Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. At eight, she started dancing lessons. She was a student at Van Nuys High School, where she was the senior class president and head cheerleader. She graduated in 1980 and started the college process at Cal State Northridge to major in TV and radio. 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. The Jacksons hired her to choreograph their 1984 movie "Torture" which was the first in a long sequence of videos and movies she would choreograph. After the release of her debut CD "Forever Your Girl" was released, she began singing and soon became a well-known performer and dancer. Her stint as an American Idol judge (2002) has made her an increasingly popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is Sephardic Jewish and hails from Syria. Her mother, who is also Jewish, was born in Canada. Her parents were born in Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. These diverse backgrounds have led to very different stories in the media concerning her country of origin or religious beliefs. Daughter of Harry Abdul (once a livestock trader in Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to director Billy Wilder), grew in Hollywood, California. She has been dancing and singing since she was seven years young, during an excursion in America. Tap dance classes were taken as well, in which she was awarded a scholarship to tap dancing school. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she studied Broadcast radio. She applied to become a cheerleader on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.