Here’s a look at milestone year in the superstar’s life and career that continues to keep getting better and better.
After nearly 30 years in the entertainment industry, Jennifer Lopez is at the top of her game -- and showing no sign of slowing down.
First gaining notoriety in 1991 as a Fly Girl on In Living Color, Lopez spent the next decade proving she was a quadruple threat by dominating Hollywood (Selena, The Wedding Planner), music (On the 6, “I’m Real (Murder Remix)”) and the fashion industry (Versace dress, anyone?). As her star power continued to rise, so did her high-profile relationships, which included romances with P. Diddy, Ben Affleck and Marc Anthony, making her a staple on magazine covers and the ongoing subject of news articles covering her every move. In 2015, Entertainment Tonight even honored her with the first-ever Icon Award for her ongoing success and rise to superstardom.
“It really does mark a career, something like this,” she said while accepting the award. “You realize how long you've been doing it, and you realize that people actually do appreciate what you do. It means a lot and I'll treasure this.”
Now, at 50 years old, Lopez has become a formidable actress, singer, dancer and fashion designer with 2019 turning out to be one of her best years yet. Here’s a look at a number of career and personal milestones that have marked the past 12 months while several high-profile events in 2020 -- ahem, the Super Bowl halftime show -- may prove that the next 12 are going to be even better.
HOLLYWOOD
PAST: From 1997 to 1998, Lopez transformed her career from dancer to actress thanks to star-turning roles in Anaconda, Selena, portraying the late singer Selena Quintanilla, and Stephen Soderbergh’s Out of Sight as U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco opposite George Clooney. The latter two films, meanwhile, earned her some of the best reviews of her acting career. Soon after, she became a rom-com staple with The Wedding Planner, Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law and The Back-Up Plan scoring big at the box office.
2019: In recent years, Lopez’s biggest hits have been voice roles in animated films like Home and Ice Age: Collision Course. But The Boy Next Door and Second Act proved audiences still had an interest in seeing Lopez onscreen, and in 2019, the actress landed her biggest live-action opening weekend yet with Hustlers. The critically acclaimed drama based on the real-life story of strippers who con a number of Wall Street men earned $33 million during its debut and has garnered buzz for Lopez’s soon-to-be-iconic turn as Ramona, the ringleader of the group who makes a jaw-dropping entrance to Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.”
“You know, I'm looking at some of these reviews and thinking like, 'OK!' and feeling like I already won. It's amazing. I'm not really thinking about anything else except kind of living in the moment and feeling really happy that people are loving it,” Lopez told ET about all the praise.
2020: Following the rave reviews Hustlers generated for Lopez, the actress was nominated for several major awards, including the 2020 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. While she was snubbed by the 92nd annual Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actress category, Lopez is still up for the Best Support Female at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which are handed out the night before the Oscars. “I think these things are just a big thrill ride. You know? I don't know what it is about them. Any way you go,” Lopez said of the awards season roller coaster she’s been on. And even before the Oscar nominations were officially announced, Lopez said if she wasn’t included that she really has “nothing to complain about.”
While Husters may be behind her at this point, the actress still is lining up roles. She not only slayed her hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, but she is set to reunite with her Anaconda co-star, Owen Wilson, in the upcoming adaptation of Marry Me, which is was spotted filming in New York City.
MUSIC AND DANCE
PAST: In 1999, Lopez made good on her musical ambitions with the release of her debut album, On the 6. Bolstered by the Billboard Hot 100 topper, “If You Had My Love,” and music’s Latin explosion at the time, the album went on to sell nearly three million copies. She would continue to top the charts in the years that followed with “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” with Ja Rule and “On the Floor.” In total, she has released eight studio albums, with the first four going platinum in the U.S. In 2016, she launched a three-year residency in Las Vegas, grossing over $100 million ticket sales during the run, and served as executive producer and judge on the reality competition series, World of Dance.
2019: In addition to topping the charts, Lopez became a staple on MTV during the height of its music video era. Last year, the network honored her with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs, making her the first Latin performer to merit the prize. During the televised ceremony, she performed a show-stopping medley of her biggest video hits. Meanwhile, the year kicked off with the third season of World of Dance followed by her first concert tour in seven years in celebration of her 50th birthday, which included her first-ever, sold-out performance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Additionally, she is slated to receive the Premio Corazón Award at the 2019 iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina celebration on Nov. 2.
