The triple-threat star and filmmaker are sharing their success stories.
Jennifer Lopez and Tyler Perry will share their success stories when they are honored at this year's WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards virtual ceremony on its 10th anniversary -- and they're also sharing how others can follow in their footsteps.
"When I first came on the scene, I wasn't trying to be the size zero model, or say I wasn't Latin and change my name. I was Jennifer Lopez, I had a big butt, I embraced that. But I didn't just want to be the Latin actress," Lopez says in an interview for the awards show. "I really feel and operate with that sensibility all the time, that there's nothing that I could not accomplish if I wanted to. From very young, I never wanted to be put in a box. I wanted to be smart and athletic and a tomboy, but also very glam. That's why I became an actress and a performer, because you get to be a lot of different things."
The 51-year-old triple-threat star adds, "I'm so happy with everything that's happened in the past 10 years. But the next 10 years? Oh my god just wait and see!"
As for Perry, who has headed up 1,200 TV episodes and 22 feature films, he shares why it was important for him to open a 330-acre studio lot in Atlanta, Georgia.
"I wanted it to be a beacon for a lot of children," the 51-year-old billionaire filmmaker says. "So a lot of these poor, Black faces can see that I came from the same circumstances that they came from, and I was able to make it, and I was able to rise."
Fans can watch the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET by registering for the complimentary event.
RELATED CONTENT:
