Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. When she was 8 years old, young, she started dancing lessons. Van Nuys High School was where she was the senior class president and was the school's chief cheerleader. Her graduation was in 1980 and started 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. She was recruited by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a long list of films and videos she would choreograph. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" started singing, she turned to singing and became a popular dancer and singer. The stint she held as an American Idol judge (2002) has made her a popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is Sephardic Jewish and hails from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish and was born in Canada. Her parents resided in Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has led to many different stories about her nationality and religion in the media. Born in Hollywood, California to Harry Abdul (another livestock trader from Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to film director Billy Wilder), she was raised. From the age of seven, she sung and danced in community musical theatre troupes while traveling throughout America. Tap dancing was also something she tried, and she was awarded a scholarship to the school of tap dancing. Later on in life she attended Cal-State-Northridge College where she pursued a degree in Broadcast radio. She auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA cheerleading team. This resulted in her earning $50 per game her freshman year.