Biography

Jennifer Lopez, the first Latina actress to get paid over a million per movie as well as the first artist to have a number one movie and album in the same week!

As a dancer, singer, and actress J.Lo has got it all! She is one of the biggest names in entertainment today! Her new hit album, J.Lo, debuted at number one for two straight weeks and with her 2001 release Angel Eyes, she could be close to an Oscar nomination. But this is just the beginning for this multitalented and beautiful artist...

July 24, 1969 saw the birth of Jennifer Lynn Lopez; second daughter to Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, a kindergarten teacher, and David Lopez, a computer operator specialist. Lopez, Leslie and Lynda, her two other sisters, grew up listening to the rhythms of Salsa, Merengue and Bachata. At the age of five, little Jenny performed in the living room for her parents and at seven years old she went to her first tour around New York City with her dance class.

Jennifer Lopez is one of those stars who worked hard for years for her “overnight” success. The singer/dancer/actor began her career as a dancer in stage musicals, touring Europe (in Golden Musicals of Broadway) and Japan (in Synchronicity) as a teen. At age sixteen, she appeared in the movie, My Little Girl (1986).

After graduating from Preston High School, Lopez attended one semester at Baruch College in New York City studying law, but Jennifer’s first love was dancing. When she heard about scholarships to a dance school in Manhattan, she went for it. At the same time she was taking full time courses in Baruch and taking her dance classes. Eventually this lead to a falling out with her mother who didn’t want Jennifer to keep dancing and giving up studying to become a lawyer. So Jen moved out the house without having anywhere to stay, she moved into the building where she took dance classes.

In 1990, Lopez was hired as a fly girl (dancer) for the TV series, In Living Color, showcasing her natural energy and talent. During the next two years she took on acting roles in TV’s South Central, Second Chances and Malibu Road and, in 1993, completed her television career with the TV movie Nurses On The Line: The Crash Of Flight 7.

Her small screen career may have ended, but stardom was just beginning. Lopez was cast in Mi Familia (My Family) and Money Train in 1995, and Jack in 1996. It was in 1997 (during which year she was married to, and divorced from, Ojani Noa) that the big movies came her way -- Blood and Wine, Selena, Anaconda, and U Turn. That year she was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People and received a Golden Globe Best Actress Nomination for her uncannily accurate portrayal of singer Selena Quintanilla Perez in Selena. The acclaim brought her parts in Out Of Sight (1998), after which she became the highest paid Latin actress, and Antz (voice - 1998).

Lopez showed herself to be a fine actor in the Selena role, but wasn’t acting when she paralleled the role of the popular singer in real life with her own music career. Her debut album, On The 6, went platinum within two months of its release. Lopez was nominated for four MTV music awards and won the Billboard Pop Clip Of The Year award for the music video If You Had My Love. Her single Waiting For Tonight from the album, and the album itself, have been nominated for Grammy awards. Lopez is nominated, as well, for Brit Awards 2000 Best International Newcomer and Best International Solo Artist titles.

The public and critical recognition of the last year was tempered, recently, with some sordid front-page news. Lopez was nabbed and jailed along with rap artist Sean “Puffy” Combs (she and Combs are the unofficial “first couple of hip-hop”) in an alleged gun possession incident. Although locked up for 14 hours, Lopez was released without being charged. Supportive followers gathered for her subsequent court appearance.

Already Lopez has three movies upcoming in 2000 and 2001 -- The Wedding Planner, Angel Eyes and The Cell. This talented entertainer has a solid fan base and credits in the tough worlds of pop music and Hollywood hits. Her off-camera troubles pale beside both her accomplishments and her potential.

On November 17, 2000, the date when her second album was supposed to drop in stores, was held back till January 23, 2001 and its title changed from A Passionate Journey to J.Lo. In December in the MTV Europe Music Awards her first single, “Love Don’t Cost A Thing”, was performed live and world premiered! On January 23, 2001, the album finally hit the streets and debuted on the Billboard Charts in many countries at number one, while her single was still heating up the charts! In that same week, “The Wedding Planner”, a romantic comedy, was released in theaters and snatched the number one position at the box office. Making Jennifer Lopez the first entertainer to have her an album and a movie debut at number one in the same week!

After the release of her new album and movie rumors of a split from Puff Daddy, currently P.Diddy, were still were around until P.Diddy officially announced that they were broken up on February 14, 2001. After the break up with Sean (P.Diddy) Combs, Jennifer moved on and went on to start filming her new movie, Enough and found a new partner, Cris Judd, a California dancer-turned-video director, who appeared in her videos Love Don't Cost A Thing and Play.

Through all the tough and rough times this multitalented artist, Jennifer Lopez has gone through, she is one of the biggest entertainers and idols of today. She's currently rumored to be pregnant and engaged to Judd, and plans to wed have been made for September 2001.

Lopez's third single off her sophomore album, J.Lo, I'm Real Remix featuring rapper Ja Rule, premiered June 25, 2001 on MTV. A new clothing line, appropriately named J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez, hit stores Fall 2001 and Jen's next film Enough, was released on May 24 2002.

J.Lo went back to her 'roots', Puerto Rico, to film a concert special for broadcast by NBC on November 20, 2001.

Hit after hit, box office after box office, Jennifer Lopez cannot and will not be stopped. She'll continue to ascend to the highest places in the entertainment industry, becoming one of the brightest shining stars.