J.Lo, J.Lo, J.Lo.
She’s been on our screens and in movie theaters since the early ‘90s, and has consistently stayed relevant all the way up through the current movie schedule, which is no small feat! Currently, a lot of people might be fixated on her split from Ben Affleck, as that's definitely made plenty of headlines.
However, I don’t want to talk about any of J.Lo’s past relationships today. No, I wanted to talk about the amazing career that Jennifer Lopez has had for multiple decades now. Because even though she might now have a lot of fame and money, to many of us, she’ll still always just be Jenny from the Block.
She Made Moves As A Fly Girl On In Living Color
Though not a member of the main cast of In Living Color, Jennifer Lopez got her start on the popular sketch comedy show as a dancer, and was definitely one of the highlights.
In-between segments, the Fly Girls would come out, and even back then, with her curly hair and immediately evident style, Jennifer Lopez would shake her groove thing to all of the hottest music at the time for Seasons 3 and 4 of the show.
She would later go on to be a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and even appeared in the music video for “That’s the Way Love Goes.”
How big of a presence was J.Lo back then as a dancer? So big that when she started landing roles in movies like Money Train and Blood and Wine, I remember a lot of people still called her “That Fly Girl from In Living Color.” So, in many ways, she definitely left a big impression when it came to her smooth moves.
Her Acting Chops Sparkled In Selena
As mentioned in the last entry, Jennifer Lopez got started on acting not long after she was really getting attention for her dancing. Her first acting gig was in a made-for-television movie called Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7 back in 1993.
She was featured in some other films, but arguably her biggest break came from 1997’s Selena, which was a biopic about the famous singer who was murdered by one of her fans.
For me, this was the movie that proved that Lopez was more than just a dancer who could act. Instead, she was an actor who could also dance, as she truly disappeared into her role as the famous singer.
Shame on me, but I’d actually never heard of Selena (which, as a movie, has a lot of great behind-the-scenes facts) before I saw this film. But, after watching it, I learned a great deal about her family, and everything they went through to make Selena the mainstream success she would become before she was unfortunately taken before her time.
She's An Underappreciated Horror Icon
Okay, so look. I know nobody would likely consider Jennifer Lopez to be one of the greatest scream queens of all time, but just hear me out.
Now, while J.Lo is probably most known for romantic comedies like Maid in Manhattan, The Wedding Planner, and Shall We Dance?, when it comes to her earlier work, my two favorite movies of hers are the horror flicks Anaconda (Which, I might add, came out the same year as Selena in 1997), and 2000’s The Cell (which I really need to write about someday).
Anaconda was schlocky fun, and it was marvelous to see Lopez go from the energetic seriousness of Selena to the utmost silliness of Anaconda (“Is snakes out there dis big?!”).
The Cell, however, is definitely one of the most underappreciated horror movies of the early 2000s. In this psychological thriller, scientists enter the mind of a serial killer to find his latest victim.
The imagery was often quite startling, and the story was really unnerving, but J.Lo played a convincing child psychologist, and the role was just further proof that Lopez really could do it all.
J-Lo Is A Singer Extraordinaire
It is literally impossible to talk about Lopez’s life without bringing up her musical career. That’s because she might very well be more known as a singer than as an actress.
With 9 albums under her designer belt (With the most recent being 2024’s This Is Me…Now), Lopez has been a prominent force in pop music dating all the way back to her 1999 debut album, On the 6.
She’s had multiple major singles to her name, such as “Waiting for Tonight,” “If You Had My Love,” and “Jenny From the Block,” and she’s been so popular over the course of her career that she even shared the stage with Shakira at the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show. I mean, come on now. How much bigger can you get?
She’s Made For A Great TV Judge, Too
We’ve had a lot of interesting judges over the course of American Idol’s lengthy run (Including some past contestants) , but one of the most interesting judges was Jennifer Lopez, who joined in the 10th season.
This was pretty huge, since she was basically seen as the replacement for Simon Cowell (Well, her and Steven Tyler), which were big shoes to fill.
She would also go on to executive produce and be a judge on World of Dance, which would debut back in 2017 (and what we here at CinemaBlend said “stood out” from other competition shows back in 2020).
And you know what? She was perfect for both shows. As somebody who cut her teeth both dancing and singing for many years, who else should you get beside the one and only Jennifer Lopez for those two jobs? Nobody else, that’s who.
Hustlers Was The Role Of A Lifetime
One would probably think that playing Selena would be the role of a lifetime for Lopez, and for a long time, that was certainly the case.
However, 2019 was the year that Hustlers came out, and most would agree that that was in fact Lopez’s best role.
Playing a veteran stripper, J.Lo received multiple nominations during award season, and won quite a few, including at the National Film & TV Awards, Hollywood Critics Association, and The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, just to name a few.
It’s pretty wild that J.Lo went from dancing in-between segments on In Living Color to winning awards for her acting, but there you have it.
And She's Still Going Strong
Lastly, I just wanted to talk about how J.Lo is still going strong. As mentioned earlier, she released an album this year, and she’s still acting regularly. 2023’s The Mother (which CinemaBlend’s own Adrienne Jones called “thoroughly enjoyable”) was a noteworthy movie for her, and just this year, we got the Netflix action movie Atlas.
Lopez is set to appear in the upcoming Kiss of the Spider Woman, and she just continues to stay busy. There are many, many celebrities from the early ‘90s who have unfortunately faded into obscurity, but J.Lo is certainly not one of them. And, as one of her longtime fans, I’m extremely grateful for that.
And, those are just a few aspects of J.Lo’s amazing career that I could talk about (I didn’t even mention her philanthropy!). For more news on all things Jennifer Lopez-related, be sure to swing by here often!
