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Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez is one of Hollywood’s leading ladies who’s also forged a successful pop and dance music career. Who Is Jennifer Lopez? Born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, New York, Jennifer Lopez danced on the TV show In Living Color before her starring role in the film Selena. She turned to music and found major success on the pop and dance charts with hits like “Get Right” and “Play,” while continuing to garner Hollywood film work. She married salsa icon Marc Anthony in 2004 and had twins; the couple split a few years later. Her recent TV projects include American Idol, Shades of Blue and World of Dance. Early Movies Lopez’s first feature film was the critically acclaimed Mi Familia, or My Family, in 1995. She also appeared in Money Train (1995), opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, and in Jack (1996), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Robin Williams. Lopez’s first big break came in 1997, when she was chosen to play the title role in Selena, a biopic of the Tejano pop singer Selena Quintillana-Perez, who was killed by a fan in 1995. Lopez earned widespread praise for her performance, including a Golden Globe nomination. That same year, Lopez starred in the forgettable Anaconda and in Blood and Wine, opposite Jack Nicholson. Her role as federal marshal Karen Sisco in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, a film based on the Elmore Leonard novel and co-starring George Clooney, further enhanced her image as a bankable movie star. Songs & Later Movies Lopez’s musical career also began to take off, as she released her debut Latin pop album, On the 6, in June 1999. The album, fueled by the success of her hit single, “If You Had My Love,” went platinum within two weeks, making Lopez—along with Ricky Martin—one of the most influential examples of the growing Latin cultural influence in pop music. Early in 2000, Lopez was nominated for Best Dance Performance for her second hit single “Waiting for Tonight,” but lost the award to veteran diva Cher. In the summer of 2000, she starred in the science fiction-thriller The Cell, in which she plays a child psychologist helping to track a terrifying serial killer. The same year, she starred in Enough, a portrayal of spousal abuse. The popularity of the multi-talented Lopez reached new heights in early 2001, when her album J. Lo debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts, while her film, the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, shot to the top spot at the box office in its first week of release. In December 2002, she delivered another one-two punch with the release of the record This Is Me … Then and a starring role in the comedy Maid in Manhattan, which was a box office hit, if not a critical one. In 2003, Lopez co-starred with Ben Affleck in the box office bomb, Gigli. Other projects included Jersey Girl (also with Affleck) and An Unfinished Life, in which she stars as a single mom taken in by her father-in-law, played by Robert Redford. She also starred opposite Richard Gere in Shall We Dance?, a remake of the top-grossing Japanese flick. Sean “Puffy” Combs Lopez was briefly married, in 1997, to Ojani Noa, a model and actor. She then had a lengthy and widely publicized relationship with rapper Sean “Puffy” Combs. In December 1999, Combs and Lopez were allegedly involved in a shooting incident outside a New York City nightclub, in which three people were injured. Combs was later charged with gun possession and bribery, as prosecutors claimed he offered his driver, Wardel Fenderson, $50,000 to say that the loaded gun police found at the scene of the crime was Fenderson’s. Combs was acquitted of all charges, and soon confirmed that he and Lopez had separated. Cris Judd Shortly after that breakup was made public, Lopez began dating Cris Judd, a dancer who appeared in the video for her hit single “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” After much media speculation, the couple announced their engagement in August 2001 and were married in late September. Nine months later, the couple separated. In the fall of 2002, the star began dating actor Ben Affleck; they announced their engagement in November. Following rumors of the relationship’s demise, the couple broke up in early 2004. Marc Anthony Lopez subsequently married singer Marc Anthony in June 2004 at a private ceremony at her Los Angeles mansion. Returning to the big stage, Lopez found time to join forces with her husband in the 2006 biopic El Cantante. In the film, Anthony plays Hector Lavoe, the internationally acclaimed salsa singer, with Lopez alongside him as Puchi, Lavoe’s wife. In 2007, Lopez released her first Spanish language album, Como Ama una Mujer, which did well on the Latin and pop charts. She found musical success again later that same year with Brave. While the title track received some attention, Lopez’s personal life generated more media interest: Once known for her revealing fashions, Lopez started wearing loose-fitting tops, creating speculation about whether she was pregnant. Many photos of her seemed to show a “baby bump,” but the official announcement didn’t come until November 7, 2007. Lopez gave birth to twins February 22, 2008. The baby boy and girl named Maximilian and Emme, were the first children for Lopez, and the fourth and fifth for Anthony. In July 2011, Lopez and Marc Anthony announced their plans to separate. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lopez didn’t reveal the cause of the breakup, but said, “I loved myself enough to walk away.” With a new hit song out, the superstar refused to be deterred. “I am positive, determined to move forward with my life, bring up my babies, and do the best job I can as a mother, entertainer and person.” Casper Smart to A-Rod Lopez began dating Casper Smart, one of her backup dancers, in 2011. They ended their relationship in 2016. In 2017, People magazine reported that she began dating former baseball star Alex Rodriguez. The two later opened up about their blossoming romance in the December 2017 issue of Vanity Fair. “I understand him in a way that I don’t think anyone else could, and he understands me in a way that no one else could ever,” said Lopez. She continued singing A-Rod’s praises in a March 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, noting their “similar makeup,” though she wouldn’t commit to tying the knot with the slugger-turned-broadcaster just yet. “I do believe in marriage,” she said. “And I would love to grow old with somebody in a committed relationship. But I’m not forcing anything right now.” J-Lo also shared her experiences with the casting-couch behavior that sparked the #MeToo movement, recalling a moment when she was told by a director to “take off my shirt and show my boobs.” Despite her fears that she would jeopardize her career, she said, “ultimately the Bronx in me was like, ‘Nah, we’re not having it.’ ” SOURCE : BIOGRAPHY |