Abby Lee Miller

Abby Lee Miller is a choreographer best known for starring on Dance Moms.

Miller grew up in the dance community in the suburbs of Pittsburgh where her mom was a dance teacher. In 1980, she followed in her mother’s footsteps when she formed the Abby Lee Dance Company and its competitive dance team. Miller operated at her mother’s studio and eventually took over the business in 1995.

In 2011, Miller made her reality TV debut on Dance Moms. The Lifetime series followed Miller as she trained a group of young dancers on her competition team. She trained and launched the careers of Maddie Ziegler, Mackenzie Ziegler, JoJo Siwa, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux and more.

Following the success of her hometown studio, Miller expanded to a location in Los Angeles, which was also featured on the reality series. Dance Moms ran for eight seasons before it ended in 2019.

While being known as a strict dance teacher and reality TV villain, Miller has also faced a series of struggles in her personal life. In May 2017, Miller was convicted of fraud and sentenced to one year and one day in prison (ultimately serving eight and a half months). One year later, Miller was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer, after undergoing spinal surgery.