Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At the age of eight young, she started dancing lessons. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class head cheerleader and president. After graduation in 1980, she enrolled in college at Cal State Northridge, with a major 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 Jacksons hired her to choreograph their 1984 movie "Torture" which was the first of a long series of films and videos she would choreograph. After the release of her debut CD "Forever Your Girl" started singing, she turned to singing and soon became a well-known performer and dancer. Her time as an American Idol judge (2002) has made her a more popular performer/dancer. Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, who was also Jewish, was born in Canada. Her parents were residents of Canada, Syria, Brazil and Syria. This has resulted in a variety of stories about her faith and nationality in the media. The daughter is Harry Abdul, a former Brazilian livestock trader, and Lorainne Abdul, who was a former assistant to Billy Wilder in film direction. She's been singing and dancing since she was 7 years old. old, while on a tour of America. Tap dancing was also a class she took, and she was awarded a grant to go to the school of tap dancing. Later on in her life, she went to Cal State Northridge College where she majored as an Broadcast radio specialist. She applied to become a cheerleader on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Cheerleading team.