Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. She started taking dance classes when she was just eight. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the head cheerleader and class president for senior year. Her high school graduation was in 1980. After graduating, she began college at Cal State Northridge. There she was a radio and television major. 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 hired her to choreograph their 1984 film "Torture" which was the first in a long series of movies and video she choreographed. She started singing through her first album, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until her hit single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 . Since then, she's been a well-known artist and singer ever since. This was made even more popular 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 are from Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. These varied backgrounds have resulted in divergent stories in the media about her nationality or religion. Daughter of Harry Abdul (once a livestock trader in Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to director Billy Wilder), grew up in Hollywood, California. From the age of seven she danced and sang in musical theatre groups that traveled around America. She was enrolled in tap dance classes also, and she was awarded a scholarship to tap dancing classes. Later on in her life, she went to Cal State Northridge College where she studied to become an Broadcast radio specialist. She was a candidate to be an athlete for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.