Jennifer Lopez: Biography

Jennifer's mother, a kindergarten teacher, and her father, a computer analyst, nurtured her ambitions early on by enrolling the young star-to-be in dance lessons. It was as a dancer that her career really started: she started in musicals and soon graduated to the small screen (TV).

Lopez later beat out thousands in a national dance in order to earn herself a place as one of Rosie Perez’s Flygirls on the 80's comedy show In Living Color.

Lopez was able to turn her success as a Flygirl into more television work, and appeared in a series of new but short-lived sitcoms. Despite the setbacks, she was still able to move on to better things - this time on the big screen. Landing a part in Gregory Nava’s critically acclaimed Mi Familia helped get Lopez into the eyes of the right people.

In 1995, she appeared in Money Train alongside Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson and in 1996, she had a role as Miss Marquez in the forgettable movie Jack.

1997 was a defining year for Lopez. Her role as the lead in Selena put her well in the public eye. Selena was very successful and propelled Jennifer Lopez into the spotlight. The film also allowed Lopez to showcase her singing talents and also introduced her to Ojani Noa, who she married but later divorced.

Later that year, Lopez continued her rise to fame in Anaconda and Oliver Stone’s U Turn. 1997 also saw Lopez get listed in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People!

In 1998, Lopez turned it up a notch in Out of Sight with George Clooney. This box-office hit helped confirm that she was here to stay. But she was not content with movie stardom... Later that year, Lopez took the Billboard charts by storm with If You Want My Love. Lopez made herself a sex symbol with her moves in that video and she's been gaining ground ever since..

2000 has 3 movies in the works for her. See her Filmography for more on that.