Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1970. Her parents came to New York from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She is the middle of three sisters. At the age of 7, young Jennifer went on her first tour around New York City with her dance class. At the age of 16 Jennifer got a little break with a bit part in the film my little girl (starring Mary Stuart Masterson). But Jennifer’s first love was still dance, and when she about a scholarship to a dance school in Manhattan, she went down and grabbed the opportunity. At this time she was taking her dance classes. Eventually this would lead to a falling out with her mother, who didn’t want Jennifer to pursue dance as a career. When her mother gave her the ever-popular you live by my rules as long as you live under my roof speech Jennifer took that as her cue to break out on her own.
Not having anywhere else to live, she took her dance classes. A year and a half of auditioning with no success brought Jennifer to the verge of a breakdown. But salvation would come in the form of a tour that sent her dancing across Japan. Before this she had auditioned to be a Fly girl for the show In Living Color but she had been turned down. Upon return from Japan, she received a call from in living color asking her to audition again. This time she made the cut and it was off to Hollywood. She didn’t really enjoy her time on In Living color as she longed for an acting career that would put her in the spotlight her first television job as an actress on the Fox series
South Central came her way because the producer of the show was married to one of the other fly girls, and he took notice of Jennifer during a special Fox aired about the fly Girls. After an extensive nationwide search Jennifer was chosen to play Selena Quintanilla Perez, in the official biopic of the life of the fallen Tejano star. Taking part in the production of Selena would impact Jennifer’s life in many ways. On the personal side Jennifer’s fiancée, Ojani Noa proposed to her at the warp party for Selena. The couple had met in Miami while Jennifer was filming Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson. Ojani a Cuban immigrant was an aspiring model working as a waiter at Gloria Etefan’s restaurants, Larios on the beach.
They were married in Miami on February 22, 1997, after knowing each other less than a year. Jennifer’s sudden rise to fame with the release of Selena the following month would put an excessive strain on the marriage, and the couple filed for divorce just a little over a year they were married. Playing Selena also brought back Jennifer’s interests in being the all around entertainer and she decided to record a demo of her singing, completely in Spanish. After a bidding war among a number of record companies, Jennifer was signed to Sony Music’s Work Group label. Her first CD, a pop album with a Latin flavor (although mostly in English) was released June 1, 1999. Working with the likes of Emilio Estefan, Rodney Jerkins and Sean Puffy combs the music world is buzzing that Jennifer is the next Gloria Estefan set to become the mainstream Latin crossover star Selena herself surely would have been had she been given the change.
Quotes of Jennifer Lynn Lopez
“If you don’t love yourself, you can’t love anybody else. And I think as women we really forget that.”
“I have my own high standards for what I want in a partner and how I want to be treated. I bring a lot to the table. I’m not talking about material things but what I have to offer as a person – love and loyalty and all the things that make a good relationship.”
“Beauty is only skin deep. I think what’s really important is finding a balance of mind, body and spirit.”
“You’ve got to love yourself first. You’ve got to be okay on your own before you can be okay with somebody else.”
“I don’t regret what I’ve been through. I’ve had ups and downs, super highs and some really low lows. I’ve been so blessed that I could never say, ‘I wish this didn’t happen.’ It’s part of who I am. There’s nothing in my life that’s so ugh.”
Image Courtesy: starsactivity.blogspot.com
