Biography

Jennifer Lopez, the dusky beauty that has been scintillating the imagination of men of all the ages world wide is a known name in the music and movie industry of Hollywood. A songwriter, record producer, dancer, fashion designer, and television producer, she is also the richest Latin American actor according to a survey conducted by Forbes magazine. She has so far released seven albums since her debut in 1999 and worked in several movies which have been appreciated and awarded duly.

Jennifer Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 and grew up in the South Bronx, New York to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez, a kindergarten teacher, and David Lopez, a computer specialist. She has two sisters, Lynda and Leslie. She has had a catholic upbringing and education, as she was enrolled in to the all-girls Preston High School, in the Bronx. She had been into dancing majorly and paid for her dancing and singing classes herself since she reached the age of 19. She briefly attended Baruch College for one semester, after which Lopez started dividing her time between working in a legal office, dance classes, and dance performances in Manhattan night clubs.

Initially, Lopez had to struggle a lot before she eventually emerged on the music scene and that too as a background dancer for various rock bands and rappers including a 1990 episode of Yo! MTV Raps, and as a backup dancer for the New Kids on the Block and their performance of their song "Games" for the American Music Awards in 1991. After being rejected twice, Lopez gained her first regular high-profile job as a "Fly Girl" dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color in 1990. Soon after, Lopez became a backup dancer for Janet Jackson and made an appearance in her 1993 video "That's the Way Love Goes".

Career in Movies

Her career began through small screen with her appearing in several made for TV movies like Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7and programs such as South Central, Second Chances, and Hotel Malibu. Her big screen debut came in the form of 1995 drama My Family followed closely by action film Money Train opposite Wesley Snipes. There were other appearances too like that in the Francis Ford Coppola's 1996 comedy Jack starring Robin Williams, and the 1997 thriller Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson.

In fact her performance 1997 film Selena, earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" in 1998.
After that came a series of movies for which Lopez was got rave reviews and box office success (Out of Sight, The Cell, An Unfinished Life, and Shall We Dance?).She donned the cap of producer for her next two assignments both being independent movies and both well received by critics and audience as well. As a matter of fact, they became a hit at the film festivals where they were screened, El Cantante at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Bordertown at the Brussels film festival. A string of some more moderately successful or not so successful movies later including The Wedding Planner, Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, Enough and Gigli Lopez collaborated on the feature film, El Cantante, with her husband singer-actor Marc Anthony in 2007.

She made an appearance in the sixth season finale and seventh seasoning opening episode of the popular sitcom Will & Grace (2004). Her executively produced reality show for the MTV by the name of, Dance Life about the lives of six aspiring dancers as their struggle to make it in the competitive world of professional dance has also been running successfully. She is the executive producer of a miniseries in Univisión named after her CD "Como Ama Una Mujer"(2007).

Pop Music Entry

Her foray into music life began with the release of her debut album Lopez's debut album On the 6 in 1999, and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one lead single, "If You Had My Love", as well as the top ten hit "Waiting for Tonight".

In fact, “Let's Get Loud", the final single, earned Lopez a Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Dance Recording" category in 2001 Grammy Awards "Waiting for Tonight" was nominated for the same category the previous year."No Me Ames" received two nominations at the 2000 Latin Grammy Awards — "Best Pop Duo/Group with Vocal Performance" and "Best Music Video".

Her second album, J. Lo, on January 23, 2001 debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 alongwith her movie The Wedding Planner that achieved number one shortly after, making Lopez the first actress-singer to have a film and an album at number one in the same week. The album included hit singles like "Love Don't Cost a Thing” and "Play".

With the success of earlier two albums, Lopez geared up for an out and out remix album, J to tha L-O!: The Remixes in 2002. In the November of same year she came out with her third studio album, This Is Me... Then, which reached number two on the Billboard 200.

2005 saw her releasing her fourth studio album Rebirth, which although rocked the charts at first, but quickly fell out of them. Incidentally, the album contained the hit single "Get Right”, her second Platinum hit after “"If You Had My Love".

Lopez officially released her first full Spanish-language album, called Como Ama una Mujer, 2007 in the U.S. which her husband, singer Marc Anthony, produced the album with Estefano, except for "Qué Hiciste", which Anthony co-produced with Julio Reyes. She ended up winning American Music Award as the Favorite Latin Artist in 2007.

Barely, sixth months later in October 2007, she came out with her fifth English studio album, Brave (2007) with singles like "Do It Well” and "Hold It, Don't Drop It”
J.lo, famous for her personal life, was earlier in the news over her on and off relationship with actor Ben Affleck, with her calling off the wedding just one week before. She is currently married to singer Marc Anthony.

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