Vito Coppola

Vito Coppola (born 27 September 1992) is an Italian dancer and choreographer. He is best known for appearing as a professional dancer on the sixteenth series of Italian dance competition Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars) in 2021 and ultimately winning the competition with Arisa. Since 2022, he has served as a professional on Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of the show, from the twentieth series onwards, winning in 2023 with his celebrity dance partner Ellie Leach.

Coppola was born in Eboli, in Salerno, Italy on 27 September 1992. He has a younger brother, Jonathan. Coppola began dancing at the age of 6 and later competed in national championships. Coppola is a three-time World Championship finalist and a European Cup Winner. He won numerous competitions at provincial, regional and inter-regional level, and went on to win the first Italian championship at the age of 10 in the Juveniles category, as well as being selected by FIDS to represent Italy at the Team Match in Mannheim, Germany. Coppola also won the second Italian championship in the Combined 10 dances, passing with a merit into the higher category.

Prior to his appearances on competitive dance series, Coppola worked as a dancer on the Italian version of The Masked Singer. In 2021, Coppola joined the Rai 1 Italian dance television series Ballando con le Stelle as a professional for the sixteenth season. He was partnered with the singer and actress Arisa and the pair were crowned winners of the series. Coppola did not return for the following series, his departure alluding to him becoming a professional on the British version.

Series 16: with Arisa

In July 2022, Coppola was announced to be joining the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing as one of the professionals. Joining alongside Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Michelle Tsiakkas, he said upon his appointment as a professional on the show, "[He was] really excited to become part of this family, adding that [He could not] wait to start this new adventure and to challenge [himself]. Strictly sto arrivando!". For his first series, he was paired with singer-songwriter and presenter Fleur East. Together they received the first perfect score of the series. Coppola reached the final with East and the couple finished as runners-up behind Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystał, alongside Helen Skelton and Gorka Márquez, and Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu. Coppola returned for the twenty-first series. He was paired with former Coronation Street actress Ellie Leach,and the two of them eventually went on to win the series despite finishing bottom of the leaderboard in the grand final.

In April 2024, Coppola is set to headline a charity dance show alongside his fellow Strictly Come Dancing professional Luba Mushtuk, with the profits going to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Highest and lowest scoring per dance

Series 20: with Fleur East

Series 21: with Ellie Leach

Coppola is multi-lingual and is fluent in English, Russian and Spanish, as well as his native language Italian.