Early career and education

Bindi Irwin was born in Buderim, Queensland. She began appearing on television shows as early as age two. She appeared regularly in her father's television shows, including The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and also appeared in the 2002 film The Wiggles: Wiggly Safari in a credited cast role. She is of English and Irish ancestry, with abundance of Irish ancestry on her father's side.

Irwin was homeschooled until 2014, when she enrolled at TAFE Queensland East Coast. She has completed a Certificate III in Business, and is currently studying for a Certificate III in Tourism.

Career

Irwin was the presenter of a 26-part wildlife documentary kids show called Bindi the Jungle Girl, a production of the Discovery Kids television network. Her father was filmed in many of the early shows before his death in September 2006, when production was temporarily put on hold. The series premiered in June 2007 on Discovery Kids.

Irwin's father, Steve, was killed by a stingray barb on 4 September 2006. He was setting up to shoot ocean reef footage for a show that would include segments with himself, because weather prevented him from filming footage for a different show. Irwin and her mother announced that she would continue her late father's conservation and television work. Steve Irwin had said he supported Bindi's career, claiming "I just want to be co-star to my daughter".

On 20 September 2006, Irwin received a standing ovation after delivering a eulogy for her father in front of a crowd of 5,000 and a worldwide television audience of more than 300 million viewers. In the 2006 TV Week readers' poll, her speech received 43 percent of votes and was voted the television moment of the year. Her mother stated that, apart from some assistance with typing, Irwin had written the speech herself.

In June 2007, Irwin hosted a US television special about her father called My Daddy the Crocodile Hunter. She also starred in a child fitness DVD in which she sang and danced with a group called Bindi Kidfitness. She made a hip hop album called Trouble in the Jungle. 'Bindi and The Crocmen' sang "Trouble in the Jungle" on The Today Show in November 2007 and Irwin was learning how to play the piano.

In September 2006, at age 8, Irwin appeared on the cover of the Australian magazine New Idea, the youngest person to have done so in the magazine's 104-year history.

In early January 2007, Irwin appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. At that time, she was also scheduled for appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and an attendance with Russell Crowe at a major dinner. She was promoting her new video, Bindi Kidfitness, and fulfilling her role as a newly appointed "tourism ambassador" for Australia.

Irwin appeared on Larry King Live on 11 January 2007. She said that creative writing was her favourite subject and maths her least favourite. She also said that she enjoyed being homeschooled because she and her teachers were such good friends.

At the 2007 Kids' Choice Awards, Irwin presented the award for "Favorite Male Singer", with help from George Lopez and Tyler James Williams, which was won by Justin Timberlake. She also presented at the Logie Awards of 2007, with help from Glenn Robbins for 'Most Outstanding Children's Show', which was won by The Upside Down Show.

On 22 November 2007, Irwin appeared with her mother Terri in the 81st Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and performed songs from her album Trouble in the Jungle with The Crocmen on a jungle animal float.

On 4 May 2008, Irwin won the Most Popular New Female Talent Logie Award. Then on 13 June 2008, at the age of nine, she became the youngest performer ever to win a Daytime Emmy Award when she won the award for "Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series". The previous record was held by Camryn Grimes, who won the "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" at age ten for her performance in The Young and the Restless.

On 26 December 2009 Irwin appeared live on stage at Australia Zoo with new backup singers/dancers The Jungle Girls.

Irwin commits 10% of her wage to Wildlife Warriors, the charity founded by her family in 2002.

She starred as Kirra in the movie Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove, released on 23 March 2010.

In 2012, Irwin hosted a wildlife-themed game show called Bindi's Bootcamp. Filmed at Australia Zoo, the contestants were put through "adventure challenges" to educate and test their wildlife knowledge. It was produced in association with Sydney-based Sticky Pictures, under commission from ABC, and debuted in July on ABC3.

Irwin starred in the sequel to Nim's Island playing the lead character Nim, originally played by Abigail Breslin.

