The host of America’s Ballroom Challenge is Jasmine Guy, an actress, dancer and singer whose career has included many leading roles on television, in feature films and on the stage.

Ms. Guy is best known for playing Whitley Gilbert, the memorably spoiled Southern belle in the comedy series A Different World, which ran on NBC from 1987 to 1993. Ms. Guy won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards for the role.

But Ms. Guy actually began her performing career as a dancer. Though born in Boston, she grew up in Atlanta, where her father, Rev. William Guy, was the pastor of the historic Friendship Baptist Church. Jasmine began taking ballet lessons at age 5 and, inspired by performers like the visiting Dance Theater of Harlem, she went on to study dance at Atlanta’s performing arts high school. At 17, she won a scholarship to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City, where she spent three years as a concert dancer.