Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn López (born July 24, 1969) is a well-known American actress, Latin Pop singer, fashion designer, and dancer. She is married to singer Marc Anthony. She is also commonly known as J-Lo or J.Lo.

Early Years

Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodriguez and David Lopez. She has two sisters, Lynda and Leslie. Though Lopez's parents were born in the same Puerto Rican town, they did not meet until they both had moved to Castle Hill. They were strict with their girls and instilled a strong work ethic in them — no one in the family was allowed to miss a day of school, work, or church (the family was devoutly Roman Catholic). "Our parents had a strong work ethic — there wasn't really any other way," Lynda Lopez told Rolling Stone. Lopez's parents also stressed assimilation — the need to speak English, to fit into the mainstream, to succeed. Because her parents were strict, Lopez spent much of what she called "the boyfriend years" in Rolling Stone sneaking around to meet up with first-love David Cruz, whom she remained with from the time she was 16 until she was 25."I was always climbing out windows, jumping off roofs, and he was sneaking up," she said. "It was crazy." She spent her entire academic career in Catholic school, and admits she still prays regularly. She was a driven student and natural athlete in gymnastics, softball, and tennis. She went out for the track team, though she had no experience. Her father feared that, new to the sport, she would be outclassed, but Lopez rose to the challenge and ended up competing nationally. "Basically, anything she wants to do, she'll be as successful as you can at it," sister Lynda Lopez told Rolling Stone. "That's the kind of person she is." She met the famous Jorge "Chicken Wings" Lopez from Jersey City.

Jennifer Lopez financed singing and dancing lessons from the age of 16. After she dropped out of high school, Lopez pursued her talent for dance. She split her time between her job at a law office, taking dance classes, and dancing in Manhattan clubs at night. Though she did not, and still does not, drink alcohol, her parents disapproved of her working nights so far from home and feared she was associating with a potentially dangerous crowd. She moved out of the house in protest of her controlling parents and was able to shack up with her dance teacher and literally lived on the floor of the dance studio for many years until she could pay rent with occasional work as a dancer. After month's and month's of auditioning for dance gig's, she got her first spot and started out in television as a video girl for rap artist MC Hammer, also a guest spot on the American Music Awards, and was then introduced to the world as a "fly girl" dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color in 1990 only after being rejected twice. She then left the show after the second season due to confliction between she and another dancer.

Lopez's stability during that time parlayed into the earliest successes of her career. She got her big break playing a small role in a short-lived television program South Central. She later starred shortly in Second Chances and Hotel Malibu. She got more television acting parts in the made-for-TV movie Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7. She danced for Janet Jackson on tour and in Jackson's video for the popular song "That's the Way Loves Goes" in 1995. Lopez broke onto the big screen in 1995, in the drama My Family/Mi Familia and opposite Wesley Snipes in the action film Money Train. She appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's 1996 comedy Jack, and the 1997 thriller Blood and Wine.

After a nationwide search of tens of thousands of women, Jennifer was chosen to play the lead role in the film Selena. In 1998, the Golden Globes organization nominated her for the "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" for her role in Selena.

Music

Lopez's debut album, On the 6, a reference to the subway line she used to take growing up in Castle Hill, was released on June 1, 1999 and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The album featured the multi-week #1 lead single, "If You Had My Love", as well as the top ten hit "Waiting for Tonight". It also contained the Spanish language, Latin-flavored duet "No me Ames" with Marc Anthony, which was an international DAN hit, though the song was never released as a single in the US. Despite this, the video received moderate airplay on the US music channels VH1 and The Box as a novelty. The album also spawned another international hit in "Feelin' So Good", a hip-hop track which contained guest raps by Big Pun and Fat Joe; it failed to make the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. "Let's Get Loud" was also released as a single, and became a minor dance hit.

