Edited Jennifer Lopez: Her Life Story Poem by Paula Glynn

Jennifer Lynn Lopez born July 24th 1969
In the Bronx: a borough of New York City
A Latino little girl of brown eyes very pretty
And raised in the Castle Hill neighbourhood
Her parents being David López and Guadalupe Rodríguez,

Having been born in Puerto Rico
Moving to the U.S. mainland as children
After serving in the regimented army
David busy working as a computer technician
At Guardian Insurance company, just a regular person

Guadalupe was a homemaker
For the first ten years of Jennifer Lopez's life
Taking it tough and all in her stride
Later working as a Tupperware salesperson
And also being a kindergarten and gym teacher,

The couple divorcing in the 1990s
After 33 long years of marriage
Jennifer Lopez being a middle child;
Always the one being confident and wild
She having an older sister, Leslie, and a younger sister, Lynda.

The three shared a bedroom,
Lopez describing her upbringing as 'strict':
Jennifer Lopez being raised in a Roman Catholic family;
Attending Mass every Sunday
And receiving a Catholic education

Attending Holy Family School
And the all-girls Preston High School
Jennifer loving the swimming pool
In school, Lopez ran track on a national level with a dream
Participated in gymnastics, and was on the softball team.

She fantastically danced in school musicals
And played a lead role in a production of 'Godspell'
Where she made it happen with every dream
There was 'lots of music' in the typically Puerto Rican household
Jennifer shown how to make it show and deeply know,

Jennifer and her sisters encouraged to sing, dance
Being encouraged to take that exceptional chance
And create their own majestic plays for family events
"West Side Story" made a particular impression on the young Lopez
Wanting to be an entertainer from an early age and dance on stage.

At the age of five, she began taking dance lessons at Ballet Hispánico
On the Upper West Side
Getting on with it with great pride
As a teenager she learned flamenco, jazz,
And ballet at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.

Jennifer also taught dance to younger students
Including the famous Kerry Washington
After graduating from high school, missing the swimming pool
She had a part-time secretarial job at a law firm
And studied business after dedicated high school.

At New York's Baruch College for one semester
At age 18, she enrolled as a full-time student
At Manhattan's Phil Black Dance Studio,
Where she had already taken night classes in jazz and tap dance
Attending every audition and taking every chance.

Her parents unhappy with her decision
To leave college to pursue a dance career
Her own life in which she did steer
Her mother asked her to move out of the family home
And they stopped speaking for eight months,

Leaving Jennifer Lopez upset and alone
But Jennifer Lopez moved to Manhattan
Sleeping in the dance studio's office for the first few months
But soon finding her dancing feet telling her mom over the phone
And never admitting soul crushing defeat.

Lopez's first professional job coming in 1989
Where she did take the care and time
When she spent five months touring Europe
With the musical revue show Golden Musicals of Broadway
She the only member of the chorus not to have a solo.

Later characterizing it as a pivotal moment
Where she realized the importance of a 'tough skin'
The entertainment industry where she did win
In the harsh and competitive entertainment business
In 1990 dancing alongside best forgotten MC Hammer.

In an episode of Yo! MTV Raps
Travelling around picturesque Japan
Four months spent as a chorus member in "Synchronicity"
When she returned to the United States to be someone great
Jennifer faithfully hired as a backup dancer.

For New Kids on the Block's performance of 'Games'
Dancing like a pro and never lame
At the 1991 American Music Awards
Jennifer travelling around America
With regional productions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma!

During this period, Lopez also danced in music videos
Including Doug E. Fresh's 'Summertime'
Where Jennifer did truly shine
Richard Rogers' 'Can't Stop Loving You',
Samantha Fox's '(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On'.

Lopez's most high-profile job as a professional dancer
Was as a Fly Girl jazz-funk dancer
On the sketch comedy television series "In Living Color",
Which starred genius comedians including Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey
At the New York audition,

The show's choreographer, Rosie Perez,
Noticed that Lopez had 'star quality' and 'did not complain, not once'
When asked to repeatedly perform the dance routine
Lopez moving to Los Angeles in late 1991 for the job;
She filmed "In Living Color" during the day, with bills to pay.

Attending acting classes taught by Aaron Speiser at night
Jennifer in her outfit a beautiful sight
The head of Virgin Records considered
Signing The Fly Girls as a girl group
To rival the Spice Girls, but the deal fell apart.

After appearing as a Fly Girl in seasons three and four of "In Living Color",
Lopez left to work as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson,
And appeared in the music video for "That's the Way Love Goes"
That music video everyone knows
She was scheduled to tour with Jackson on her Janet World Tour in late 1993,

Jennifer with a different view that she did realize: did see
But opted to pursue an acting career instead
A different way to pay for rent and bread
Lopez's first professional acting job
Was a small recurring role on the television show "South Central" (1994)

Successful future film work in store
Jennifer invited to audition for the pilot
By a casting director with a keen eye
Who had seen her speak to camera with high regard
During a behind-the-scenes "In Living Color" segment.

