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Jennifer Lynn Affleck[1] (née Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress, and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series In Living Color, where she remained a regular until she decided to pursue an acting career in 1993. For her first leading role in Selena (1997), she became the first Hispanic actress to earn over US$1 million for a film. She went on to star in Anaconda (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), and established herself as the highest-paid Hispanic actress in Hollywood.
Lopez ventured into the music industry with her debut studio album On the 6 (1999), which helped propel the Latin pop movement in American music, and later starred in the psychological horror The Cell (2000). With the simultaneous release of her second studio album J.Lo and her romantic comedy The Wedding Planner in 2001, she became the first woman to have a number-one album and film in the same week. Her 2002 release, J to tha L–O! The Remixes, became the first remix album in history to debut atop the US Billboard 200. Later that year, she released her third studio album, This Is Me… Then and starred in the film Maid in Manhattan.After starring in Gigli (2003), a critical and commercial failure, Lopez starred in the successful romantic comedies Shall We Dance? (2004) and Monster-in-Law (2005). Her fifth studio album, Como Ama una Mujer (2007), had the highest first week sales for a debut Spanish album in the United States. Following a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to prominence in 2011 with her appearance as a judge on American Idol and released her seventh studio album, Love?. From 2016 to 2018, she starred in the police drama series Shades of Blue and performed a residency show, Jennifer Lopez: All I Have, at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. She also produced and served as a judge on World of Dance (2017–2020). In 2019, she garnered critical acclaim for her performance as a stripper in the crime drama Hustlers.Lopez is considered a pop culture icon, and is often described as a triple threat entertainer. With a cumulative film gross of US$3.1 billion and estimated global sales of 80 million records, she is considered the most influential Hispanic entertainer in North America. In 2012, Forbes ranked her the world’s most powerful celebrity, and the 38th most powerful woman in the world. Time listed her among their 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. Her most successful singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 include “If You Had My Love”, “I’m Real”, “Ain’t It Funny”, “All I Have”, and “On the Floor”. For her contributions to the recording industry, she has a landmark star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has received the Billboard Icon Award and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, among other honors. Her other ventures include beauty and clothing lines, fragrances, a production company, and a charitable foundation.Early lifeJennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, and raised in its Castle Hill neighborhood. Her parents, David López and Guadalupe RodrÃguez, were born in Puerto Rico and moved to the U.S. mainland as children. After serving in the army, David worked as a computer technician at Guardian Insurance Company. Guadalupe was a homemaker for the first ten years of Lopez’s life and later worked as a Tupperware salesperson and a kindergarten and gym teacher. They divorced in the 1990s after 33 years of marriage.Lopez is a middle child; she has an older sister, Leslie, and a younger sister, Lynda. The three shared a bedroom. Lopez has described her upbringing as “strict”. She was raised in a Roman Catholic family; she attended Mass every Sunday and received a Catholic education, attending Holy Family School and the all-girls Preston High School. In school, Lopez ran track on a national level, participated in gymnastics, and was on the softball team. She danced in school musicals and played a lead role in a production of Godspell.There was “lots of music” in the typically Puerto Rican household, and Lopez and her sisters were encouraged to sing, dance and create their own plays for family events. West Side Story made a particular impression on the young Lopez and she wanted to be an entertainer from an early age. At the age of five, she began taking dance lessons at Ballet Hispánico on the Upper West Side. As a teenager, she learned flamenco, jazz, and ballet at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and taught dance to younger students, including Kerry Washington. After graduating from high school, she had a part-time secretarial job at a law firm and studied business at New York’s Baruch College for one semester. Lopez made her acting debut at age 16 with a small role in the 1986 film My Little Girl. At age 18, she enrolled as a full-time student at Manhattan’s Phil Black Dance Studio, where she had already taken night classes in jazz and tap dance. Her parents were unhappy with her decision to leave college to pursue a dance career. Her mother asked her to move out of the family home and they stopped speaking for eight months. Lopez moved to Manhattan, sleeping in the dance studio’s office for the first few months.CareerProfessional dancing and early acting roles (1989–1996)Lopez’s first professional job came in 1989 when she spent five months touring Europe with the musical revue show Golden Musicals of Broadway. She was the only member of the chorus not to have a solo and later characterized it as a pivotal moment where she realized the importance of a “tough skin” in the entertainment business. In 1990, she danced alongside MC Hammer in an episode of Yo! MTV Raps and traveled around Japan for four months as a chorus member in Synchronicity. When she returned to the United States, she was hired as a backup dancer for New Kids on the Block’s performance of “Games” at the 1991 American Music Awards. She also traveled around America with regional productions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma! During this period, Lopez also danced in music videos including Doug E. Fresh’s “Summertime”, Richard Rogers’ “Can’t Stop Loving You”, EPMD’s “Rampage” and Samantha Fox’s “(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On”.Lopez’s most high-profile job as a professional dancer was as a Fly Girl jazz-funk dancer on the sketch comedy television series In Living Color, which starred comedians including Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey. At the New York audition, the show’s choreographer, Rosie Perez, noticed that Lopez had “star quality” and “did not complain, not once” when asked to repeatedly perform the dance routine. Lopez moved to Los Angeles in late 1991 for the job; she filmed In Living Color during the day and attended acting classes taught by Aaron Speiser at night. The head of Virgin Records considered signing The Fly Girls as a girl group to rival the Spice Girls, but the deal fell apart. After appearing as a Fly Girl in seasons three and four of In Living Color, Lopez left to work as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and appeared in the music video for “That’s the Way Love Goes”. She was scheduled to tour with Jackson on her Janet World Tour in late 1993 but opted to pursue an acting career instead.Lopez’s first professional acting job was a small recurring role on the television show South Central (1994). She was invited to audition for the pilot by a casting director who had seen her speak to camera during a behind-the-scenes In Living Color segment. Lopez then acquired an agent and was cast in the CBS show Second Chances and its spin-off Hotel Malibu. She appeared in the direct-to-video drama film Lost in the Wild (1993). For her first major movie role, in Gregory Nava’s 1995 drama Mi Familia, Lopez received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lopez then starred in the action comedy Money Train (1995). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said she “mostly holds her own” with co-stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, while Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised her “scene-stealing charm”. In 1996, Lopez had a supporting role opposite Robin Williams in the comedy Jack. She next starred opposite Jack Nicholson in the neo-noir thriller Blood and Wine (1997). David Rooney of Variety felt Lopez delivered in “juggling” the “smoldering and soulful sides” of the character but Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly said she was “used as a place marker rather than as a real girl.”