Her sophomore effort, J. Lo, was released in January 2001 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. The lead single, "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was her first UK number one single, and, along with its follow-up, "Play" (which was written by rising teen star, Christina Milian) it became a top five hit during the year the album was released. The album's next two singles, "I'm Real" and "Ain't it Funny", ended up becoming her biggest ever hits, with both spending several weeks at #1. However, to capitalize on this, Lopez asked Murder Inc. to remix both songs, completely changing the lyrics and melodies and adding raps from Ja Rule in both songs, and from Caddillac Tah to "Ain't it Funny (Remix)". The "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny" remixes were two of the biggest pop and rap hits in late 2001 and early 2002, respectively, and their more hip-hop sound gave J. Lo street credibility and brought her music to a whole new group of fans. She re-released the CD on her 32nd birthday, July 24, 2001, including Ja Rule's remixed version of "I'm Real". The remix of "I'm Real" sparked controversy when it contained a sample originally used for Mariah Carey's single 'Loverboy'. Rumors suggest this was Tommy Motolla's doing, Carey's ex-husband.

Following the successes of the remix, Lopez decided to devote an entire album to the effort; the result, J to tha L-O: The Remixes, appeared on February 5, 2002. This album, too, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, marking the first remix album in history to debut (or even reach) #1 on the chart. This time around, she got 50 Cent and Nas to write rhymes for two remixes of her next single, "I'm Gonna Be Alright", which ended up becoming another top ten hit. The album also included rarer dance and hip-hop remixes of her past singles, and a new song, a ballad called "Alive", which was included in Lopez's movie Enough.

On November 26, 2002, Lopez released her fourth studio album, This Is Me... Then, which reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned two very popular singles; the top 5 "Jenny from the Block", (sampling the track from the song "Watch Out Now" by the Beatnuts, and including raps from Jadakiss and Styles P and the multi-week #1 "All I Have" duet with LL Cool J. Another single, "I'm Glad", was also released, but only managed to go top forty, a rather low result considering Lopez's usual chart success. Another song from the album was a cover of Carly Simon's "You Belong to Me."

In 2004, Lopez once again participated in duets with Marc Anthony, this time on his albums Amar Sin Mentiras and Valio La Pena.

After a considerable amount of time away from the music scene, Lopez finally released her fifth studio album, Rebirth, on March 1, 2005. Debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 to initially decent sales success, the album quickly fell off the charts and remains to be Lopez's biggest commercial (not to mention critical) failure/flop yet. Despite this, the album has so-far spawned one hit in "Get Right", which reached the top twenty; however, it was greatly shunned by critics as an almost complete rip-off of Usher's unreleased song Ride. Even so, "Get Right" was a huge hit in the UK, becoming her second #1 single there. The second single, "Hold You Down," which featured Fat Joe, only barely made it into the top 75 in the US, peaking at #64 but the track managed a peak of #6 in the UK.

In late 2006, Jennifer Lopez is to release her 6th studio album and first Spanish Album titled "Como Ama Una Mujer", and in the Fall she is to release her sixth studio album, an English album.

Fashion

Lopez owns a clothing line called "JLO by Jennifer Lopez", whose brand has been licensed for a term by Warnaco Group ^[1]. Her line is the most successful of any artists' in history and includes many different types of clothing for young women, including jeans, tees, coats, belts, purses, sexy lingere and many other products. Furthermore, she is planning to launch a jewelry line, hats, gloves and a scarves line. She also has a perfume line out called "Glow", and she was in question before, because the name came from another patented perfume.

In October 2003, Lopez introduced a perfume called "Still". During November of the same year, she launched a new clothing line called "Sweetface".

Lopez's frequent use of fur in her clothing lines and personal wardrobe has brought the scorn of people concerned with animal rights. More than one hundred protestors from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals held a demonstration at the Los Angeles premiere of Monster-in-Law. For her part, Lopez told a radio DJ she was open to being educated on the topic-and the DJ promptly told her animals are routinely skinned alive to make trendy furs. That has not discouraged her in the least bit from wearing and marketing clothing made from fur

She has also done a photoshoot to represent the Louis Vuitton Winter 2003 campaign, in which the pictures would be seen all over the world through TV commercials, billboards, ads, newspapers, magazines and more.

