| Biography |
 Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1970. Her parents came to New York from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She is the middle of three sisters. At the age of 7, young Jennifer went on her first tour - around New York City with her dance class.At the age of 16 Jennifer got a little break with a bit part in the film ''My Little Girl'' (starring Mary Stuart Masterson). But Jennifer's first love was still dance, and when she read about a scholarship to a dance school in Manhattan, she went down and grabbed the opportunity. At this time she was taking a full time course load at Baruch, working in a law office and taking her dance classes. Eventually this would lead to a falling out with her mother, who didn't want Jennifer to pursue dance as a career. When her mother gave her the ever popular ''you live by my rules as long as you live under my roof'' speech Jennifer took that as her cue to break out on her own. Not having anywhere else to live, she took up residence in the building where she took her dance classes. A year and a half of auditioning with no success brought Jennifer to the verge of a breakdown. But salvation would come in the form of a tour that sent her dancing across Japan. Before this, she had auditioned to be a ''Fly Girl'' for the show ''In Living Color'' but she had been turned down. Upon returning from Japan, she received a call from ''In Living Color'' asking her to audition again. This time she made the cut and it was off to Hollywood. She didn't really enjoy her time on ''In Living Color'', as she longed for an acting career that would put her in the spotlight. Her first television job as an actress, on the Fox series ''South Central'' came her way because the producer of the show was married to one of the other fly girls, and he took notice of Jennifer during a special Fox aired about the Fly Girls. ''South Central'' only survived one season, but she quickly resurfaced on television screens appearing as ''Melinda Lopez'' first in the short lived ''Second Chances'' series, then ''Hotel Malibu.'' In 1995 she jumped onto the big screen in her first major role, opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in ''Money Train.'' She would go on to work opposite such talents as Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson, but it was her work with Gregory Nava, who directed her in ''My Family, Mi Familia'' that would lead her to the role that would make her a star. After an extensive nationwide search, Jennifer was chosen to play Selena Quintanilla Perez, in the official biopic of the life of the fallen Tejano star. Taking part in the production of ''Selena'' would impact Jennifer's life in many ways. On the personal side, Jennifer's fianc, Ojani Noa, proposed to her at the wrap party for Selena. The couple had met in Miami while Jennifer was filming ''Blood And Wine'' with Jack Nicholson. Ojani, a Cuban immigrant, was an aspiring model working as a waiter at Gloria Estefan's restaurant, Larios On The Beach. They were married in Miami on February 22, 1997, after knowing each other less than a year. Jennifer's sudden rise to fame with the release of ''Selena'' the following month would put an excessive strain on the marriage, and the couple filed for divorce just a little over a year after they were married. After news of the divorce made headlines, the gossip papers quickly had her romantically linked to the likes of rap impresario Sean ''Puffy'' Combs, Sony Music President Tommy Mottola and Salsa singer Marc Anthony. Jennifer herself remains tightlipped - and rightfully so - on the subject of her personal life (although she has recently admitted that she is in fact having a relationship with Puffy). Back on the professional level, her role as Karen Sisco in 1998's ''Out Of Sight'', opposite George Clooney, has brought her into the major leagues, making her the highest paying Latina actress in history. Playing Selena also brought back Jennifer's interests in being the ''all around'' entertainer, and she decided to record a demo of her singing, completely in Spanish. After a bidding war among a number of record companies, Jennifer was signed to Sony Music's Work Group label. Her first CD, a pop album with a Latin flavor (although mostly in English) was released June 1, 1999. Working with the likes of Emilio Estefan, Rodney Jerkins and Sean ''Puffy'' Combs, the music world is buzzing that Jennifer is ''the next Gloria Estefan'' set to become the mainstream Latin crossover star Selena herself surely would have been, had she been given the chance. That early prediction seems accurate, as her first single, ''If You Had My Love'' shot to 1 on the Billboard chart, and has been certified platinum (one million sales). |
| Jennifer Lopez Relationships |
