American actress and musician who began acting in the late 1980s and quickly became one of the highest-paid Latina actresses in the history of Hollywood. She later found crossover success in the music industry with a series of pop albums.

Lopez, who was born into a family of Puerto Rican descent, took dance lessons throughout her childhood and from an early age had aspirations of fame. She performed internationally with stage musicals, and at age 16 she made her film debut with a small role in My Little Girl (1986). Her television break came in 1990 when she was cast as one of the “Fly Girls,” dancers who appeared on the comedy show In Living Color. After she left the show, she turned her focus to acting, first in several short-lived television series and then in movie roles. Film success came quickly, and by the mid-1990s she was appearing with such notable actors as Robin Williams (Jack, 1996) and Jack Nicholson (Nicholson, Jack) (Blood and Wine, 1997). Lopez still remained somewhat in the periphery of the public vision, however, until she landed the lead role in Selena (1997), a biopic of the murdered Tejana singer. She went on to star in a number of thrillers and action dramas, including Anaconda (1997), U Turn (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and The Cell (2000), and she gained widespread praise for The Wedding Planner (2001), her successful first attempt at romantic comedy. That release was quickly followed by the romantic drama Angel Eyes in the middle of the year.

In 1999 Lopez added pop artist to her list of titles with the release of her debut album, On the 6. To the surprise of many critics, the album quickly went platinum and subsequently sold more than eight million copies worldwide. Her second album, J.Lo (2001), sold more than 270,000 copies in its first week. Lopez was involved in a series of high-profile relationships—first with rapper and producer Sean (“Puff Daddy”) Combs (later known as Diddy) and later with actor Ben Affleck—that subjected her to heavy scrutiny by the entertainment media. In 2003 she starred opposite Affleck in Gigli, which was widely panned by critics, and a number of her subsequent films were box-office disappointments. In 2004 Lopez married singer Marc Anthony, and the couple appeared in El Cantante (2006), the biopic of salsa musician Hector Lavoe. Her later albums include Rebirth (2005) and the Spanish-language Como ama una mujer (2007), which reached the number one spot on Billboard's Latin album chart. In February 2008 Lopez gave birth to twins, her first children and Anthony's fourth and fifth.