Modern Divas Boxed Set

by Jessica Jayne

  Indeed she had. Jennifer graduated from Holy Family, then attended the all-girls Preston High School in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. The school, run by Catholic nuns, was a private college-preparatory Catholic school for young women. It was a bit far away from the Lopez household, so Jennifer had to take a subway and then board a bus. While at Preston, which was based in a former mansion and surrounded by spacious laws, Jennifer developed a taste for an upscale lifestyle. It only made her more determined to become successful so that she has the opportunity to have the finer things in life.

  At Preston, she did gymnastics, joined the school’s softball team and ran track on a national level. She was better at athletics than academics and even competed in national track championships.

  Jennifer had not always been a good student while at Preston School. She and her friends would often get into trouble for not following the rigid dress code. And of course, she would display her singing and dancing prowess in the hallways, which was not considered proper etiquette. At times, such behavior would land her in after-school detention sessions.

  Jennifer became busy with her extracurricular school activities such as choreographing musical plays. She was an enthusiastic girl who participated in all the plays in high school and continued her dance classes.

  And when she was not busy with these things, she had a series of part-time jobs after her classes. One such job was in a clothing store. It did not last long because, as she admitted, “I danced too much in the store while I was working” and was subsequently fired. Her very first job was in a salon sweeping up the hair from the floor. She had initially intended to get a license to be a hairstylist. She would practice her styling techniques on her sisters. She recalled, “It would look good at first, but then it would be really bad because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

  “I got fired from so many jobs,” she added. “I guess I wasn’t focused. I had bigger ideas in my mind than working in the local Bronx jeans store.” And then there was her stint at a “bootleg” perfume store. “People would buy fake Chloe perfume, and they’d spray it all over the store, themselves and me. I was this big, walking stink.”

  One job she liked was at a Bronx law firm where she stayed for two years and received a salary of $150 a week as a file clerk.

  Jennifer was still at Preston when she heard about a film that was to be shot in Philadelphia and that required some teenage girls for small roles. She auditioned and was cast in My Little Girl, a 1986 low-budget film where she played the role of Myra, a young woman at a center for troubled girls. After completing the filming for her part, Jennifer knew then that what she wanted was to become a famous movie star. The film came and went quickly in theaters, but now Jennifer had a movie performance under her belt.

  After completing high school, David and Lupe Lopez encouraged their middle child to continue her education and go to college. They wanted her to become a lawyer. For them, it was time for her to put aside her passion for dancing and turn her attention to something more practical that would insure her financial future. She said, “Where I come from, you got a job as a bank teller and got married, and being driven didn’t mean wanting to be a star. It meant being a lawyer instead of a secretary.”

  Having worked in a lawyer’s office in her part-time job, she felt that studying to be a lawyer was dull compared to being in the show business. When she looked back on this career option, Jennifer joked, “Actually, I think I would have been an OK lawyer. I don’t think I would have been a very happy lawyer. I would be in front of the jury, singing.”

  Chapter 3 – The Time Is Right

  Jennifer Lopez graduated from Preston High School in 1987. At first torn between obeying her parents and following her own dreams, she tried to juggle the two. But it was soon clear that she had to live her own life even without the approval of her loved ones.

  To appease her parents, Jennifer enrolled at Baruch College in Manhattan. But after only one semester, she dropped out. It was better than having to endure years at the College when her heart was not in it. Still, it was hard to tell her parents about her decision to drop out and instead devote herself to dancing.

  After high school, her parents encouraged Jennifer to go to college

  As expected, her parents were less than enthusiastic. “It was a fight from the beginning,” Jennifer admitted as she looked back on this particular time in her life. “When I told my parents I wasn’t going to college and law school, they thought it was really stupid to go off and try to be a movie star. No Latinas did that – it was just this stupid, foolish, crapshoot idea to my parents and to everybody who knew me.”

  In 2010, Jennifer and her parents revealed what happened after she told them that she didn’t want to continue her studies because she wanted to pursue her dreams. Lupe Lopez admitted that she stopped talking to Jennifer after that night, recalling that she told her daughter, “If you don’t want to live by my rules, there’s the door.” Mother and daughter were both angry.

  David Lopez recalled, “We weren’t happy about it. There was some yelling, a little bit of confrontation between her and her mum.”

  That fight only strengthened Jennifer’s decision to move out of her parents’ house when she was 17.

  Despite the lack of support, Jennifer was still determined to follow her dreams. But the differences over her future led to a fight between her and her parents. In the end, she moved out of her parents’ house and lived with new acquaintances in Manhattan.

  Chasing Her Dreams

  For a while, she was perplexed with the problem of not knowing where to start. But she decided to train hard and keep her eyes open for opportunities. Every day she would take the number 6 subway train, which would become Jennifer’s inspiration for the title of her first album, On the 6, to travel to Manhattan where she was still taking her dance classes. She also trained at different dance studios, studying ballet and jazz. Jennifer recalled, “I was happy at the time, riding that train every day. To me, the struggle has always been the fun part.”

