Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At eight, she started taking dance lessons. She went to Van Nuys High School, in which she was a senior class president and head cheerleader. Her graduation was in 1980 and entered 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 film "Torture" which was the first in a long sequence of videos and movies she would choreograph. She branched out into singing in her first album, "Forever Your Girl" with a mediocre sales performance until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she has been a renowned singer/dancer ever since, enhanced by her appearance as an adjudicator on the popular show American Idol (2002). Her father (Harry Abdul) is Sephardic Jewish and hails from Syria. Her mother, who is also Jewish, was born and was raised in Canada. Her parents have been in Syria, Brazil, and Canada - and this varied background has resulted in wildly numerous stories being reported in the media about her nationality and/or religion. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader and Lorainne Abdul, a former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. From the age of seven, she sung and danced in local musical theatre ensembles as she traveled around America. Tap dancing was another class she tried, and she received a scholarship to attend tap dancing classes. In later years, she attended Cal State Northridge College where she earned a degree as an Broadcast radio specialist. In that time she auditioned for Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. This resulted in her being selected as a cheerleader for the team. She earned $50 per game during her first year of college.