Girl in the Middle

David Lopez and Guadalupe Rodriguez encourage their three daughters to perform skits in their Bronx home, igniting a strong desire to perform in their second daughter, Jennifer. After high school graduation, she appears in the 1987 film My Little Girl with Mary Stuart Masterson and James Earl Jones. She also dances in the musical Synchronicity in Japan.

The Hollywood Train

After starring alongside Jimmy Smits and Edward James Olmos in Mi Familia , Lopez stars in the action comedy Money Train (left) with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. "She's as beautiful as a model, but she can act," director Joseph Ruben tells PEOPLE. She also begins filming Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson in Miami, where she spots 23-year-old Cuban waiter Ojani Noa.

March 21

Breakthrough Role

Lopez brings the murdered Tejano singer Selena back to life in a biopic, but not before beating out 11,000 competitors who flocked to auditions around the country and winning approval from Selena's padre Abraham Quintanilla. Comedian Paul Rodriguez, a Quintanilla family friend, tells PEOPLE, "Looking at Jennifer, you could swear that the killing was all just a bad nightmare."

June 01

Crossover Queen

Lopez's debut album, On the 6 – named after the subway train that shuttled her between her Bronx home and Manhattan dance auditions – produces five hit singles, including "If You Had My Love," and goes triple platinum.

December 27

Bad Night

Lopez and Combs are hauled into a Manhattan police station after fleeing a nightclub where a member of Combs' entourage fired several shots into the air when a bar patron insulted Combs. Three bystanders are injured by stray bullets. After chasing the couple through 11 red lights and finding a loaded gun in the front seat of their vehicle, police fingerprint and handcuff a sobbing Lopez to a bench, where she is grilled for 14 hours before being cleared and released. Combs, however, is charged with illegal handgun possession and bribery and will remain under a cloud until his acquittal nearly two years later. The shooter is found guilty on several charges.