Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss is The Ellen DeGeneres Show‘s current DJ. (Getty)
Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss is a hip-hop dancer and current DJ for The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He’s back on the show for DeGeneres’ 14th season and has periodically appeared on the show since 2012. He’s been her regular guest DJ since 2014.
Boss first gained fame while on So You Think You Can Dance and has continued to appear in dance sequences in movies. His biggest role to date was a part in Magic Mike XXL.
Here’s a look at Boss’ life and career.
1. Boss is Married to ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Pro Allison Holker & the Two are Parents to Son Maddox
tWitch shared the above photo with his son, Maddox, on Instagram. (Instagram/@sir_twitch_alot)
The 33-year-old Boss married Allison Holker on December 10, 2013 at Nigel Lythgoe’s Villa San Juliette Vineyard and Winery in Paso Robles, California, Us Weekly reported at the time.
Although Holker is now best known as a pro dancer on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, she is also a SYTCD alum, making it to the Top 10 in season two. Holker also has a daughter, Weslie Renae Flower, from a previous relationship. The couple met at the end of SYTD season seven.
In March 2016, the couple welcomed their first child together, Maddox Laurel. He weighed 8 lbs., 15 oz. “Maddox already has the best big sister Weslie. They have already bonded and share a truly beautiful love,” the couple said in a statement.
To announce the gender of their baby, Holker arranged a flash mob, which you can see in the below video.
2. Holker Made the First Move & They Had a Skype Relationship in Their First Year Together
Allison Holker & Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss in October 2015. (Getty)
In a 2012 interview with Dance Spirit, Holker and Boss explained that she was the one who made the first move. She explained:
I didn’t just make one move—I made, like, 10 moves and he wasn’t seeing them, so I had to put myself out there even more. From the first week of SYTYCD as All-Stars, I thought he was the cutest guy ever. His personality was so fun.
Boss said that did briefly meet during SYTCD season two, but she didn’t remember him. They didn’t really meet again until season seven. They didn’t talk to each other all season but when the wrap party came, Holker knew it was her last chance. “We danced the entire night, and we’ve been together ever since,” Boss said.
During the first year of their relationship, they had to use Skype to keep in contact because they were always traveling. Holker explained to Dance Spirit:
The first year, we had a Skype relationship. It proved how much we were committed to each other because we’d be on different schedules and we still planned out what hour we’d speak every night. After Season 7, I went on tour with SYTYCD for three months, and directly after that, he went on tour with The LXD. Then I moved to Toronto to do Cobu 3D, and he went to Miami to film Step Up Revolution. In our first year of dating we were separated for nine months.
3. Boss Performed on the Opposite Side of the Mirror from Channing Tatum in ‘Magic Mike XXL’
Since breaking through on SYTCD, Boss has been cast in several dance movies. He played Jason in Step Up 3D, Step Up Revolution and Step Up All In and had uncredited dancing roles in Blades of Glory and Hairspray.
In 2015, he earned his biggest role to date, playing Malik in Magic Mike XXL. He performed in the final dance sequence opposite Channing Tatum, who happened to be the first guest of DeGeneres’ new season.
When the Philadelphia Sun aksed Boss if he liked acting or dancing better, he said that was difficult to answer.
They are both avenues and mediums of performance, and it is performance that I am most passionate about. There is nothing like the feeling I get when I step out on the dance floor and dance to my favorite song. And at the same time there’s nothing like the feeling of doing homework on a character and stepping onto the stage or camera and being another person.
4. There’s 2 Stories for the ‘tWitch’ Nickname: It Was His Nickname as a Kid & Also the Name He Gave His Car
There are two stories for how the Montgomery, Alabama-native got the nickname ‘tWitch.’ People reports that he started “popping and ticking” when he was a kid. Some people called that a “twitch” and he kept that name.
However, in a 2013 interview with AL.com, Boss said ‘Twitch’ is what he called his old car, a 1992 Toyota Paseo. Boss explained in that interview:
I took (the name) Twitch when I was about 20-years-old because that was when I first started dancing, going places and teaching dance, and a lot of my dance knowledge and a lot of my dance thoughts took place in that car. Driving from place to place. Whether it was to Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Bessemer, Birmingham, whatever. I’d choreograph in the car.
Boss also said in that interview that if he didn’t make it on SYTCD, he would have joined the Navy. “So everything I’m experiencing right now is because of the show,” he said.
5. Boss Really Loves Comic Books, Even Naming His Dog Krypto
Allison Holker & Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss in August 2015. (Getty)
Boss is a big comic book fan, telling TV Guide that his tech-loving character from the Step Up movies is an “amped up version of me.” His favorite character is Superman and he named his Jack Russell mix Krypto, after Superman’s dog.
At his wedding, Boss had his groomsmen wear superhero shirts under their jackets. Of course, Boss wore a Superman shirt.
Holker and Boss also referenced Harry Potter at the wedding, posing for a picture where it looked like the groomsmen were flying away.
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Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know