Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. She started dancing when she was eight. Van Nuys High School was her high school. She was also the school's head cheerleader and senior class president. She graduated in 1980 and went to the college process at Cal State Northridge to major in TV and radio. 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 Jacksons hired her to choreograph their 1984 video "Torture", the first in a long line of movies and videos she would choreograph. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" the singer's career took off. The single "Straight Up" was a huge success and she has become a popular singer/dancer for years after. This is aided by her stint on American Idol (2002-2004). Her father, Harry Abdul, is Sephardic Jewish from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish and was born in Canada. Her parents were from Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has created a myriad of stories about her faith and nationality in the media. Born in Hollywood, California to Harry Abdul (another livestock trader in Brazil) and Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to director Billy Wilder), she was raised. Since the age of seven, she sung and danced in local musical theatre troupes while traveling around America. She was enrolled in tap dance classes also, and she was awarded a scholarship for tap dancing schools. Later in life she attended Cal State Northridge College in which she majored in Broadcast radio. She auditioned to be a cheerleader on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.