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Jennifer Lopez - Biography |
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Born in the Bronx to a computer
specialist and a kindergarten teacher from Puerto Rico, Jennifer Lopez was
provided with singing and dancing lessons from the age of five, and
embarked on her first tour (around New York with her dance class) at the
age of seven. Her professional career started in her teens with roles in
musicals and an appearance in the film My Little Girl (1986); the focus of
her interest at the time, however, was on dance. A brief period studying
law took place after graduation from high school, but this was abandoned
in favor of her dance studies, and a job as a dancer for the television
series In Living Color was landed in 1990.
Work as part of a team of dancers proved to be far from satisfying, and
after two years Lopez left Color, taking occasional work in music videos
before moving up to secondary parts on various short-lived TV dramas. A
shift from small- to large-screen work was made through a supporting role
in the film Mi Familia (1995), which was quickly followed up by more
prominent roles in higher profile films: lame buddy movie Money Train
(1995), Francis Ford Coppola directed Jack (1996), and Jack Nicholson
vehicle Blood and Wine (1996). The real breakthrough came in 1997 with her
starring role as the doomed Tejano singer in the biopic Selena; no doubt,
some of the fanatacism surrounding the real Selena rubbed off on Lopez,
and the start of the overdriven hype surrounding her later career (and the
inevitable tabloid scrutiny that accompanies such hype) can be traced to
this point.
Her film work continued to gain momentum throughout the remainder of the
1990s, and the success of features like Out of Sight (1998) ushered the
actress into the perpetually bum-kissed ranks of the Hollywood elite. A
lucrative contract as a spokemodel for the cosmetic corporation L'Oreal
was soon to follow. More relevant to her future, her success had aroused
the unwholsome interest of Sony bigwig Tommy Mottola: by 1999 her debut
release On the 6 was on the shelves. The album quickly earned
multi-platinum status and its associated singles claimed number one
positions on both the pop and Latin charts.
With this new peak being reached in her professional life, her personal
life was now turned into corporate news 'infotainment' fodder. A
tumultuous relationship with Sean Puff Daddy Combs was given extensive
media airtime, and the couple obligingly provided constant fights,
fall-outs and run-ins-with-the-law so that sources wouldn't have to resort
to unsavory measures such as making things up (it must be awful for them
when they have to do that). Despite the negative press, Lopez's film
career did not suffer (starring roles in The Cell, 2000; The Wedding
Planner, 2001; and Angel Eyes, 2001), and neither did her recording career
(multi-platinum #1 albums J.Lo (2001) and This Is Me... Then (2002).
Further into the 2000s, little changed in the overall trajectory of
Lopez's popularity. Her romantic life continued to command as much
attention as ever, her albums continued to sell in ludicrous amounts, and
her films (with the exception of the especially crappy Gigli, released in
2003 and co-starring soon-to-be former
boyfriend/almost-maybe-just-about-almost-again-not husband Ben Affleck)
continued to fill theater seats. In addition to her performing work, Lopez
undertook numerous business ventures including her own production company,
a clothing line, and a signature series of perfumes. |
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Jennifer Lopez - Personal Quotes |
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"I thought she'd offer me some sympathy. Instead, she said, 'Don't
you ever call me crying again! You wanted to be in this business, so
you better toughen up!' And I did." - to Redbook magazine August
1999, on the lesson in tough love she got from her mother.
"You laugh it off, you get upset for a little while, you're human
and you let it go." - on the "outrageous" tabloid stories she hears
about herself, at a press conference to discuss her movie, The Cell
(2000) in August 2000
"This film certainly is not meant for the girls who sing along with
my songs" (about The Cell (2000))
"I was always a singer and a dancer, and I always wanted to be an
actress. For me, it's all just one thing."
"Nail Polish" (upon being asked what she got on her SAT's)
"When I'm not prepared, which is almost never." -when asked if she
ever feels insecure
"I don't really check out other people's butts."
"I'm not mad about my ankles - they're too skinny."
"We've all had a love of our life and failed love affairs. I'm just
the biggest romantic - it's really sad. I tell people that, but
nobody listens."
"I've always had a huge fear of dying or becoming ill. The thing I'm
most afraid of, though, is being alone, which I think a lot of
performers fear. It's why we seek the limelight - so we're not
alone, were adored. Were loved, so people want to be around us. The
fear of being alone drives my life."
In every movie they want you to look as thin as you can look. In
Selena, it was the other way around: "How can we shoot her butt so
it looks like Selena's?"
I only do what my gut tells me to. I think it's smart to listen to
other people's advice, but at the end of the day, you're the only
one who can tell you what's right for you.
If you focus on the money, you're not going to get anywhere. You can
want to be successful, but at the end of the day, if money is your
motivation, if that's how shallow your outlook is on life, then
you're going to be such an empty person. Because there's nothing
driving you from the inside -- there's no passion...
My mom always told me that if you work hard, you can achieve
anything. And it's true. It's one of the truest things ever.
I think crossroads come at many times during your life. Up to this
point, I've had several. You get to a certain point in your life and
you're like, Am I supposed to be doing this? And it's usually in the
face of some failure - something that didn't work out the way you
wanted it to. And you're faced with a decision: Do I keep trying to
do this or do I give up?
