Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. At age eight, she began learning dance. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the cheerleader of the year and class president for senior year. She graduated in 1980 and began college at Cal State Northridge to major in radio and television. 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 recruited her to choreograph their 1984 film "Torture" the first of a series of films and videos she would choreograph. She branched out into singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl" which was not a huge success until the hit song "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 . Since then, she's been a household artist and singer ever since. This was made even more popular by her time as an adjudicator on the popular series American Idol (2002). Her father, Harry Abdul, is Sephardic Jewish from Syria. Her mother, also Jewish, was born in Canada. Her parents were born in Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. This diversity of experiences have led to divergent stories in the media regarding her religion or nationality. The daughter of Harry Abdul (once a livestock trader in Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to director Billy Wilder), grew in Hollywood, California. From the age of seven she was a dancer and singer in musical theatre ensembles that traveled around America. Tap dancing was another activity she took, and she was awarded a scholarship to tapping classes. In the future she attended Cal State Northridge College, where she studied in Broadcast radio. In the course of her studies she was a candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. This led her to a spot as a cheerleader for the squad, earning some fifty dollars per game during her freshman year.