Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. At the age of eight old, she began dancing lessons. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was the class head cheerleader and president. Her graduation was in 1980 and started the college process at Cal State Northridge to major in radio and TV. 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 many videos and movies she choreographed. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" started singing, she turned to singing and soon became a renowned dancer and singer. Her time as an American Idol judge (2002) has helped her become a more popular performer/dancer. 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 were residents of Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This is the reason for a myriad of stories regarding her nationality and religion within the media. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazil-based livestock trader, as well as Lorainne Abdul, who was a former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. When she was seven, she sung and danced with community musical theatre groups as she traveled throughout America. She also took tap dancing lessons and was awarded the opportunity to attend a tap dancing school. Later in her life, she attended Cal State-Northridge College where she earned a degree in Broadcast radio. In that time she auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team, and that was the reason she was offered a place as a cheerleader on the team. She earned $50 a game during her first year of college.