Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At age eight, she began learning dance. She was a student at Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class president and head cheerleader. Her graduation was in 1980 and went to the college process at Cal State Northridge to major in TV and radio. 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 the 1984 "Torture" the first of many videos and movies she choreographed. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" the singer's career began to take off. However, the single "Straight Up" was a massive success and she has become a popular singer/dancer for years after. This is aided by her stint on American Idol (2002-2004). Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, also Jewish, was born and raised in Canada. Her parents were from Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has resulted in a variety of stories about her nationality and religion within the media. She is the daughter of Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader, and Lorainne Abdul, a former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. From the age of seven, she sung and danced with community musical theatre troupes while traveling around America. Tap dancing was another activity she attempted, and was awarded a scholarship for tap dancing school. In the future, she attended Cal State-Northridge College where she earned a degree in Broadcast radio. She was a candidate to be a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.