Media attention has focused on her personal life. She has had high-profile relationships with Ojani Noa, Cris Judd, Sean Combs, Ben Affleck, and Marc Anthony. Starting 1984, when Lopez was 15 and in High school, she started dating David Cruz. They split in 1994, and still enjoys a close relationship with him ten years after they split, Lopez said in 2004: "He's a friend and he probably knows me better than anyone else". Lopez's first marriage was to Cuban-born Ojani Noa on February 22, 1997. Lopez met Noa while he worked as a waiter at a Miami restaurant. They divorced in January 1998. Lopez later employed Noa as the manager of her Pasadena restaurant Madre's in April 2002, but he was fired in October 2002. After Noa sued Lopez over the termination, they drew up a confidentiality agreement. In April 2006, Lopez sued to prevent her ex-husband, Noa, from publishing a book containing personal details about their short marriage, contending it violated their confidentiality agreement.[ In August 2007, a court-appointed arbitrator issued a permanent injunction forbidding Ojani Noa from "criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging" Jennifer Lopez. She was awarded $545,000 in compensatory damages, which included nearly $300,000 in legal fees and almost $48,000 in arbitration costs. Noa was also ordered to hand over all copies of materials related to the book to Lopez or her attorney. Lopez next had a two-and-a-half-year relationship with hip-hop mogul Sean Combs. On December 27, 1999, Lopez and Combs were at Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub, when gunfire erupted between Combs' entourage and another group. Lopez and Combs were being driven away from the scene when they were chased and stopped by the police.[ A gun was found in the front seat of their vehicle. Combs was charged with felony gun possession. Stress over Combs' trial and pursuit by the press multiplied their problems, and Lopez terminated her involvement with Combs one year later. Durng a related civil suit in 2008, the plaintiff's lawyer said Lopez had “nothing to contribute to the case”. Her second marriage was to her former backup dancer, Cris Judd. 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. Their marriage effectively ended in June 2002, when Lopez began publicly dating Ben Affleck.[ They were officially divorced in January 2003. Following her divorce, Lopez began dating actor Ben Affleck. Her relationship with actor Affleck was highly publicized, with the media dubbing the couple "Bennifer." Lopez announced her engagement to Affleck in November 2002, after Affleck gave her a six-carat pink diamond ring worth a reported $1.2 million. Lopez promised interviewers that Affleck was indeed "the one", and that they would soon have a family. The marriage, planned for September 14, 2003 in Santa Barbara, California, was called off just hours before the event. Their relationship was parodied on the South Park episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", which aired on April 16, 2003. Affleck has since married actress Jennifer Garner on July 1, 2005 and they have 2 daughters, Violet, born on December 1, 2005 and Seraphina, born on January 6, 2009. In 2003 Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck acted together in the film "Gigli" and in the 2004 film "Jersey Girl". Lopez and Marc Anthony at the 2006 Time 100 gala event. Shortly after her break-up with Affleck, Lopez was seen with singer Marc Anthony, a longtime friend with whom she had worked in music videos. They had briefly dated in the late 1990s, before his first marriage and her second. Lopez and Anthony were recording a duet together in early 2004, for Lopez's then-upcoming film Shall We Dance?. In October 2003, Anthony became separated, for the second time, from his first wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, with whom he has two children. Torres filed for divorce three months later. Lopez and Anthony married in a quiet home wedding on June 5, 2004, four days after his divorce from Torres was final. Their ceremony was private and unpublicized. In attendance were an estimated forty close relatives and friends. On the morning of the wedding, however, the media was tipped off and circled her backyard in helicopters. Photographs, alerting the rest of the world, soon followed. Reports fueled rumors that Lopez was pregnant but this was not the case. Lopez's guests had been invited to an "afternoon party" at Lopez's house and had not been made aware that they were actually going to her wedding. The couple had planned not to publicize their marriage early on, allowing more privacy and time together in an otherwise intrusive environment. Days after the wedding, Anthony refused to comment on their marriage during interviews which were scheduled earlier to promote a new album "Amar Sin Mentiras" (To Love Without Lies).[ In February 2005, Lopez confirmed the marriage, and added that "everyone knows. It's not a secret". A few months later, Anthony's daughter, Ariana, appeared at the end of Lopez's music video "Get Right" as her little sister. Regarding his marriage and family life, Anthony maintains a private and sometimes defensive stance with the media, which has influenced Lopez to set some boundaries with interviewers. On December 29, 2008, Daily News reported that Lopez and Anthony planned to announce their divorce on Valentine's Day. This allegation was put to rest by her publicist stating that "There is no merit to the article" |
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