Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. When she was eight years old, she began learning dance. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the top cheerleader as well as the class president. Her high school graduation was in 1980. After graduation she entered college at Cal State Northridge. There she majored 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. She was approached by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first of a series of movies and videos she would choreograph. She started singing on her debut album, "Forever Your Girl" that had a lackluster success until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she has been a renowned dancer ever since, aided by her role as an adjudicator on the popular series American Idol (2002). 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. The diverse experiences have led to various stories being told in the media regarding her religion or nationality. 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. From the age of seven, she sung and danced with community musical theatre groups as she traveled all over America. She also learned tap dancing, which earned her the opportunity to attend a tap dancing school. She attended Cal State Northridge College, where she majored in Broadcast radio. She was a candidate to be a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.