Other merchandise includes a clothing and cologne line for men due for release sometime in 2006.

J.Lo has now said that she is going to start producing clothes for pets dogs, most of the customers will most likely be members of hollywood and their furry little friends.

J.Lo Inc.

Lopez owns a production company, Nuyorican Productions, in which she is expected to produce some of her upcoming movies. Some of the projects for the company include Carmen, Dirty Girls Social Club (featuring Jeffrey Wilkinson as Dirty Girl # 4) and The Hector Lavoe Project. This company was founded together with her former manager, Benny Medina, whom she filed a lawsuit against because of alleged fraud in July 2003.

Currently, the company produces the television series South Beach for UPN.

The company produced the commercially-successful movies The Cell, The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan. These three movies put together made more than $350 million at the box office worldwide.

Relationships

Lopez is notorious for her multiple relationships. Her first marriage, to waiter Ojani Noa, occured on February 22, 1997. He was later named the manager of Lopez's restaurant, Madre's. They divorced in January 1998. Her second marriage was to Chris Judd, her former backup dancer. She met Judd while filming the music video for her single "Love Don't Cost A Thing". The two were married on September 29, 2001 at a home in a Los Angeles suburb officiated by attorney Barry Hirsch. The marriage also ended in divorce in January 2003.

From 1999 to 2001, she dated singer and producer Puff Daddy [real name: Sean Combs], breaking up after a shooting incident in a New York night club. Both were arrested in connection with a nightclub shooting in December 1999. Police found them with a stolen gun. The charges against Lopez were dropped, but the charges against Combs stayed. He was eventually tried and acquitted. Their breakup was announced on February 14, 2001.

Lopez became engaged to Ben Affleck and confirmed this in October 2002, after Affleck gave her a reported $3.5 million ring. But the marriage planned for September 14, 2003 in Santa Barbara, California was called off a few days before the event. She had stated in interviews during her engagement to Affleck that, once married, she would go by the name Jennifer Affleck both privately and professionally. This never came to be as she and Affleck broke off their engagement and split for good in January 2004.

Lopez married singer Marc Anthony in a secret wedding on June 5, 2004, less than a week after his divorce was finalized from former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres. All the guests were invited to a "afternoon party", and they were never told that they were going to a wedding. Years before they married (or even became a couple), she and Marc Anthony sang a song together called "No Me Ames" which appeared on her album "On the 6."

Almost immediately after the wedding, rumors began swirling that the wedding was of the "shotgun" variety and that Lopez was pregnant. Claiming to be a devoted Roman Catholic, Lopez has said in the past that she would never have a baby without being married. Complicating the situation is Anthony's refusal to confirm his marriage to Lopez and the fact that his divorce took place in the Dominican Republic less than a week before his reported marriage to Lopez, making it potentially invalid in the United States. The couple has since confirmed their marriage, although Lopez refuses to elaborate publicly on her marriage to Anthony.

Lopez has become a stepmother to Anthony's two sons, Cristian and Ryan, with Torres and also to his daughter, Arianna, from a previous relationship. Arianna starred in Lopez's music video for "Get Right".

Her Behind

Lopez's buttocks, which are commonly described as attractively large and shapely, have frequently been the subject of comment and parody.

The size of her backside was actually one of the components in helping her win the title role in the 1997 film Selena about real-life Texan singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who also was noted for having a shapely posterior. She won the title of Best Female Body in the U.K. magazine Celebrity Bodies poll in 2001; and also First Place in FHM magazine's 2000 and 2001 polls of Sexiest Women, with all of the polls citing her shapely rear as a reason.

In a skit at the MTV Video Music Awards, Triumph, the Comic Insult Dog begged Lopez to let him sniff her rear end, claiming that it was the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest for a dog. On a Hollywood television gossip show in 2004, an interviewer asked her, "How do you feel about your butt?" She answered "I can't believe you're asking me a question like that."

Accomplishments

• Jennifer Lopez became the first Latina actress to get paid $1 million or more for one film (for her role in Selena).
• By 2003, Lopez had become the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood. She still holds the record, earning $15,000,000 for her performance in Monster-in-Law (2005).
• Lopez is the first actress and singer to have a movie (The Wedding Planner) and an album (J. Lo) at #1 in the same week.
• Lopez's perfume "Glow" made history in 2001, by being the #1 perfume in more than nine countries in less than four months.
• Lopez is the only woman who has been #1 two years in a row in FHM magazine's list of the 100 Sexiest Females in the World.
• Lopez made the 2004 Fortune list of the wealthiest entertainers under the age of 40. Her wealth is estimated at $255 million.
• Lopez made the highest debut of 2003 on the US charts with "All I Have" debuting at #25.
• Lopez has sold nearly 40 million records worldwide.
• Lopez has 5 #1 hits in the U.S. and a combined 25 weeks at #1
• In 2004, the JLO Clothing and Perfume lines combined, brought in over $US 550,000,000.
• Lopez is one of the top 10 highest paid actresses in Hollywood.

Discography

• Main article: Jennifer Lopez discography

• 1999: On The 6
• If You Had My Love
• No Me Ames
• Waiting For Tonight
• Feelin' So Good
• Let's Get Loud

• 2001: J.Lo
• Love Don't Cost A Thing
• Play
• Ain't It Funny
• I'm Real

• 2002: J To Tha L-O! The Remixes
• I'm Real Remix (Feat. Ja Rule)
• Ain't It Funny Remix (Feat. Ja Rule)
• I'm Gonna Be Alright (Feat. Nas and 50 Cent on the explicit version)
• Alive (from movie Enough)

• 2002: This Is Me... Then
• Jenny From The Block (Feat. Jadakiss, Lox & Styles)
• All I Have (Feat. LL Cool J)
• I'm Glad
• Baby I Love You (official release in UK)

• 2005: Rebirth
• Get Right
• Hold You Down (Feat. Fat Joe)

• 2006: Como Ama Una Mujer (Release in May 2006)

Awards & nominations

1995

• 1995 Independent Spirit Awards: nomination for Best Supporting Actress ("My Family")

1997

• 1997 Saturn Awards: nomination for Best Actress ("Anaconda")

1998

• 1998 Golden Globes: nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for "Selena"
• 1998 MTV Movie Awards: 2 nominations, Best Kiss - shared nomination with George Clooney ("Out Of Sight"), Best Female Performance ("Out of Sight")
• 1998 Empire Awards: nomination for Best Actress ("Out of Sight")
• 1998 Alma Awards: win for Outstanding Actress for "Selena"
• 1998 Imagen Foundation Awards: Latin Image Award "Selena"

1999

• 1999 MTV Video Music Awards: 4 nominations for ("If You Had My Love"), Female Video of the Year, Dance Video of the Year, New Artist Video of the Year, Pop Video of the Year
• 1999 American Music Awards: 2 nominations, Favorite Artist - Latin Music, Favorite New Artist - Pop / Rock
• 1999 Soul Train Award: nomination for Best R&B/Soul Album - Female ("On the 6")
• 1999 Mtv European Music Awards: nomination for Breakthrough Act
• 1999 Alma Awards: win for Outstanding Actress ("Out Of Sight")
• 1999 Ritmo Latino Awards: win for New Artist Of The Year
• 1999 Billboard Music Awards: win for Best Pop Clip ("If you had my love")
• 1999 Teen Choice Awards: win for Best Song Of The Summer ("If you had my love")
• 1999 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards: win for Most Fashionable Female Artist

2000

• 2000 MTV Video Music Award: nomination for ("Waiting For Tonight"), Best Choreography, win for Dance Video of the Year ("Waiting For Tonight")
• 2000 MTV Movie Awards: nomination for Best Female Performance ("The Cell"), win for Best Dressed in a Movie ("The Cell")
• 2000 Grammy Award: nomination for Best Dance Recording ("Waiting For Tonight")
• 2000 Saturn Awards: nomination for Best Actress ("The Cell")
• 2000 Mtv European Music Awards: nomination for Best Female Act,win for Best RnB Act
• 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards: Versace Award
• 2000 Kid's Choice Awards: win for Favourite New Music Artist
• 2000 Bambi Awards: win for Best International Pop Performance
• 2000 Alma Awards: win for Outstanding Music Video Performer ("If you had my love")

