Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. When she was eight years young, she started dancing lessons. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the cheerleader of the year and class president for senior year. She graduated 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", the first of a long series of movies and video she choreographed. After her debut CD "Forever Your Girl" she began to sing and soon became a well-known artist and performer. The stint she held as an American Idol judge (2002) has helped her become a more popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is from a Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish and was born in Canada. Her parents are from Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. The diverse backgrounds have resulted in diverse stories in the media concerning her nationality or religion. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader, and Lorainne Abdul, who was a former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. Since the age of seven, she sung and danced with community musical theatre groups as she traveled across America. She also took tap dancing lessons as well, in which she was awarded a scholarship for tap dancing classes. Later in life she attended Cal State Northridge College where she pursued a degree in Broadcast radio. She was a candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA cheerleading team. This resulted in her making $50 per game in her freshman year.