Jennifer Lopez Essay, Research Paper

Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born July 24, 1970 in Castle Hill, Bronx. She is the daughter of Guadalupe and David Lopez. Lopez has been able overcome the Spanish stereotypes becoming the highest paid Latin woman in the world. Every time she appears on magazine covers, presents on the Oscars, makes movies and music she is breaking down barriers and showing that every woman, no matter what race, can do this.

The place where Jennifer grow up was a Spanish area, with people, food, and music Her grandparents taught her all about her roots. That is why she is proud of her ethnic background. As Jennifer grow up ?West Side Story? was an inspiration to her, she especially looked up to a character named ?Anita? played by Rita Moreno. She has always admired her.

Ever since Jennifer was a kid she knew that she wanted to be a actress, singer, and dancer. When she was 5 years old she took ballet classes at the ?Ballet Hispanico?. She Contained taking classes trough her teenage years. All trough her life she ?On The 6? train to go tryout for dance auditions.

When Jennifer was 15 years old, she meets her ten year long boyfriend David Cruz, know as ?The best looking guy in the neighborhood?. Her parents did not approve of the relationship. Eventually they had outgrown the relationship, because David?s and her life were headed in a different direction, she also got lost in the Hollywood entertainment culture.

Jennifer held multiple jobs, going to school during the day, dancing at night and kept a job, she was not home often. She even dropped out of college, because she knew she wanted to pursue dancing . At one point she and her mom had big fallout. When she was 18 years old she got kicked out of her house. She got an apartment at ?Hell?s Kitchen?, the same neighborhood that Jennifer?s other role model ?Lisa Lisa? grow up in.

In 1990 Lopez gets her first big break as a fly girl in ?In Living Color?, she beat more then 100,000 other girls for the part. She also takes acting classes and begins to appear in music video?s like Janet Jackson?s ?That?s The Way Love Goes?. She went on tour with Janet and saw the pop culture that eventfully she would lead. She appears in sit-coms that did not really last like ?Hotel Malibu? and ?Nurses On The Line?.

In 1994 FOX cancels the show ?In Living Color?. Jennifer is unemployed and desperately looking for a job. Gregory Nava is looking for a new face when he cast?s Jennifer in the movie ?Mi Familia?(My Family) . She also does her own stuns in the movie, like one where she has to go in a river with her child that drowns. She also got a mayor Hollywood film in the 1996 action movie ?Money Train? , with Woody Harrison and Wesley Snipes. Although the movie is a box office hit, it was given bad reviews. She also got another big part in ?Blood and Wine? with Jack Nickelson.

Jennifer had not been dating since broke up with David Cruz, but in 1995 during the filming of Blood and Wine, she falls in love with ?Ojani Noe? a Cuban model. He left from Cuba on a boat 3 years earlier.

In 1996 after Selena?s death, they were going to make a movie about her. Gregory Nava was chosen to direct and he again gave Jennifer a big break by casting her for part of Selena. ?Selena? was a big opportunity and Jennifer becomes a Hollywood superstar. She becomes the highest paid Latin getting 1 million dollars for the part. She also is nominated for a Golden Glove for Best Actress.

At the wrap party of Selena, Ojani Noe proposed to her in front of over a 100 people, presenting her with a large cut diamond ring . She accepted and six months later they get married in her friends backyard in Miami. Only a year later they divorce because of unknown reasons.

After that she stars in the movie ?Anaconda?, where she battles a 40-ft long snake. Getting paid 2.8 million dollars although she did ask for 5.3 million. The film grosses over 60 million dollars and is one of Jennifer?s biggest film to date. The film stars ?Ice Cube? and John Voight.

After Jennifer did ?Selena? she was inspired to follow her childhood dream of being a singer. She sings a deal with many top producers including rap mogul ?Sean ?Puffy? Combs. She releases her first single ?If You Had My Love? which goes straight to number 1 and stays there for six weeks. She also releases her album ?On The 6? which also goes to number one.

Shortly after the album is finished she starts dating Sean ?Puffy? Combs. ?I love you and that?s all we need to know? are the words that she writes to him in the album dedication. But in December 29,1999 Puffy is involved in a club shooting and they are taken to jail. Jennifer is released after only 12 hours, but Puffy faced trail and up 15 years in jail.

The couple seems to be loving each other more trough this controversy, appearing on the Grammy’s were J.Lo exposes every part of her body that she could expose on National TV. Some people accuse her of dressing that way to take attention out of the fact of Puff?s club shooting. Jennifer sticks to her story that she did not know what all the fuss was about, ?I did not know the dress would become a sensation? she said. Lopez has kept the dress and is planning to donate it to charity some day.

On August 18, 2000, Lopez?s movie ?The Cell? is released, where she plays a psychiatrist who enters the mind of a comatose serial killer. The movie are both critical and box office hits. She asks for 7 million dollars, but settles for 5 million. She wins a BLOCKBUSTER? Award for ?Favorite Actress In A Science Fiction Movie?.

After ?The Cell? Jennifer record her next album ?J.Lo?(a fan nickname) and she releases her hit single, ?Love Don?t Cost A Thing?. While she was recording her album she film?s a Romantic Comedy, ?The Wedding Planner? with Mathew Mc Chouenghy. Where she plays a wedding planner that falls in love with the groom to be. She gets 9 million dollars for the part.

Her film and movie were due to come out the same week, ?The Wedding Planner? quickly goes to number one. Tree days later her album ?J.Lo? was released that also went to number one. She made history, by becoming the only woman in the world to have both the number one movie and album on the same week.

In the mess of all of this, Puffy stands trial. He and Lopez decided to break up shortly after he is acquitted of all charges. The reasons for there breakup is still unconfirmed. A reporter asked Lopez what is one thing that she has learned from all of this ?That from know on I have to keep my relationship private?. On 1 month after, their breakup, Lopez goes to the OSCARS? with Chris Judd, a backup dancer for her video ?Love Don?t Cost A Thing?. The two are rumored to be romantically involved.

The fame of Jennifer Lopez is amazing, that is why perhaps inedibility, her talents mix with her looks. Lopez throughout the years has been a target of comedians, like Chris Rock, that joke on her wide-rear. She has also been rumored to have insured her body with a 1 billion dollar policy (823 million per pound). She has also been accused of acting like a ?Diva? demanding things often. ?I don’t ask for anything I don’t need. I think people like to create certain things in the press because it sells.?

After all her successes, she has not forgotten her Latin Roots. She is planning to do a biotic on Mexican painter Frieda Kahlo, and she is planning to do a Spanish version of the opera ?Carmen?. Those who know her said that she will be in the spotlight for as long as she wants. She has come a long way from the Bronx, making a lot of friends and money.

By: Frank M.