2020: While no new music is slated for 2020, Lopez will headline the Super Bowl LIV halftime show alongside Shakira in Miami, Florida, on Sunday, Feb. 2. The sporting event will mark the singer’s first Super Bowl (and largest televised) performance and will also serve as a long-awaited follow up to her 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup performance. “I love that the Super Bowl has two women performing this year. That they have two Latinos performing this year,” Lopez said at the time of the announcement. “It's the marker of a new time, not just for the NFL but for this country. It sends an important message.”
With just days left until the sporting event, Lopez took to social media on to get fans excited for her upcoming performance. “Waiting for my cue like ... Only ? days until #SuperBowlLIV! ✨? ✨ The countdown is on. Are you ready?” she captioned the cute clip. In the video, the entertainer rocked a Guess crop top sweatshirt, workout leggings, and sneakers, as she pretends to get in position on the 25th yard line. “I'll just be here on the 25 yard line waiting for my cue,” she told the camera.
FASHION
PAST: In 2000, Lopez officially added fashionista to her name when she stepped onto the 42nd GRAMMY Awards red carpet wearing an exotic green, silk chiffon Versace dress. (The dress was such a hit that it reportedly inspired Google to create an image search function.) The now-iconic outfit became a show-stopping moment for the actress-singer-dancer who subsequently became a reliable red carpet staple, pushing her fashion statements further and further and even making Juicy sweatsuits a trend. In 2001, she founded the lifestyle brand J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez, which included clothing, cosmetics and a line of fragrances for women.
2019: With a fragrance empire reportedly worth $2 billion, Lopez released her 25th official perfume, Promise, which, according to Refinery29, was “created to encapsulate this whirlwind period.” In June, acknowledging her years of undeniable fashion choices and ever-growing brands, Lopez received the Fashion Icon Award at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards. “I think we all realize the power fashion has right at the beginning,” she said while accepting the award. “When you wear your special dress and your daddy says you look so beautiful and your grandma fawns over you, you understand that how people see you is important and a lot of that is expressed in what you wear.” Later in the year, she made Vanity Fair’s annual and illustrious best-dressed list. Most recently, she shocked the fashion world when she walked in a recreation of the iconic green dress during Versace's Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show in Milan.
2020: Speaking of Versace, she kicked off 2020 with a new campaign photographed by duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Days later, she turned up the glamour as the face of Guess and Marciano Worldwide in an old Hollywood-inspired campaign shot by photographer Tatiana Gerusova. With Lopez a mainstay during the awards season contender, there was no shortage of stunning red carpet appearances. At the Golden Globes, the actress wore a dramatic oversized bow Valentino gown before returning to her signature curve-hugging style at Critics' Choice Awards.And then there’s her upcoming wedding with Alex Rodriguez, which will double as a fashion event thanks to the anticipation surrounding her fourth walk down the aisle.
ROMANCE
PAST: Ever since the beginning of her career, Lopez’s romances have always been headline news. While she’s been married three times -- Ojani Noa (1997-1998), Cris Judd (2001-2003) and Marc Anthony (2004-2014) -- Lopez “[doesn’t] really count” the first two. “I was very young the first two times I tried to get married,” she said in a behind-the-scenes video for her “It’s My Party” tour. Additionally, she’s been one-half of several high-profile romances, including one with P. Diddy, from 1999 to 2001, and another with Ben Affleck, from 2002 to 2004. The latter earned the moniker, “Bennifer,” becoming one of the first celebrity couple nicknames. Her last long-term relationship before Rodriguez was with Beau Casper Smart, from 2011 to 2016.
2019: After first being spotted together in February 2017, Lopez and Rodriguez have grown inseparable while becoming one of Hollywood’s most popular and favorite romances. Two years later, in March 2019, the couple announced their engagement after the former MLB star got down on one knee. In September, the pair celebrated their upcoming nuptials with family and friends during a glamorous engagement party. “There was lots of love in the room and their children -- Alex's children, J.Lo's children -- both of their mothers, J.Lo's father, were all here,” host Carole Bayer Sager revealed to ET.
2020: “Now it’s been three years now,” she said in the same video, revealing that the wedding would happen sometime in 2020. “Soon, not soon-soon but next year.” She also added that she’d “like a big wedding, I’d like to get married in a church this time. Never been married in a church.” Speaking with ET, Lopez also revealed the event will be a family affair with 11-year-old son Max walking her down the aisle.
And no matter what happens in 2020, she told ET at the Critics' Choice Awards that she couldn’t feel more blessed with her current situation. “I mean, my life right now is just so amazing,” Lopez said. “My personal life, my kids, everything. Everything's just in a great place, and I feel really lucky.”
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