Jennifer Lopez

Community biography from

Jennifer Lopez, aka J.Lo, is a US-born singer and actress whose award-winning career in music and on screen has made her one of the biggest media stars in the world.

Lopez initially trained as a dancer and performed with Janet Jackson among others, before breaking into acting with roles in films such as Money Train and Jack. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing the title role in Selena, a biopic about Latin pop star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who was murdered at the height of her fame. J.Lo also starred in Anaconda and Out of Sight before commencing a music career in 1999.

Her debut album On the 6 went Top 10 in several charts across the world and featured the US No.1 "If You Had My Love". The album went on to sell over seven million copies. In 2001 she released J.Lo, which popularised her nickname and became even more successful than On the 6. "Love Don't Cost a Thing", "Play", "I'm Real" and "Ain't it Funny" were all massive international hits and the album sold an incredible twelve million units worldwide. Not content with just being a musical megastar, J.Lo resumed her acting career with films like The Wedding Planner, Enough and Maid in Manhattan. Third studio album This Is Me... Then (2002) featured more worldwide smash hits with "Jenny from the Block" and "All I Have", and sold another seven million copies. However, her 2003 film Gigli, with real-life fiancé Ben Affleck, was universally criticised and gained a reputation as a dreadful film. It was quickly dropped by cinemas and harmed J.Lo's reputation.

Rebirth (2005) was named so as to indicate a fresh start following the Gigli debacle. Although it was a chart-topper all over the world, in the longer term it didn't represent a full revival of J.Lo's fortunes. It sold three million copies, a poor figure by J.Lo's high standards.

2007 was a busy year for Lopez, as she released two more records: Como Ama Una Mujer was a Spanish-language album that sold extremely well in Latin countries and communities; and Brave, which was her poorest performing album yet.