Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. She started taking dance classes at the age of eight. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the top cheerleader and the senior class president. Her high school graduation was in 1980. After graduation she enrolled in college at Cal State Northridge. There, she majored 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. She was recruited by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a long list of movies and videos she would choreograph. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl", her singing career began to take off. The single "Straight Up" was a massive success and she has been a wildly successful performer/singer ever after. This was made possible 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 was raised in Canada. Her parents have been in Syria, Brazil, and Canada - and this varied background has resulted in wildly diverse stories in the media about her ethnicity 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. She has been singing and dancing since she was just seven years old, while on an excursion in America. She also took tap dancing lessons and earned her the opportunity to attend a tap dancing school. She attended Cal State-Northridge College, where she majored in Broadcast radio. At the time she auditioned for Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. That was the reason she was offered a place as a cheerleader on the team, earning 50 dollars per game in her freshman year.