Mya's Biography

She grew up in College Park, Maryland and had a musical upbringing taking violin lessons and going to ballet and tap and jazz lessons as a young child.

Her parents Sherman, who was a singer, and Theresa, who was an accountant, divorced around the time of the release of Mya's first album, which went platinum and had three top 10 singles.

As well as going on to record more successful albums, Mya starred in various films including Chicago.

Her other acting credits include playing nightclub singer Lola Martinez in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

She founded The Mya Arts & Tech Foundation, which teaches youth around metropolitan Washington, D.C. in the fields of performing and visual arts, and computer technology.

In Dancing with the Stars series 9, Mya danced with Dmitry Chaplin. They were runners-up.