Lopez then acquiring an agent and cast in the CBS show "Second Chances"
And its spin-off Hotel Malibu, Jennifer excelling in her performances
Then appearing in the direct-to-video drama film "Lost in the Wild" (1993)
For her first major movie role, a future in film Jennifer did see
In Gregory Nava's 1995 drama "Mi Familia",

Lopez receiving a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award
For Best Supporting Actress
Lopez then starred in the action comedy "Money Train" (1995)
A film keeping Jennifer Lopez's career alive
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said she 'mostly holds her own'

That stage Jennifer does roam
With co-stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson,
While Stephen Holden of The New York Times
Praised her 'scene-stealing charm'
With the bling on her arm.

In 1996 Lopez having a supporting role opposite Robin Williams
In the brilliant and clever comedy "Jack"
On those jealous, Jennifer getting her own back
She next starred opposite Jack Nicholson in the neo-noir thriller Blood and Wine (1997)
Where Jennifer found a career better than a five to eleven,

With a reputation straight from heaven
David Rooney of Variety felt Lopez delivered in
'Juggling' the 'smoldering and soulful sides' of the character
But Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Said she was 'used as a place marker rather than as a real girl.'

Films in succession to be:

• Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7 (1993)
• Money Train (1995)
• Jack (1996)
• Blood and Wine (1997)
• Selena (1997)
• Anaconda (1997)
• U Turn (1997)
• Out of Sight (1998)
• Antz (1998)
• The Cell (2000)
• The Wedding Planner (2001)
• Angel Eyes (2001)
• Enough (2002)
• Maid in Manhattan (2002)
• Gigli (2003)
• Shall We Dance? (2004)
• Monster-in-Law (2005)
• An Unfinished Life (2005)
• El Cantante (2006)
• Bordertown (2007)
• The Back-up Plan (2010)
• What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012)
• Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
• Parker (2013)
• The Boy Next Door (2015)
• Lila & Eve (2015)
• Home (2015)
• Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
• Second Act (2018)
• Hustlers (2019)
• Marry Me (2022)
• The Mother (2022)
• Shotgun Wedding (2023)

But Jennifer Lopez does still belong to the entertainment world,
With a long running music career:
Beginning with "On The 6"
Original music genuine and no trick
An album funded by Jennifer Lopez.

Launching a musical career in 1999
The reaction from the public a good sign
Because of missing playing the character Selena
With the excitement of the stage
And really feeling her Latin roots

Jennifer Lopez's new manager
Seeking to permanently position her
"As a brand name that will cross over all media"
Jennifer Lopez wearing those Louboutin boots
And with all the greatest producers:

Including Rodney Jerkins, Cory Rooney, Dan Shea
And her boyfriend at the time,
Rapper and record producer Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Her debut album "On the 6",
Named after the 6 Subway line,

Which connected her childhood home
In the Bronx to Manhattan
An album magical and soul deep
Helping Jennifer at night to sleep
Legendary songs to be "If You Had My love"

Reaching number one in the American charts
And "Waiting For Tonight"
A music video with a jungle theme
A music video that does jungle dream
Reaching number eight in the American charts

Other songs - like "Should've Never" -
Composed by Jennifer herself
Blowing listeners to her debut album away
Even though Jennifer did fund the project: did pay
Fantastic - and never boring - albums being:

• On the 6 (1999)
• J.Lo (2001)
• This Is Me... Then (2002)
• Rebirth (2005)
• Como Ama una Mujer (2007)
• Brave (2007)
• Love? (2011)
• A.K.A. (2014)

With a dramatic personal life, full of difficulties and strife:
From being in a nearly decade-long relationship with David Cruz,
Her high school boyfriend, until the mid-1990s
She would later say of Cruz when asked about her life
'You get lucky, you have a first love like that.'

She was married to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa
From February 1997 to January 1998
Jennifer in a turbulent on-off relationship
With record producer and rapper Sean Combs
(then-known as 'Puff Daddy') famous in the United States

From 1999 to early 2001.
On the night of December 27,1999
Lopez and Combs were arrested and charged
With criminal possession of a weapon
And possession of stolen property,

After leaving the scene of a shooting at a Times Square nightclub
Charges against Lopez to be dropped within an hour
A fortunate sign, where no charge was brought: not one
While Combs was acquitted of all charges at trial in early 2001:
They broke up shortly thereafter, their relationship finally done.

Jennifer Lopez having a reputation that won
With many other relationships to Jennifer Lopez's name
Her choices of men brought no regret or shame
Jennifer Lopez to shine on that stage
And shine with every character she plays

For Jennifer Lopez has a long history
A long-time standing career
And in her life she does steer
Taking credit for her own work
Taking pride and happiness

From her ever popular music and films
Having led a very busy life
Wearing designer clothes and living it up
With models and other music stars
Collaborating with other celebrities that made it far

And entertaining the entire world:
And the entire world does love Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer that destined little girl
To rock and shake the world
To its very foundations.