Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (J.Lo) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and producer. Born on July 24, 1969, in Bronx, New York, to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez and David López. She has an older sister Leslie, and younger sister, Lynda, a journalist. Jennifer always dreamed of being a multi-tasking superstar. As a child, she enjoyed a variety of musical genres, mainly Afro-Caribbean rhythms like salsa, merengue and bachata, and mainstream music like pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Although she loved music, the film industry also intrigued her. Her biggest influence was the Rita Moreno musical, West Side Story (1961). At age five, Jennifer began taking singing and dancing lessons. She began appearing in films in the late 1980s and became one of the highest-paid Latina actresses in the history of Hollywood.

Jennifer performed internationally in stage musicals. And at the age of 16, she made her film debut with a small role in My Little Girl. Her television break came in 1990 when she was cast as one of the Fly Girls. Dancers who appeared on the comedy show In Living Color. Jennifer left the show and turned her focus to acting. In the mid-1990s, she was appearing with such notable actors such as Robin Williams (Jack, 1996). Jennifer’s big break came in 1997 when she landed the role in Selena, a biopic of the murdered Tejana singer. She earned widespread praise for her performance, including a Golden Globe nomination. That same year, Jennifer starred in the forgettable Anaconda and Blood and Wine, opposite Jack Nicholson. Jennifer went on to star in several thrillers and action dramas such as U Turn, Out of Sight, and The Cell.

Jennifer’s musical career also began to take off, as she released her debut Latin pop album, On the 6, in June 1999. To the surprise of many criticisms, the album went platinum and sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. Early in 2000, Jennifer was nominated for Best Dance Performance for her second hit single Waiting for Tonight. But she lost the award to veteran diva Cher. Jennifer’s second album titled J.Lo debuted at number one in January 2001. She became the first woman to have a number one film and album in the United States. In December 2002, she delivered another one-two punch with the release of the record This Is Me … Then and a starring role in the comedy Maid in Manhattan.

Moreover, Jennifer married singer Marc Anthony, and the couple appeared in El Cantante (2006), the biopic of salsa musician Hector Lavoe. Her later albums include Rebirth (2005), the Spanish-language Como ama una mujer (2007), which reached the number one spot on Billboard’s Latin album chart Brave (2007), Love? (2011), which featured the up-tempo hit On the Floor, and A.K.A. (2014). In addition, some of her most popular songs are Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Jenny from the Block, All I have, and Que Hiciste.