“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,” she explained.

“I had a big butt, I embraced that, but I didn’t just wanna be the Latin actress or the one who played those roles. I wanted to do different roles.”

Several more film credits followed in the 1990s. However, in 1999, Jennifer Lopez took a leap of faith and moved into a different field when she launched her singing career and released her debut album.

“I remember feeling comfortable up there and in my own skin, and that performing came naturally to me,” she said of the experience in an interview with InStyle.

After her performance in the mentioned biopic Selena, Lopez knew she wanted to pursue a singing career.

“It was a great thing for [Selena Quintillana-Perez] to be my mentor, in a way, and to teach me so much about, yes, how to navigate this business, but also how to navigate through life,” she said in another interview.

“You never know what’s going to happen. You have to live in the moment, you have to seize the day. And so I decided after that movie to make my first record. And I did.”

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