001PIC.COM: Jennifer Lopez

The Childhood

Jennifer Lopez was born to Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, a kindergarten teacher and David Lopez, a computer operations specialist in The Bronx. Their family moves from Ponce, Puerto Rico to New York. She is the middle of three sisters. Guadalupe kept her young daughters off the streets by encouraging them to put on little shows in the family's living room. This helped Jennifer realize at an early age that she enjoyed performing, and at the age of 5, she began taking dance classes. At the age of 7,

young Jennifer went on her first tour - around New York City with her dance class. Jennifer is the middle of three sisters Lynda (who is the youngest) is now a DJ for WKTU in New York (Lynda Lopez from 10 PM-2 AM) and can sometimes be seen hosting on VH-1. Older sister Leslie also resides in New York and is a music teacher. She is married and had her first child in the fall of 1999.

The Career Journey
	At the age of 16 Jennifer got a little break with a bit part in the film "My Little Girl" (starring Mary Stuart Masterson). After graduating from Preston High School in 1987 (where she ran track) she attended one semester at Baruch College in New York City. But Jennifer's first love was still dance, and when she read about a scholarship to a dance school in Manhattan, she went down and grabbed the opportunity. At this time she was taking a full time course load at Baruch, working in a law office and
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 up residence in the building where 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, by the help of Rosie Perez, a choreographer, she had auditioned to be a "Fly Girl" for the show "In Living Color" but she had been turned down. Upon returning 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. Jennifer was accompanied to Los Angeles by her longtime boyfriend David Cruz. The two began dating when she was 15 and they stayed together nearly 10 years - when he returned home to the Bronx where he opened a dry cleaning business. 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. (Check out any rerun of this show and you'll surely recognize the energetic dancer hamming it up for the camera whenever she thought she could get away with it.) 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. "South Central" only survived one season, but she quickly resurfaced on television screens appearing as "Melinda Lopez" first in the short lived "Second Chances" series, then "Hotel Malibu." In 1995 she jumped onto the big screen in her first major role, opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in "Money Train." She would go on to work opposite such talents as Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson, but it was her work with Gregory Nava, who directed her in "My Family, Mi Familia" that would lead her to the role that would make her a star.

The Movie "Selena"
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 fiancé, Ojani Noa, proposed to her at the wrap 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 Estefan's restaurant, 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 after they were married. "You have to be able to change your voice," says Lopez, who steps into the pop music limelight this month with her starring role in Warner Bros' Selena. The musical
biopic covers the short, but dynamic, life and career of the top-selling Tejano singer who was gunned down by an unstable member of her own entourage. "Selena was a Texas girl and a Mexican, but she had a strong Texas twang and didn't have a Spanish accent like some people think. "But, despite the fact that Lopez is virtually a lock for the part--even when it comes to the physical resemblance--the role didn't come easily, Lopez reflects. She had to endure a grueling audition even though she had worked with Selena director Gregory Nava on the film My Family. "Gregory knows me and knows I can act," the actress says with unabashed confidence. "But I auditoned and screen-tested for the role. It was an intense test and the hardest audition I ever went through. I had to do two songs as Selena and perform them as she did. And I had to perform five scenes. I got there at six in the morning and left at five in the afternoon."

Her Romantic Live

After news of the divorce made headlines, the gossip papers quickly had her romantically linked to the likes of rap impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs, Sony Music President Tommy Mottola and Salsa singer Marc Anthony. Jennifer herself remains tightlipped - and rightfully so - on the subject of her personal life (although she has recently admitted that she is in fact having a relationship with Puffy). Back on the professional level, her role as Karen Sisco in 1998's "Out Of Sight", opposite George Clooney, has brought her into the major leagues, making her the highest paying Latina actress in history. 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 chance. That early prediction seems accurate, as her first single, "If You Had My Love" shot to #1 on the Billboard chart, and has been certified platinum (one million sales).

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