  For a while, she continued working at the Bronx law firm, which helped to pay her living expenses, for her dance classes, and for visits to local dance clubs to check the latest music and the newest dance steps.

  Living away from her family was not easy, especially since she was at odds with her parents. Even with the encouragement of her boyfriend David Cruz, to whom she became engaged, it was heartbreaking. But she knew that she could not go along with their less risky plan for her future.

  Her future was uncertain, but Jennifer, then 18 years old, was confident about achieving her dreams of becoming a professional dancer and actor. She stood by her motto the whole time: “You have to believe in yourself. If you don’t, nobody will. So I believed – no matter how many times I cried myself to sleep or ate another slice of pizza.”

  On her own in Manhattan, Jennifer went through the typical struggles of an aspiring professional dancer. It wasn’t easy living on her own. She said, “There were times when I was really down to my last dollar. And then my last fifty cents … and then my last quarter. I’d dance in a piece-of-garbage rap or pop video for fifty bucks and make the money last a whole month.”

  It was tough, but she refused to let go of her vision. She tried her luck in Broadway musicals, but she wasn’t successful. However, an opportunity came in the form of music videos, which was relatively new then and was on its infancy after having been popularized by cable networks such as MTV and VH1. With her slick dance moves, she found work at Manhattan dance forums such as Cat Club. It paid her bills as well as presented her with opportunities and motivation to improve her dance steps.

  The turning point for her came after M.C. Hammer released his hit single You Can’t Touch This. Afterwards, all the auditions became hip-hop auditions. “I was good at it, and they were like, ‘Ooh, a light-skinned girl who can do that. Great, let’s hire her!’” After that, Jennifer frequently found work in music videos.

  At about this
time, Jennifer was performing in regional productions of the musical Jesus Christ, Superstar and Oklahoma! She also won a chorus part in Golden Musicals of Broadway, a revue that toured Europe for five months. She vividly remembered that everyone had solo performances but her. It was depressing, and so she called her mother back home. She recalled, “I thought she’d offer me some sympathy. Instead, she said, ‘Don’t you ever call me crying again. You wanted to be in this business, so you better toughen up.”

  Jennifer went abroad again as part of the Hinton Battle’s musical Synchronicity. The show played in Japan, and Jennifer acted as a dancer, singer and choreographer. Of her early days in the business, she said, “You have to be so committed. People say you need something just to fall back on; I don’t believe in that.”

  She also said, “If you’re gonna make it in this business, you need the kind of personality that you have to do it or die, there’s no alternative.” She knew that if she wanted to stay afloat in the business, she must rely on her talent and determination and her ability to meet new challenges head on. Fortunately for her, one quality that served her during the downs in her life was her thick skin.

  During an interview with Movieline, she said, “My older sister and I both started out in musical theater. She has a great voice and she had more of a chance of making it than it did. But she couldn’t take the rejection. You have to get up there and say, ‘You like me?’ And if they say, ‘No,’ it’s like, ‘OK. Fuck you! Next? How about you? Do you like me? Or you? Or you?’”

  The Road to Hollywood

  Dancing has always been Jennifer Lopez’s first love. “Acting and singing are internal, but dancing is pure physical expression. For a long time, I didn’t understand why a dancer would want to become an actor.”

  Eventually, she would.

  In April 1990, the Fox TV network put out a national casting call for dancers to be part of the new comedy-sketch show In Living Color, which the TV network was developing with Keenan Ivory Wayans. Aside from being the show’s creator, Wayans served as the producer, writer, actor and performer. The cast included some of Keenan’s siblings and other regulars such as Rosie Perez, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, and James Carrey. These individuals would go on to achieve success. Perez segued from choreography to acting and would later on win an Oscar nomination. Grier starred in a comedy series of his own and also starred in a Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. And James Carrey would become famous as Jim Carrey.

  Jennifer auditioned and was accepted to be one of the Fly Girls on In Living Color

  But the show was also famous for one of its recurring features, the Fly Girls. This group of five energetic dancers backed up musical acts and occasionally had dance spots on the fast-paced proceedings.

  The show was an instant hit. After a few months, the show was renewed for the fall season. One of the Fly Girls was unavailable to continue with the show, and so nationwide auditions were held to find a replacement. More than 2000 applicants auditioned for the coveted spot.

  Jennifer auditioned for the role. Along with other hopefuls, she went through a series of auditions. She made it to the finals, but it was another contestant who won the competition. And then suddenly, the winner was unable to accept the job. Jennifer, the runner-up, was asked to join In Living Color.

  In Living Color, unfortunately, did not last long. Problems between Keenan Ivory Wayans and Fox arose, prompting the former to quit with his siblings. But for Jennifer, the years she spent as a dancer in In Living Color provided her with learning experience that came with a paycheck. And when the paychecks stopped coming, she had to continue, to move forward. She had taken acting classes while still working on the show.

