Who Is Janel Parrish, Val Chmerkovskiy’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 19 Partner?

The Season 19 Dancing with the Stars cast has been announced, and actress Janel Parrish is partnered with fan favorite pro Val Chmerkovskiy. Could Janel and Val be a couple to keep an eye on this season? Many DWTS fans think that may well be the case. While Pretty Little Liar fans are certainly familiar with Parrish, she’s not necessarily well-known to others quite yet. What do people need to know about Janel?

Pretty Little Liar viewers know that Parrish’s character, Mona Vanderwaal, just died in the summer finale of the show. However, Wetpaint shares that Janel isn’t entirely done with the show. Mona will be showing up regularly in flashbacks, it seems. In addition, PLL isn’t Janel’s first dance with television. She previously appeared on The O.C. for one episode in 2006 as the character of Leah and in a few episodes of Heroes as a cheerleading friend of Claire’s named May.

Parrish is a native of Hawaii and she spent some time on the Broadway stage when she was younger. Apparently, she played Young Cosette in Les Miserables when she was just 6-years-old. Later, Val Chmerkovskiy’s new partner appeared on the show Junior Singer when she was 14-years-old. The new Dancing With the Stars cast member is now 25-years-old, and it seems she already has at least 11 tattoos. Parrish toldClevverTV that she loves tattoos and she has a lot of little ones, though she doesn’t think her parents approve of her addiction.

DWTS fans are always anxious for possible romances to blossom each season, as was evidenced by the romance that never quite came together between Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Meryl Davis last season. So, could there be sparks between Janel and Val? Unfortunately, it would seem that is a no in this case.

Parrish is dating Payson Lewis, who shared the photo of Janel and Val after the DWTS cast announcement and noted that he was a proud boyfriend. Payson is also an actor with a musical background. Wetpaint notes that Lewis was the lead singer for The SoCals on The Sing-Off, and he has been a guest star on a variety of shows, including Rules of Engagement and How I Met Your Mother.

Even though Janel and Val won’t be heading down the romance or showmance road, many DWTS fans think they are a top contender for the Season 19 mirror-ball trophy. It all gets started on Monday, September 15, when Janel Parrish, Val Chmerkovskiy and the rest of the cast starts dancing on the fall season of Dancing with the Stars.

[Image via Craig Sjodin/ABC]