"Beauty is only skin deep. I think what's really important is
finding a balance of mind, body and spirit. Somebody said to me not
too long ago, 'Until you're twenty, you have the face you are born
with, and after that you have the face you deserve', and I really
loved that - the idea that you wear who you are on your face."
"If you kiss on the first date and it's not right, then there will
be no second date. Sometimes it's better to hold out and not kiss
for a long time. I am a strong believer in kissing being very
intimate, and the minute you kiss, the floodgates open for
everything else."
"I was in third grade when Rapper's Delight changed my life. But
when I came home, my mother would be listening to Celia Cruz, Tito
Puente, Diana Ross. I want to include all those elements in my
music."
"I didn't expect it to happen like this, wrapping one film and
flying out to do a new one the next day. But I'm fresh enough and
ambitious enough to stay up all night for the sake of a job. I'm not
gonna take it easy. I want to do so much more when I'm getting these
great opportunities."
"I'm trying to get the focus back on what I do as an artist, not
what I do at home."
"It was all a bit mad. For a girl like me, wearing gorgeous clothes
and having all this attention was amazing. It was like being a
princess. But it didn't take me long to realise that that sort of
fame can be scary. The more the circus builds up around you, the
more you start to lose all those intentions that get you there in
the first place. I was always about being a good performer and
working hard, doing movies, making music, but that started to get
lost in all that crazy stuff."
"I throw myself into love because I believe in it, but when things
don't work you have to take responsibility. You all know things have
gone wrong for me. Everybody has laughed, everybody has had a knock
at me. It hurts, it always does. There have been times when I didn't
want to be me any more. From the outside looking in, it may have
appeared that it was a glamorous exciting life, but I would have
swapped places with anybody. It really did start to get to me and
the easy thing to do would be to walk away."
"I'm not J.Lo, she's not a real person. She was just a bit of fun
that got really crazy. I've never been anyone but Jennifer. I was
going to call the album Call Me Jennifer because that would be my
way of saying goodbye to the whole J.Lo thing. But Rebirth is
perfect because it means so much more."
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Jennifer Lopez - Filmography |
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The Governess (2008)
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (2009)
Cantante, El (2006/I) .... Puchi
Bordertown (2006) .... Lauren Adrian
An Unfinished Life (2005) .... Jean Gilkyson
... aka Ungezähmtes Leben, Ein (Germany)
Monster-in-Law (2005) .... Charlie
... aka Schwiegermonster, Das (Germany)
Shall We Dance (2004) .... Paulina
... aka Shall We Dance? (USA: poster title)
Jersey Girl (2004) .... Gertrude Steiney
Selena: Greatest Hits (2003) (V) .... Selena (segment "Siempre Hace
Frio")
Gigli (2003) .... Ricki
Maid in Manhattan (2002) .... Marisa Ventura
... aka Made in New York (USA: poster title)
Enough (2002/I) .... Slim Hiller
Angel Eyes (2001) .... Sharon Pogue
... aka Ojos de ángel (USA: Spanish title)
The Wedding Planner (2001) .... Mary Fiore
... aka Wedding Planner - verliebt, verlobt, verplant (Germany)
The Cell (2000) .... Catherine Deane
Antz (1998) (voice) .... Azteca
Out of Sight (1998) .... Karen Sisco
U Turn (1997) .... Grace McKenna
... aka U Turn - Ici commence l'enfer (France)
Anaconda (1997) .... Terri Flores
... aka Anaconda (Peru)
Selena (1997) .... Selena Quintanilla-Pérez
Blood and Wine (1996) .... Gabriela 'Gabby'
... aka Blood & Wine (video box title)
Jack (1996) .... Miss Marquez
Money Train (1995) .... Grace Santiago
My Family (1995) .... Maria Sanchez, in the '20s
... aka Cafe con leche
... aka East L.A. (UK: video title)
... aka My Family, Mi Familia
"Second Chances" .... Melinda Lopez (6 episodes, 1993-1994)
- Living in Between (1994) TV Episode .... Melinda Lopez
- Swimming Through Mud (1994) TV Episode .... Melinda Lopez
- I Can't Get No Satisfaxion (1993) TV Episode .... Melinda Lopez
- Coincidence or Conspiracy (1993) TV Episode .... Melinda Lopez
- Save the Last Dance for Me (1993) TV Episode .... Melinda Lopez
(1 more)
"Hotel Malibu" .... Melinda Lopez (1 episode, 1994)
- The Bed, the Bribe and the Body (1994) TV Episode .... Melinda
Lopez
"South Central" .... Cashier (1 episode, 1994)
- Co-op (1994) TV Episode .... Cashier
"In Living Color" .... Fly Girl / ... (16 episodes, 1991-1994)
- George Hamilton Luggage (1994) TV Episode .... Fly Girl
- The Ugly Woman Meets the Ugly Man (1994) TV Episode .... Fly Girl
- Episode #5.3 (1993) TV Episode .... Fly Girl
- Episode #4.15 (1993) TV Episode .... Fly Girl
- Episode #4.16 (1993) TV Episode .... Fly Girl
(11 more)
Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7 (1993) (TV) .... Rosie
Romero
... aka Lost in the Wild (USA: DVD title)
My Little Girl (1987) .... Myra |
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Jennifer Lopez - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Jennifer Lopez
YouTube: Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez at Celebs, Inc.
Jennifer Lopez at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
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