Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. She began taking dance lessons when she was eight. She was a student at Van Nuys High School, where she was the class president and head cheerleader. When she graduated in 1980, she enrolled in the Cal State-Northridge campus, studying radio and TV. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. She was approached by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, which was the first in a long list of movies and videos she choreographed. She branched out into singing on her debut album, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until the hit song "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she's been a well-known performer ever since. Her popularity was further boosted by her appearance as an judge on the hit show American Idol (2002). Her father, Harry Abdul, is Sephardic Jewish from Syria. Her mother, who was also Jewish was born in Canada. Her parents have lived in Syria, Brazil, and Canada and this diverse background has resulted in wildly numerous stories being reported in the media regarding her religion and/or nationality. She is the daughter of Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader and Lorainne Abdul, who was an assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. At the age of seven, she performed in musical theatre troupes that traveled around America. Tap dancing was also a class she learned, and she was awarded a scholarship to the school of tap dancing. Later on in life she attended Cal State-Northridge College where she earned a degree in Broadcast radio. She was a candidate to be a cheerleader on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.