Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At age eight, she began taking dance lessons. She was a student at Van Nuys High School, where she was the class president and head cheerleader. Following her graduation in 1980 she started college at Cal State Northridge, majoring in radio and television. 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 Lakers enlisted The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a lengthy list of films and videos she would choreograph. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl", she began singing and became a popular performer and dancer. The time she spent as an American Idol judge (2002) has made her more well-known as a performer and dancer. Her father, Harry Abdul, is Sephardic Jewish from Syria. Her mother, also Jewish, was born and raised in Canada. Her parents were born in Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. These diverse background has led to divergent stories in the news about her country of origin or religious beliefs. Daughter of Harry Abdul (once a livestock trader in Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to film director Billy Wilder), grew in Hollywood, California. Since the age of seven, she sang and danced in community musical theatre troupes while traveling across America. She also learned tap dancing and was awarded the chance to attend a dancing school. She attended Cal State Northridge College, where she majored in Broadcast radio. During that time she auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. The audition was the reason she was offered a place as a cheerleader on the team. She earned fifty dollars per game during her first year of college.