Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. She began dancing when she was eight. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was the class president and head cheerleader. She graduated in 1980 and began 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 recruited her to choreograph the 1984 "Torture" the first of many films and videos she choreographed. She began her singing career through her first album, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 . she has been a renowned dancer ever since, aided by her stint as an judge on the hit series 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 resided in Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has created a myriad of stories about her nationality and religion in the media. 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 sang and danced in musical theatre groups as she traveled all over America. She also attended tap dancing classes that earned her a scholarship to a tap dancing school. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she majored in Broadcast radio. She was a candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA cheerleading team. This resulted in her getting paid $50 per match during her freshman year.