He quickly excelled in ballroom dance and the school became his home away from home. As a teenager, he suffered a horrible skiing accident that nearly ripped his leg off, leaving him hospitalized for months. After many surgeries and the insertion of a 12" metal rod, doctors were skeptical that Chmerkovskiy would ever walk without a limp, let alone dance. After completing months of physical therapy, he was back on his own two feet walking, running, and dancing. Soon after, he established himself as the top dancer in Ukraine. In 1994, the entire Chmerkovskiy family moved to Brooklyn, NY in order to start a new life and to give Maks and Val (Maks' brother) a better atmosphere to grow and succeed in. The vision of the American Dream and his passion for ballroom dancing gave Chmerkovskiy the strength to fight through all of the obstacles that faced him and his family. He worked countless hours on his dancing and soon emerged as one of the best dancers in the world.
Chmerkovskiy started the Rising Stars Dance Academy, which is the premier youth ballroom dance school in the United States. He is currently a board member for the non-profit organization DanceTeamUSA, which works hard to promote DanceSport amongst the youth of America. Chmerkovskiy also has a production company "Maksim Chmerkovskiy Productions" which organizes performances all over the world. Some of his professional accomplishments include 2005 Yankee Classic Professional Latin Champion, 2004 Manhattan Dancesport Professional Latin Champion and 2003 Ohio Star Ball Latin Champion. The cocky Chmerkovskiy joined "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ) during season 2, with he and his partner, actress Tia Carrere, finishing in 6th place. In season 3, Chmerkovskiy partnered with singer Willa Ford into 7th place. He finally made it to the finals in season 4 with Boxing Champion Laila Ali; they finished in 3rd place. But he took it even further when partnered with "Scary Spice" Mel B, the both of whom danced their way to runner-up (many thought they should have won) during season five of the popular series.