2001

• 2001 American Music Award: nomination for Favorite Female Artist - Pop or Rock
• 2001 MTV Video Music Awards: 2 nominations for ("Love Don't Cost A Thing"), Best Female Video, Best Dance Video
• 2001 People's Choice Awards: 2 nominations, Favorite Actress, Favorite Female Musical Performer
• 2001 Hastings Bad Cinema Society Stinkers Awards: nomination for Worst Actress, win for Most Annoying Fake Accent - Female ("Angel Eyes")
• 2001 Alma Awards: win for Outstanding Music Video - People's Choice Award ("Love Don't Cost A Thing")
• 2001 Alma Awards: 4 nominations, Outstanding Female Performer, Album of the Year ("J.Lo"), Outstanding Performance - Music, Variety or Comedy Special ("Jennifer Lopez in Concert: Let's Get Loud"), win for Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture ("Angel Eyes")
• 2001 Mtv European Music Awards: win for Best Female Act
• 2001 Grammy Award: nomination for Dance Recording Of The Year("Let's Get Loud")
• 2001 Kid's Choice Awards: win for Favourite Female Movie Star
• 2001 Top Of The Pops: ARTIST ON TOP OF THE WORLD
• 2001 Teen Choice Awards: Female Hottie Of The Year; win for Best Dance Track ("Play")

2002

• 2002 American Music Award: nomination for Favorite Female Artist - Hip-Hop/R&B
• 2002 MTV Video Music Awards: win for Best Hip-Hop Video ("I'm Real") - shared with Ja Rule
• 2002 NAACP Image Award: nomination for Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture ("Maid in Manhattan")
• 2002 Hastings Bad Cinema Society Stinkers Awards: nomination for Worst Actress ("Enough")
• 2002 Mtv European Music Awards: nomination for Best RnB Act, win for Best Female Act
• 2002 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards: win for Most Influential Artist
• 2002 Showest Awards: win for Female Star Of The Year
• 2002 Teen Choice Awards: win for Best RnB/Hip-Hop/Rap Single ("Ain't It Funny-remix")

2003

• 2003 American Music Award: win for Favorite Female Artist - Pop / Rock
• 2003 MTV Video Music Awards: 4 nominations for ("I'm Glad"), Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Choreography in a Video, Best Art Direction in a Video
• 2003 Mtv European Music Awards: nomination for Best RnB Act
• 2003 Groovevolt Fashion And Music Awards: 4 nominations for-Video Of The Year ("I'm Glad"),Best Album Female ("This is me...Then"),Best Collaboration for "All I Have"-feat. LL Cool J,Most Fashionable Artist
• 2003 Teen Choice Awards: win for Female Fashion Icon , win for Best RnB/Hip-Hop Artist
• 2003 NRJ Radio Awards: win for Best RnB
• 2003 Latin Billboard Music Awards: win for Latin Dance Single Of The Year ("Alive"-remix)

2004

• 2004 Golden Raspberry Awards: 2 nominations, Worst Screen Couple, Worst Supporting Actress for ("Jersey Girl")
• 2004 People's Choice Awards: nomination for Best Smile

2005

• 2005 MTV Video Music Awards: 4 nominations for ("Get Right"), Best Editing in a Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Dance Video, Best Choreography in a Video
• 2005 World Music Awards :Nominated for World`s Best-Selling Pop Female Artist

2006

• 2006 Groovevolt Fashion And Music Awards: 3 nominations for-Best Pop Song by a group or collaboration ("Get Right" -feat. Fabolous),Most Fashionable Artist (Won), Most Fashionable Music Video ("Get Right")

Selected Filmography

Upcoming Films:

• Bordertown (2006)
• El Cantante (2006)
• Bridge & Tunnel (2007)
• Reggaeton (2007)