Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. When she was eight years of age, she began dance lessons. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the cheerleader of the year as well as the class president. Her graduation was in 1980 and went to college 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 hired her to choreograph their 1984 film "Torture" that was the first of a long series of movies and video she would choreograph. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" started singing, she turned to singing and was soon a well-known singer/dancer. The time she spent as an American Idol judge (2002) has made her a popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is from a Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, who is also Jewish, was born in Canada. Her parents have been in Syria, Brazil, and Canada - and this varied background has contributed to incredibly different stories in the press about her nationality and/or religion. She is the daughter of Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader and Lorainne Abdul, who was an assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. When she was seven, she sung and danced in community musical theatre troupes while traveling all over America. Tap dancing was another activity she learned, and she was awarded a scholarship for tapping classes. In the future she attended Cal-State-Northridge College, where she studied in Broadcast radio. She auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA cheerleading team. It led to her getting paid $50 per match during her freshman year.