Jennifer Lopez (born July 24, 1969, Bronx, New York, U.S.) built a massively successful triple-threat career as an actress, dancer, and musician to become a global superstar known to fans as simply “J.Lo.” She began appearing in films in the late 1980s and quickly became one of the highest-paid Latina actresses in the history of Hollywood. She later found crossover success in the music industry with a series of pop albums, garnering on the way both admiration and notoriety for her multiple entrepreneurial projects and her romances with other big names in the entertainment industry.
Childhood and early career
As she famously declared in her 2002 hit song “Jenny from the Block,” Lopez comes from humble roots, having been born in the Bronx into a family of Puerto Rican descent. Her mother, Guadalupe (“Lupe”) Lopez (née Rodriguez) was a teacher, and her father, David Lopez, was a computer specialist. The middle child of three daughters, Jennifer Lopez shared a bed growing up with her elder sister, Leslie Ann, and younger sister, Lynda, in the family’s modest-sized home. Lopez took dance lessons throughout her childhood and from an early age had aspirations of fame. She performed internationally in stage musicals, and at age 16 she made her film debut with a small role in My Little Girl (1986), a drama about a wealthy socialite (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) who takes a job in a center for troubled teen girls. Lopez’s television break came in 1990 when she was cast as one of the “Fly Girls,” hip-hop dancers who appeared on the comedy show In Living Color. After she left the show, she turned her focus to acting, first in several short-lived television series and then in movie roles.
Selena and film stardom
Film success came quickly, and by the mid-1990s Lopez was appearing with such notable actors as Robin Williams (Jack, 1996) and Jack Nicholson (Blood and Wine, 1997). Lopez still remained somewhat on the periphery of the public vision, however, until she landed the lead role in Selena (1997), a biopic of the murdered Tejano singer. Lopez’s immersive performance as Selena earned her rave reviews and a Golden Globe nomination. She went on to star in a number of thrillers and action dramas, including Anaconda (1997), U Turn (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and The Cell (2000), and she gained widespread praise for The Wedding Planner (2001), her successful first attempt at romantic comedy. That release was quickly followed by the romantic drama Angel Eyes. These films paired her with many of the most bankable and respected leading actors of the 1990s and early 2000s, including George Clooney, Sean Penn, and Matthew McConaughey.
In 1999 Lopez added pop artist to her list of titles with the release of her debut album, On the 6. To the surprise of many critics (but not to her devoted fans), the album quickly went platinum and subsequently sold more than eight million copies worldwide. It spawned several hits, including the Latin-tinged “Let’s Get Loud” and the club banger “Waiting for Tonight.” Her second album, J.Lo (2001), sold more than 270,000 copies in its first week. As her career kicked into high gear, Lopez was involved in a series of high-profile relationships—first with rapper and producer Sean (“Puff Daddy”) Combs (later known as Diddy) and later with actor Ben Affleck—that subjected her to heavy scrutiny by the entertainment media. Her relationship with Affleck was immortalized in Lopez’s third album, This Is Me…Then (2002), which includes the single “Dear Ben” as well as “Jenny from the Block.” The latter song’s music video notoriously shows Lopez and Affleck flaunting their romance on a private yacht. In 2003 she starred opposite Affleck in Gigli, which was widely panned by critics, and a number of her subsequent films were box-office disappointments. The couple split up in 2004. Lopez also pursued numerous business projects, including launching a fashion brand and fragrance and skin care lines.
In 2004 Lopez married singer Marc Anthony, and the couple appeared in El Cantante (2006), a biopic of salsa musician Hector Lavoe. Her later albums include Rebirth (2005); the Spanish-language Como ama una mujer (2007), which reached the number one spot on Billboard’s Latin album chart; Brave (2007); Love? (2011), which features the up-tempo hit “On the Floor”; and A.K.A. (2014).
In february 2008 Lopez gave birth to twins, her first children and Anthony’s fourth and fifth. She returned to the big screen in The Back-up Plan (2010), a romantic comedy in which she starred as a single woman who finds Mr. Right after becoming pregnant through artificial insemination. Lopez later served (2011–12, 2014–16) as a judge on the television talent show American Idol. Although she and Anthony separated in 2011 (divorced 2014), they worked together as producers and hosts of the TV program ¡Q’Viva!: The Chosen (2012), a talent competition for Latin American performers. Lopez subsequently appeared in What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012), an ensemble comedy about parenting. In the thrillers Parker (2013) and The Boy Next Door (2015), she played, respectively, a divorced businesswoman who takes part in a heist and a woman who is drawn into a romance with a teenager who then begins stalking her. Lopez also provided voices for the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Home (2015), and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
Lopez assumed the starring role in the law-enforcement procedural Shades of Blue (2016–18), portraying a conflicted police officer. In Second Act (2018) she took a comedic turn as a woman who lands a covetable executive position at a Manhattan cosmetics firm after her friends embellish her résumé. Lopez then joined a largely female cast in Hustlers (2019), a comedy drama about strippers who scheme against their wealthy clients. The film received positive reviews, and Lopez earned a Golden Globe nomination for a performance as the street-smart yet warmhearted single mother Ramona. In 2020 Lopez and Colombian singer and musician Shakira performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. The following year Lopez sang “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” at the U.S. presidential inauguration of Joe Biden. At the end of her performance, she sang the last lines of the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish, an off-scripted moment that drew praise for its gesture of inclusion toward the country’s Spanish-speaking Latino and immigrant communities
