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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 nicknamed 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" 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 acknowledges that she still prays regularly. She was a driven student and natural athlete. 

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."

Jennifer Lopez financed singing and dancing lessons from the age of 16. After she dropped out of college after one semester, 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 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 months and months of auditioning for dance gigs, 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. Her first regular high profile gig was as a "fly girl" dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color in 1990 after being twice rejected. She then left the show after the second season due to friction with another dancer.

Lopez's stability during that time parlayed into the earliest successes of her career. She had a small role in a short-lived television program South Central. She also found television work in Second Chances and Hotel Malibu and 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 Love Goes in 1993. 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.

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