Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was born in San Fernando Valley, California. She began dancing at the age of eight. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the cheerleader of the year and class president for senior year. Her high school graduation was in the year 1980. After graduating, she began the college process 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 approached by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, which was the first in a long list of videos and movies she choreographed. After the release of her debut CD "Forever Your Girl", she began singing and was soon a well-known dancer and singer. Her stint as an American Idol judge (2002) has helped her become an increasingly popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is from a Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish and was born in Canada. Her parents are from Canada, Brazil, Syria and Brazil. These varied experiences have led to various stories being told in the media about her religion or nationality. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader, and Lorainne Abdul, who was the former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. Since the age of seven, she sung and danced in musical theatre ensembles as she traveled around America. She also learned tap dancing and earned her a scholarship to a tap dancing school. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she studied Broadcast radio. At the time she auditioned for Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. The audition resulted in her being selected as a cheerleader for the team. She earned $50 per game during her first year of college.