  It was through In Living Color that Jennifer met her first manager, Eric Gold, who was a coproducer of the series. And after leaving the show, she became a backup dancer for Janet Jackson and made an appearance in Jackson’s 1993 music video for her single That’s the Way Love Goes.

  Film Debut

  Jennifer received her first acting gig in the drama film Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7. Lopez starred as one of a group of student nurses whose plane crashed in the Mexican jungle. She was also offered a role in another series even before In Living Color had wrapped up.

  Jennifer would soon find out that where you’re in Hollywood, jobs often come through personal channels. In her case, a member of the production team of In Living Color was married to a producer/writer who was working on a new drama for Fox and suggested he audition Jennifer for a role. He did, and Jennifer eventually got to play the role of Lucy on the series South Central.

  The series didn’t last long but it provided Jennifer a chance to showcase her acting prowess. She was a rising star, and she was determined to show her dramatic-acting chops.

  In 1993, Jennifer got a part in the CBS television series Second Chances, playing the character of Melinda Lopez. Second Chances was a well-written drama and turned out to be accessible to a broader audience. It starred Matt Salinger, Michelle Phillips, Megan Follows, and Justin Lazard – Jennifer’s love interest.

  In the series, Melinda Lopez was a waitress who married Kevin Cook, a law student whose wealthy parents turned out to be racists. For the first time ever, Jennifer had a legitimate costarring role in a television series.

  By then, the Internet was on its infancy, but the medium provided a place for viewers to convene and discuss the plot developments in the series. It also meant that it was winning Jennifer more attention than she’d ever had.

  Jennifer again starred as Melinda Lopez in Second Chances’ spin-off, Hotel Malibu. It was a commercial failure, having plummeted to the 42nd position in the ratings in the second week, down from the 24th position during the first week it aired.

  Despite the failure of Second Chances and Hotel Malibu, CBS wanted to continue its association with Jennifer. It offered her a development deal of her own. For some beginners, the offer was very lucrative, but Jennifer didn’t want to take her career in this direction. And so she didn’t accept the offer.

  Her short-lived experience working in television provided her with many learning experiences, but now she had her eyes on a bigger goal. She was ready to become a big movie star.

  El Norte

  As it turned out, Jennifer would be working with a man who would cast her in the role that would make her a star. It was Gregory Nava, who first debuted in the Hollywood scene with his 1983 film El Norte, becoming the first American film to feature Latins as three-dimensional characters. The movie received acclaim and Nava’s script was nominated for an Academy Award. That distinction made Nava the only Latin director in Hollywood.

  Nava and Anna Thomas, who cowrote the script for El Norte, were working on My Family (Mi Familia). The story for the drama spanned three generations of Latinos who tried to find their place in America’s culture. Jennifer played the character of beautiful Maria, a housekeeper.

  Filming the movie was a career-affirming experience for Jennifer. Now, she knew that film was her medium. She made her mark not just as a Latin actress. The good reviews she received for playing Maria’s character in My Family would lead to offers for all types of roles.

  My Family was a success, and Jennifer felt proud to be part of it. Her performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination. And even before the movie was released, her performance was met with enough positive reviews to carry her through to another film. This next project would launch her incarnation as a sex symbol.

  Money Train

  Jennifer’s next film, Money Train, was a serious departure from what she experienced filming My Family. The people who worked on My Family had a sense of purpose based on the subject matter whereas in Money Train, it was solely about making money.

  Jennifer starred alongside Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson whose characters worked as New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Officers. Jennifer played the role of Officer Grace Santiago, the woman sandwiched between the
rivalry of foster brothers played by Snipes’ and Harrelson’s characters, John and Charlie. Charlie likes Grace, but Grace is attracted to John.

  Snipes said of Jennifer’s character in the film, “She’s a very attractive police officer who is also somewhat provocative to both brothers. Charlie gets the hots for her, but he basically doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting her. She, of course, chooses me, which is the likely scenario.”

  The movie, which cost $60 million to make, was filmed in New York City, although some of the extensive stunt sequences were shot in Los Angeles. Jennifer, who was the lucky actress among more than a hundred who wished to snag the role, was more than happy to be shooting the movie in New York. It was a wonderful homecoming for her. The director of the movie spoke of Jennifer’s qualities that landed her the job.

  He said, “Grace had to be first of all believable as a street cop. You had to believe that she grew up in New York City, that she was a tough, strong New York cop. On top of that, she had to be one hell of an actor with humor and a lot of spirit. And Jennifer fit the bill. She’s the real thing.”

  And she showed she was tough. Jennifer learned that her character would be toting a .38mm revolver and John and Charlie would be carrying .9mms. She hastily demanded equal firearm rights. Jennifer, who had once dated a policeman, said, “A .38 is such a girl gun. I’m not going to carry some sissy revolver.” Her wish was granted.

  Chapter 4 – The Big Break

  At this point in her career, Jennifer was determined not to let her ethnic heritage stand in the way. She was proud of her roots, but she also felt that she was just as American as the girl next door. But she also knew that it would take a strongly Hispanic role to break her out.