Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. When she was eight years old, she began taking dance lessons. She went to Van Nuys High School, where she was the senior class president and head cheerleader. She graduated from high school in the year 1980. After graduating, she began 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. The Lakers enlisted The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, which was the first of a number of movies and videos she would choreograph. With her first CD "Forever Your Girl" Her singing career took off. However, the song "Straight Up" was a massive success and she has been a successful singer/dancer ever after. It was made easier by her time on American Idol (2002-2004). Her father (Harry Abdul) is from a Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, who is also Jewish, was born in Canada. Her parents lived in Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This is the reason for a myriad of stories about her religion and nationality in the media. She is the daughter of Harry Abdul, a former Brazil-based livestock trader, as well as Lorainne Abdul, who was an assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. She has been singing and dancing since she was 7 years old. old, while on an adventure across America. Tap dancing was also something she tried, and she was awarded a scholarship to tap dancing school. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she majored in Broadcast radio. She applied to become a cheerleader on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.