Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. When she was 8 years old, of age, she began dance lessons. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the school's head cheerleader as well as the class president. She graduated in 1980, and went to 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 hired her to choreograph their 1984 film "Torture" it was the first in a long line of movies and videos she choreographed. She began singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl" which was not a huge success until the hit song "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December of 1988. she's been a household dancer ever since, aided by her stint as an adjudicator on the popular show American Idol (2002). Her father (Harry Abdul) is Sephardic Jewish and hails from Syria. Her mother, too Jewish was born and was raised in Canada. Her parents were born in Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. This diversity of background has led to various stories being told in the media concerning her ethnicity or religion. 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. Since the age of seven, she sang and danced in musical theatre ensembles as she traveled all over America. She took tap dance lessons also, and she received a scholarship to the tap dancing school. Later on in her life, she went to Cal State Northridge College where she studied to become an Broadcast radio specialist. She applied to become an official cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.