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Producer · Actor · Writer

1969-07-24 · New York City, New York, USA · Female

56 series in the catalog

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood and helping propel the Latin pop movement in music. She is also known for her cultural impact through fashion, branding, and shifting mainstream beauty standards.

After appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy series In Living Color (1991–1993), Lopez rose to wider fame as an actress with leading film roles in Selena (1997), Anaconda (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and The Cell (2000). She successfully ventured into music with her debut album, On the 6 (1999), which spawned the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "If You Had My Love". With her second album J.Lo and the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner (both 2001), she became the first woman to simultaneously have the number-one album and film in the United States. Her musical success continued with J to tha L–O! The Remixes—the first remix album to top the US Billboard 200—and This Is Me... Then (both 2002). These projects included the US number-one singles "I'm Real", "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)", and "All I Have".

Lopez established herself as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses with her roles in romantic comedies, including Maid in Manhattan (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), and Monster-in-Law (2005). She also continued to make music, including the Spanish-language album Como Ama una Mujer (2007), as well as Love? (2011), which spawned the best-selling single of her career, "On the Floor". Following her role in the police drama series Shades of Blue (2016–2018), Lopez's film career saw an upturn with her critically acclaimed performance in the crime drama Hustlers (2019). She has since starred in Marry Me (2022), The Mother (2023), This Is Me... Now: A Love Story and Atlas (both 2024), and received praise for her supporting roles in Unstoppable (2024) and Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025).

Lopez has sold over 80 million records worldwide, while her films have cumulatively grossed over US$1.9 billion. Her accolades include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Billboard Icon Award, three American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), and six Guinness World Records. She has been ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time (2018) and the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes (2012). Lopez has a large social media following, being one of the most-followed individuals on Instagram. Outside of music and acting, Lopez served as a judge on American Idol (2011–2016) and World of Dance (2017–2020). Her other ventures include a lifestyle brand, beauty and fashion lines, fragrances, a production company, and a charitable foundation.

Early life and education

Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, one of the boroughs of New York City, and raised in its Castle Hill neighborhood. Her parents, Guadalupe Rodríguez and David Lopez, were born in Puerto Rico and met in New York City. 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, later working 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 bed. Lopez has described her upbringing as "strict". She was raised in a Catholic family; she attended Mass every Sunday and received a Catholic education, attending Holy Family School and the all-girls Preston High School, a private 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. She described herself as a "tomboy" and "very athletic".

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, who wanted to be an entertainer from an early age. As a teenager, Lopez became "obsessive" about dance, stating that "I practiced until my legs and feet ached". 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. 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. According to Lopez, her parents felt it was "foolish" because "no Latinas did that". 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.

Career

1989–1996: Professional dancing and early acting roles

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 upset at being the only member of the chorus not to have a solo, and later characterized it as a pivotal moment where she had to "try harder and become that much more committed". 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 stated: "I'd dance in a piece-of-garbage rap or pop video for 50 bucks and make the money last a whole month."

Her 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. The show's choreographer, Rosie Perez said she chose Lopez because "she had that look that I knew the audience would tune in to". 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. Lopez felt ostracized by the other Fly Girls because of her "voluptuous figure", and also clashed with Perez. 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. Music industry executives expressed interest in giving Lopez a record deal, but she chose to focus on acting. She hired In Living Color producer Eric Gold as her manager. He advised Lopez to lose weight if she wanted to succeed as an actress.

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. She then acquired an agent and was cast in the CBS show Second Chances; the series was quickly cancelled, but her…