Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At the age of eight, she began taking dance classes. Van Nuys High School was where she was the class president and was the school's chief cheerleader. She graduated in 1980, and entered 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 video "Torture" which was the first in a lengthy sequence of videos and movies she would choreograph. She began her singing career with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl" that had a lackluster success until the hit song "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 . she has been a renowned dancer ever since, aided by her time as a judge on the hit show American Idol (2002). Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, who is also Jewish, was born and raised in Canada. Her parents were residents of Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has resulted in a variety of stories about her faith and nationality in the media. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader and Lorainne Abdul, who was the former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. She has been singing and dancing since she was 7 years old. old, while on an excursion in America. Tap dancing was another class she attempted, and received a scholarship to attend tap dancing school. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she majored in Broadcast radio. At the time, she auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. That resulted in her being selected as a cheerleader for the team. The team earned $50 per game during her freshman year.