Born 24 July, 1969 in the Bronx, New York Jennifer Lopez, also known as J. Lo, is an entertainment super force: actress, author, fashion designer, dancer, producer and singer. 

She became interested in the entertainment business following a minor role in the 1986 film My Little Girl, starring James Earl Jones and Geraldine Page in her final role. Her Puerto Rican father and mother tried to dissuade her as they believed it was an unrealistic career path for an Hispanic but parents are not always right!

In 1990 at the age of 21, she won a national competition and earned a spot dancing on the popular Fox comedy television series In Living Colour, as one of the “Fly Girls.” A series of small acting jobs followed including parts in two more series and a TV movie called Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7, in 1993. Lopez’s first feature film was the critically acclaimed Mi Familia, (My Family) in 1995. She also appeared in Money Train (1995), opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson and in Jack (1996), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Robin Williams.

Lopez’s first big break came in 1997 when she was chosen to play the title role in Selena, a biopic of the Tejano pop singer, songwriter, spokesperson and fashion designer, Selena Quintillana Perez, who was killed by the founder of the Selena fan club Yolanda Saldivar I n 1995. Lopez earned widespread praise for her performance including a Golden Globe nomination and became the highest paid actress in history with her pay check of $1 million. That same year, Lopez starred in the forgettable Anaconda and in Blood and Wine, opposite Jack Nicholson. Her role as federal marshal Karen Sisco in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, a film based on the Elmore Leonard novel and co-starring George Clooney, further enhanced her image as a bankable movie star.

Lopez’s musical career also began to take off as she released her debut Latin pop album, On the 6, in June 1999. The album, fuelled by the success of her hit single “If You Had My Love,” went platinum within two weeks making Lopez, along with Ricky Martin, one of the most influential examples of the growing Latin cultural influence in pop music.

Early in 2000, Lopez was nominated for Best Dance Performance for her second hit single Waiting for Tonight but lost the award to veteran diva, Cher. In the summer of 2000, she starred in the science fiction thriller The Cell, in which she played a child psychologist helping to track a terrifying serial killer. The same year she starred in Enough, a portrayal of spousal abuse.

The popularity of the multi-talented Lopez reached new heights in early 2001 when her album ‘J. Lo’ debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts whilst her film, the romantic comedy, The Wedding Planner, shot to the top spot at the box office in its first week of release. In December 2002, she performed another one-two punch with the release of the record, This Is Me ... Then and a starring role in the comedy, Maid in Manhattan, which was a box office hit, if not a critical one. In 2003, she co-starred with Ben Affleck in the box office bomb, Gigli. Other projects included Jersey Girl (also with Affleck) and An Unfinished Life in which she played a single mum taken in by her father-in-law, played by Robert Redford. She also starred opposite Richard Gere in Shall We Dance? Which was a remake of the top-grossing Japanese film.

Lopez’s personal life has often made the headlines.

She was briefly married in 1997 to Ojani Noa, a model and actor. She then had a lengthy and widely publicised relationship with rapper Sean “Puffy” Combs. In December 1999, Combs and Lopez were allegedly involved in a shooting incident outside a New York City nightclub in which three people were injured. Combs was later charged with gun possession and bribery as prosecutors claimed he offered his driver, Wardel Fenderson, $50,000 to say that the loaded gun police found at the scene of the crime was Fenderson’s. He was acquitted of all charges but Combs confirmed in mid-February that he and Lopez had separated.

Shortly after her breakup from Combs was made public, Lopez began dating Cris Judd, a dancer who appeared in the video for her hit single Love Don’t Cost a Thing. After much media speculation, the couple announced their engagement in August 2001. They were married in late September. Nine months later the couple separated. In the fall of 2002, the star began dating actor Ben Affleck; they announced their engagement in November. Following rumours of the relationship’s demise, the couple broke up in early 2004. Lopez subsequently married singer Marc Anthony in June 2004 at a private ceremony at her Los Angeles mansion.

Returning to the big stage, Lopez found time to join forces with her husband in 2006; she acted alongside him in the film El Cantante. In the film, Anthony played Hector Lavoe, the internationally acclaimed salsa singer. True to life, Lopez played Puchi, Lavoe’s wife.

In 2007, Lopez released her first Spanish language album, Como Ama una Mujer, which did well on the Latin and pop charts. She found musical success again later that same year with Brave. While the title track has received some attention, Lopez’s personal life generated more media interest. Once known for her revealing fashions, Lopez started wearing loose-fitting tops, creating speculation about whether she was pregnant. Many photos of her seemed to show a “baby bump” but the official announcement didn’t come until 7 November, 2007. Lopez gave birth to twins on February 22, 2008. The baby boy and girl, Max and Emme, were the first children for Lopez and the fourth and fifth for her husband.

In 2010, despite being busy with her family and both music and acting projects, Lopez decided to enter into a new phase in her career: she announced her plans to replace Ellen DeGeneres as the new female judge on the tenth season of American Idol, which had also just welcomed Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler as part of its celebrity judge panel.

Lopez returned to the hit reality TV show for its eleventh season earning a reported $20 million, almost double what she had made when she first signed on. Her career again skyrocketed, however, her personal life was troubled. In July 2011, Lopez and Marc Anthony announced their plans to separate. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lopez didn’t reveal the cause of the breakup but said, “I loved myself enough to walk away.” With a new hit song out, the superstar refused to be deterred. “I am positive, determined to move forward with my life, bring up my babies and do the best job I can as a mother, entertainer and person.”

In 2012, Lopez announced that she would be leaving American Idol. “I honestly feel like the time has come when I have to get back to doing the other things that I do, that I put ... on hold because I love Idol so much,” Lopez told Ryan Seacrest on his morning radio show KIIS-FM. Her departure from the show proved short-lived, however. Lopez returned to the show for its thirteenth season in 2014. 

In addition to her work on American Idol, Lopez has continued to work on her own music. She released the album A.K.A. in June of 2014. Around this time, Lopez also worked with Pitbull and Claudia Leitte on the song We Are One for the World Cup. Around this time, news also broke about her personal life. It became public that she had split from dancer and choreographer Casper Smart after two and a half years together. 

January 2015 saw the release of The Boy Next Door, an erotic thriller which Lopez both co-produced and starred in as a high school teacher who becomes involved with a student, eventually leading to his dangerous obsession with her. The film received negative reviews from critics. Despite this, it became her most successful opening at the box office for a live action film since Monster-in-Law and ultimately grossed over $50 million at the global box office, against a production budget of $4 million. The following month she unveiled her next fragrance, JLuxe. Lopez had a voice role in the animated feature Home, alongside Steve Martin, Jim Parsons and Rihanna, released in March 2015. She contributed to the single Feel the Light, the film’s official soundtrack. Lopez also starred in the independent drama film Lila & Eve, alongside Viola Davis. She was a featured speaker during the general session at VentureScape 2015 to discuss women’s entrepreneurship and diversity in San Francisco during May 2015. That September, Lopez was announced as the first Global Advocate for Girls and Women at the United Nations Foundation. 

Jennifer Lopez will be hosting this year’s American Music Awards for the first time. The “On The Floor” singer will also be performing a song at the event. This year’s AMA’s will be held at the Los Angeles Microsoft theatre on 22 November.