Paula Abdul

Paula Julie Abdul born June 19 1962 is an American singer dancer choreographer actress and television personality She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls where she was discovered by the Jacksons After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records Abduls debut studio album Forever Your Girl 1988 became one of the most successful debut albums at that time selling seven million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most US Billboard Hot 100 numberone singles from a debut album Straight Up Forever Your Girl Cold Hearted and Opposites Attract Her second album Spellbound 1991 scored the numberone singles Rush Rush and The Promise of a New Day With six numberone singles on Hot 100 Abdul tied Diana Ross for the thirdmost charttoppers among female solo artists at the time As of 2025 Abdul places seventh along with Diana Ross and Lady Gaga for the most numberone singles by female artists in the US to date Abdul was one of the original judges on the television series American Idol from 2002 to 2009 and has since appeared as a judge on The X Factor Live to Dance So You Think You Can Dance and The Masked Dancer She received choreography credits in numerous films including Cant Buy Me Love 1987 The Running Man 1987 Coming to America 1988 Action Jackson 1988 The Doors 1991 Jerry Maguire 1996 and American Beauty 1999 She received 17 MTV Video Music Award nominations winning five as well as receiving the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for Opposites Attract in 1991 She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show and her own performance at the American Music Awards in 1990 Abdul was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is the first entertainer to be honored with the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards Hall of Fame Award Abdul was born in San Fernando California She is Jewish her father Harry Abdul is of Syrian Jewish heritage and was born in Aleppo Syria raised in Brazil and emigrated to the United States Her mother Lorraine Rykiss was a concert pianist of Jewish heritage from Minnedosa Manitoba Canada Abdul has an older sister named Wendy As an avid dancer Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the film Singin in the Rain Source Article Paula Abdul from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA