Jennifer Lopez

While Jennifer Lopez has become one of the most legendary pop singers of all time, she did not start out as one. She began her career as a dancer in 1989. Her most high-profile appearance at the time was as a Fly Girl in the comedy series In Living Color. She made her acting debut five years later, but only got her big break in 1997 when she portrayed the legendary Latin singer Selena in Selena. She used her success in that movie as a springboard to start her music career just two years later.

Through this, she found success as a pop star, with her albums J.Lo and This Is Me…Then achieving both commercial and critical success in the early 2000s. Despite experiencing a slump from 2006 to 2009, Lopez made a career comeback in the 2010s. Today, Lopez has become a juggernaut in the industry and has been given lauded, to a great degree, for becoming a beacon of sorts for many Hispanic voices in the United States.