Jennifer Lopez - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Jennifer Lopez - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Jennifer Lopez is an American actress and singer. Although her acting talents are questioned by her critics for playing romantic roles lately, Lopez was an accomplished actress first, and only then became a singer. Her wide range of songs include pop, R’n’B, and Latin music.

Jennifer Lopez was born in New York in 1969, as a daughter of Puerto Rican parents. She was raised to become a hard-working, religious person, and whatever she did she took very seriously even in her early years. Lopez attended dancing and singing lessons from the age of 16, and by the early 1990’s, she became a background dancer for stars such as MC Hammer and Janet Jackson.

At the beginning of her acting career, Jennifer Lopez was featured in a number of TV series. The real breakthrough came with the drama My Family (1995), and the action movie Money Train (1995) featuring Wesley Snipes. From the mid-90’s, Lopez starred in a wide variety of movies ranging from the horrors Anaconda (1997) and The Cell (2000) through action (Out of Sight in 1998), to romantic comedies such as The Wedding Planner (2001) or Maid in Manhattan (2002). Because of the simplicity of these romantic movies, and her relationship with Ben Affleck, who she co-starred in Gigli (2003) and Jersey Girl (2004), the acting talent of Jennifer Lopez has been questioned more than one time lately by her critics.

Jennifer Lopez also started a career as a singer in 1999, with the album On The 6. She produced many hit singles, and most of her songs ranked very highly on the charts worldwide, regardless of genre. Until 2005, Jennifer Lopez released four albums in English, and she plans to release her first Spanish album in 2006.

Although Jennifer Lopez did not publicize her relationships as much as other celebrities, she became infamous for her engagement to Ben Affleck in 2002. The reason for the publicity of the couple’s private life was that after two failed marriages, Lopez forced some senseless restrictions to Affleck, which he accepted without question, giving reason to many jokes and parodies. In the end, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck broke up in 2004, and Lopez secretly married singer Marc Anthony.

As for the future of Jennifer Lopez, there is a new Spanish album on the horizon, along with a few movies for the following years, including the crime movie Bordertown with Antonio Banderas, and the musical America’s Darlings.

Picture 1: Jennifer Lopez