Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. She began taking dance lessons when she was just eight. She went to Van Nuys High School, where she was the senior class president and head cheerleader. Her high school graduation was in the year 1980. Following graduation, 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. The Jacksons hired her to choreograph their 1984 video "Torture" that was the first of a long sequence of videos and movies she would choreograph. Her first album "Forever Your Girl" the singer's career took off. However, the song "Straight Up" was a huge success and she has been a wildly successful performer/singer ever 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 have been in Syria, Brazil, and Canada and this diverse backgrounds have led to different stories in the press about her nationality and/or religion. Born in Hollywood, California to Harry Abdul (another livestock trader from Brazil) & Lorainne Abdul (former assistant to director Billy Wilder), she was raised. She's been dancing and singing since she was 7 years old. old, while on the road in America. She took tap dance lessons and she was awarded a scholarship to tap dancing classes. She was a student at Cal State-Northridge College where she majored in Broadcast radio. At the time, she auditioned for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Cheerleading team. That resulted in her being selected as a cheerleader for the squad, earning some $50 per game during her freshman year.