Actress and pop singer. Born
July 24, 1970, in the Bronx, New York. Lopez began her career
as a dancer, appearing in stage musicals and various music
videos. In 1990, she won a national competition and earned
a spot dancing on the popular Fox comedy television series,
“In Living Color,” as one of the “Fly Girls.”
A series of small acting jobs followed, including parts in
two more series and a TV movie, Nurses on the Line: The Crash
of Flight 7, in 1993. 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 crazed
fan in 1995. She earned widespread praise for her performance,
including a Golden Globe nomination, and became the highest-paid
Latina actress in history with her paycheck of $1 million.
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.
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 popularity of the multi-talented
Lopez reached new heights in early 2001, as her new album,
J. Lo debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts, while her new film,
the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, shot to the top spot
at the box office in its first week of release.
Lopez was briefly married,
in 1997, to Ojani Noa, a model and actor. She is currently
dating rap mogul 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. His trial,
at which Lopez has publicly stated she will agree to testify,
begins in late January 2001. If convicted, Combs faces a possible
15 years in prison. After repeatedly denying widespread rumors
of a breakup, Combs confirmed in mid-February that he and
Lopez had separated.
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