Jennifer Lopez’s journey from pop icon to movie star to fashion superstar – oh, and that Oscars snub? Forget about it
With a reported net worth of US$400 million and earning an estimated US$40 million a year, Jennifer Lopez has come a long way since she appeared as a Fly Girl dancer on the hit show Living Color in 1991.
Wanting to prove her versatility as an entertainer, she decided to pursue a career in acting. She was able to use what she learned on stage: she played Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez in the 1997 biopic Selena, for which she reportedly earned US$1 million. She was the first Latina celebrity to earn a seven figure sum from a movie.
Playing Selena inspired her to make her own album. Her manager warned her that no one would take her seriously as an actress if she produced a record, according to The New York Times. However, she insisted on doing so. In a CBS Sunday Morning interview, she proclaimed: “Once I did the movie Selena, I was like, ‘No, I’m doing it’.”
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The 1999 record transformed her into a pop icon with the ability to act, sing and dance. “On the 6”, her first album, paid homage to her early days commuting on the subway from The Bronx to Manhattan. It was a commercial success and sold eight million copies worldwide, according to Rolling Stone. This led her to work on a second album, “J.Lo”, which she released in 2001.
Her journey from the Bronx to Hollywood is a master class in displaying the required talent, grit and determination needed to build a career. She was snubbed by the Oscars this year for her role as Ramona Vega in Hustlers. But she reminded the Academy what they missed during a high-octane Super Bowl performance with Shakira, which was viewed by 102 million people, three times that of the Oscars.
The Oscars and the Super Bowl are not the only reasons she’s in the spotlight. After the Academy overlooked her performance, she landed an endorsement with American denim brand Guess, returning as the global face for its spring/summer 2020 collection.
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And Versace’s latest ad featured Lopez in printed green jungle patterns. In November 2019, luxury brand Coach announced that she would be the new face of its campaign.
What’s the secret to Lopez’s appeal that cuts across different market segments? “I think she’s pretty timeless,” explains Holly Mirza, co-founder of London PR firm Fabric told The Business of Fashion. “She’s also got a really clean-cut image … and she’s aspirational. The younger generation looks up to her as a fashion icon.”
Lopez has an ability to convert her fame into formidable numbers and online engagement. When she closed the Versace spring/summer 2020 fashion show wearing the iconic jungle dress, she generated US$9.4 million in media mentions, reports The Business of Fashion.
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The Business of Fashion adds that Coach experienced the same surge. Searches for the brand jumped 67 per cent in November 2019, the month it was announced that Lopez would be fronting its campaign and searches for Coach bags rocketed 204 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Despite the Oscar snub, Jennifer Lopez is still a force as can be seen by her Super Bowl performance and clothing endorsements. After being so influential for the past three decades, does Lopez really need an Oscar?
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After decades of fame, J.Lo is still a powerful force – as her recent Super Bowl performance confirmed – and her ability to convert her fame into big numbers and online engagement means that everything she touches or endorses turns to gold