In 2012, Irwin appeared as Sunday Clovers on the episode "Mirror rorriM" of the Canadian television series, My Babysitter's a Vampire.

In 2013, Irwin made a brief appearance on the Australian TV series Big Brother to surprise housemate Tim, who had mentioned her several times throughout the series, saying "I want to thank you for being an incredible Wildlife Warrior. I hope when you're out of the house you can come visit me".

In March 2014, Irwin appeared on Good Morning America with her family, where she announced a partnership with animal theme park company Seaworld. This decision was strongly criticized by animal rights group PETA, who criticized the Irwin family for supporting a company accused of animal abuse, referencing the documentary Blackfish.

In October 2014, Irwin was awarded Young Conservationist of the Year by the Australian Geographic Society.

In August 2015, Irwin was announced as a competitor on Dancing with the Stars - season 21, paired with five-time champion Derek Hough. On 5 November, a judge in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County ordered the producers of the show to withdraw Irwin from the competition due to a California state law that prevents minors from getting paid unless a minor's contract is signed. Since Irwin was a minor during the competition, she was required to have both of her parents release their rights to her money before she could get paid. Terri subsequently signed a form saying she would give up all rights to any money her daughter made on the show. However, as Steve died in 2006, the judge asked for a legal death certificate to let Irwin continue in the competition. Irwin and Hough were declared the winners of the season on 24 November 2015.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007-08	Bindi the Jungle Girl	Herself
2012	My Babysitter's a Vampire	Sunday Clovers	Episode: "Mirror, rorriM"
2012	Bindi's Bootcamp	Host	Gameshow
2012	Steve Irwin's Wildlife Warriors	Herself
2012	Curious George	Bindi Bungee (Voice)	Episode: "Monkey Down Under/Bright Lights, Little Monkey" (7.1)
2015	Dancing with the Stars	Herself / Contestant	Season 21 winner

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove	Kirra Cooper
2013	Return to Nim's Island	Nim Rusoe

Internet

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Growing Up Wild	Herself	With her young brother Robert they show their wildest animals at Australia Zoo on The Pet Collective, a popular animal focused YouTube channel.

Dancing with the Stars performances

Irwin, who was partnered with Derek Hough, won season 21 of Dancing with the Stars (U.S.) on 24 November 2015. Irwin and Hough hold the record for the most perfect scores, with eight.

Week #	Dance / Song	Judges' scores			Result
		Inaba	Hough	Tonioli
1	Jive / "Crocodile Rock"	8	8	8	No elimination
2	Tango / "You Shook Me All Night Long" Waltz / "Only a Man"	9 7	8 8	8 8	Safe
3	Quickstep / "Movin' on Up"	8	81/8	8	Safe
4	Contemporary / "Every Breath You Take"	9	9	10	Safe
52	Cha-cha-cha / "Hold My Hand"	9	9/103	9	No elimination
6	Rumba / "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"	10	10/104	10	Safe
7	Argentine Tango / "Cry Little Sister" Team freestyle / "Ghostbusters"	10 9	10 10	10 9	Safe
8	Foxtrot / "Grace Kelly" Jive dance-off / "Travelin' Band"	10 No	9 extra	9 points	Safe
9	Viennese Waltz / "Roses and Violets" Team-up dance (Charleston) / "All That Jazz" & "Hot Honey Rag"	10 10	10 10	10 10	Safe
10	Salsa / "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" Samba dance-off / "Lean On" Trio Jazz / "Resolve"	9 Awarded 10	9 3 10	9 points 10	Last to be called safe
11	Quickstep / "Dr. Bones" Freestyle / "Footprints in the Sand" Argentine Tango & Cha-cha-cha Fusion / "All the Way"	10 10 10	10 10 10	10 10 10	Winner

1 Score by guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro.

2 This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Irwin performed with Valentin Chmerkovskiy instead of Hough. Hough performed with Alexa PenaVega.

3 Score given by guest judge Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

4 Score given by guest judge Olivia Newton-John.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]