Brendan Cole (born 23 April 1976) is a New Zealand ballroom dancer, specialising in Latin American dancing.

[2] He moved to the United Kingdom when he was eighteen, where he studied the pasodoble, ballroom and ballet at Donaheys, Clayton, Manchester.

[4] In the winter of 2004, Cole had his first acting experience in a feature film: Everything to Dance for alongside Sasha Jackson, Travis Oliver and Sally Reeve.

[5] In 2009, Cole appeared on the New Zealand travel show Intrepid Journeys, however, during a hunting lesson filmed in Vanuatu, he was shown killing and eating a chicken, prompting international news coverage.

[7] In 2010, Cole married Zoe Hobbs, a British model, who gave birth to their first child, daughter Aurelia, on Christmas Day 2012.

In January 2007, Cole appeared on the BBC's duet show Just the Two of Us as a celebrity, with Beverley Knight as his professional partner.

[9] In the 2004 debut series of Strictly Come Dancing, Cole's celebrity partner was BBC newsreader and presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.

In the eighth series, Cole's partner was American singer Michelle Williams; they were eliminated in the seventh week of competition.

In series 11, Cole partnered singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor, reaching the final and being eliminated in fourth place.

Cole competed with television presenter Kirsty Gallacher in the show's thirteenth series and was eliminated in week 6.

[10] Following his elimination with Gallacher, Cole entered the Children in Need special which he won with actress Laura Main.

They were placed in the bottom two in week 2, but an injury sustained by Anastacia meant they were unable to take part in the dance-off and the decision was referred to the public vote.

Anastacia and Cole polled more votes than Melvin Odoom and Janette Manrara, and were allowed to stay in the competition.

In 2017 Cole returned for the fifteenth series, paired with Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins.

Cole has supported several charity functions including children's anti-bullying campaigning group Act Against Bullying.