goodman, which was the first time a former pro dancer came back to judge. In September 2014, she returned as a permanent judge on the panel, a position she held until 2017. following
Tyra Banks's departure, and that previous co-host
Alfonso Ribeiro would assume Banks's old role as emcee.
Move Live On Tour On March 18, 2014, Hough and her brother Derek announced a summer tour of over 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada, called "Move Live on Tour", which would include dancing and singing from both of them, and the appearance of a group of dancers employed by the Houghs who earned their jobs through auditions. They embarked on the sold-out tour on May 25, 2014, in
Park City, Kansas, and ended it in
Los Angeles on July 26, 2014. Due to the success of ticket sales and several sold-out venues before the tour had officially kicked off, several more shows were added to the tour schedule, which also sold out. For the tour choreography, the Hough siblings collaborated with
Nappytabs. Following the success of the 2014 tour and high demand, the Houghs announced the return of "Move Live on Tour" in the summer of 2015. Spanning from June 12, 2015, to August 8, 2015, the sold-out tour visited over 40 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and visited larger venues than in the previous year. Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo "Nappytabs" returned as collaborating choreographers alongside the Hough siblings. Auditions were also held to recruit a new group of dancers to join the Houghs, although some back-up dancers from the previous year returned. On December 14, 2016, they announced, via social media, that they would be going on a new tour, "MOVE BEYOND Live on Tour", in 2017.
Music Hough's first country-music single, "Will You Dance With Me", was released to
iTunes and
Wal-Mart in May 2007 to raise money for the
American Red Cross. The song placed at number 100 on the
Billboard Pop 100 chart. She later signed with
Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Nashville division. Her 2008
self-titled debut album was recorded in
Nashville and produced by
David Malloy, who has worked with
Reba McEntire and
Eddie Rabbitt, among others. Hough's album, which met with mixed reviews, debuted at number one on the
Top Country Albums chart on May 31, and also peaked at number three on the
Billboard 200. Hough's second single, and the first to be released to country radio, was "
That Song in My Head". Hough joined
Brad Paisley's 2008 Tour, along with
Jewel and Chuck Wicks. Hough, Paisley, and
Willie Nelson appeared in the video for the
Snoop Dogg song "My Medicine". Hough appeared in a
Juicy Fruit commercial in the fall of 2008, and released an EP of
Christmas music called
Sounds of the Season: The Julianne Hough Holiday Collection. She performed her second single "My Hallelujah Song" on
Dancing With the Stars on November 18, 2008, with her brother Derek Hough,
Mark Ballas, and
Lacey Schwimmer dancing. Hough,
LeAnn Rimes,
Jessica Simpson, and
Kellie Pickler announced the 2009
Academy of Country Music Award nominees in February 2009. Hough was nominated for the Top New Female Vocalist award, a fan-voted award, which she subsequently won. Hough won the Top New Artist award at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5, 2009, and released a single, "
Is That So Wrong", to country radio on June 21, 2010. It was intended as the lead single for her second album,
Wildfire, but the album was never released. In June 2012, Hough told
AOL's
The Boot that her second album was "completely done" and that she was initially "really, really looking forward to the record." However, she also stated that, due to the underperforming lead single and having "a lot of momentum" in her film career, no plans have been made to release
Wildfire. She does intend to resume focusing on her music career at some point, though: "I feel like when I have the time to focus on it, and when I feel like it is the right time, [I'll return to] my music," she said. Hough's manager, Scott Siman also represents Tim McGraw.
Acting and other appearances Hough's first acting role was in the 2001 feature film ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in an uncredited role as a "Hogwarts schoolgirl". She appeared in the 2010 musical Burlesque'', starring
Cher and
Christina Aguilera. In the film, which chronicles a small-town girl (Aguilera) who finds success at a Los Angeles burlesque club, Hough plays a dancer named Georgia. Hough's first leading role was as Ariel Moore in the 2011 remake of the
Paramount film
Footloose, opposite
Kenny Wormald as Ren McCormack. Filming began in September 2010. The film was released on October 14, 2011. Hough played the role of Sherrie Christian in the 2012
film adaptation of the Broadway musical
Rock of Ages, alongside
Tom Cruise,
Catherine Zeta-Jones and
Malin Akerman. That same year she filmed her starring role opposite
Josh Duhamel in the romantic drama
Safe Haven, based on the
novel of the same name by
Nicholas Sparks, which was released on February 14, 2013. Hough also starred in the comedy-drama
Paradise as Lamb Mannerheim, which was released on October 18, 2013. She starred alongside
Russell Brand, who had previously co-starred with Hough in
Rock of Ages. Hough starred as protagonist Mallory Rutledge in the 2015 thriller film
Curve opposite
Teddy Sears. In the same year she appeared on business coach Lewis Howes's podcast where they had a discussion and it ended with him asking to
salsa dance with her. Hough returned to musical performances portraying the role of Sandy Young for
Fox's
live television presentation of the musical
Grease on January 31, 2016. Hough and brother Derek hosted the 2016
The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration and ''
The Disney Parks' Magical Christmas Celebration. It was televised by ABC on Thanksgiving night, November 24, and Christmas Day, December 25. The Hough siblings introduced performances by Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Kelly Clarkson. A companion holiday album, Disney Channel Holiday Hits'', was released November 18, 2016. In 2018, she was cast as Jolene in the episode of the same name from the
Netflix anthology series
Heartstrings, based on the
Dolly Parton song. On February 11, 2019, it was announced that Hough had joined the NBC talent competition series ''
America's Got Talent''. However, she was announced to be exiting in November 22 in the same year after one season. In 2020, Hough partnered with entertainment company Meet Cute for a three-part
Transformation podcast series. Meet Cute, along with Hough's production banner, Canary House Productions, wrote, executive produced, and voice acted in the series. As the title of the series suggests,
Transformation aligns with Canary House's mission to impact lives through stories of transformation, self-discovery and identity.
Broadway debut Hough made her
Broadway debut as Dusty in Selina Fillinger's comedic play
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Performances began on April 14, 2022, at the
Shubert Theatre. Hough received rave reviews for her comic performance with
Entertainment Weekly declaring, "Julianne Hough is particularly mesmerizing...[she] could easily be a mere stereotype, but she surprises at every turn." Hough hosted the first hour of the
75th Tony Awards alongside
Darren Criss which was aired on
Paramount+.
The New York Times praised her hosting capabilities writing, "[she] delighted us with her endearing eagerness to put on a show." Critic Elizabeth Vincentelli also praised her adding, "she who didn't miss a step...[she] had a sparkly showbiz quality peppered with an adorably enthusiastic nerdiness". She also presented
Best Book of a Musical on the main telecast which aired on
CBS. She has since returned hosting the "Act One" Pre-Show
Tony Awards in
2023 with
Skylar Astin and in
2024 with
Utkarsh Ambudkar. ==Personal life==