by Paul Fischer

Jennifer Lopez may enjoy telling the world that she’s Jenny from the block, but her jewelry suggests otherwise. Her engagement ring looks every bit the $1.2m it cost. The large, obtrusive diamond matches a pair of large diamond earrings, all of which symbolize Lopez’s transition from one-time working class girl from The Bronx to wealthy superstar. Curiously, one realizes that all of this is reflective in Maid in Manhattan. In a case of life imitating art, Lopez plays a hotel maid who lives in the Bronx and finds herself falling for a wealthy politician [Ralph Fiennes]. We all know how it ends, this romantic of fairy tales, much like Jennifer’s own life. Lopez doesn’t deny the parallels. "I lived in the Bronx for 20 years, which was two-thirds of my life, so going back there to film felt like normal. It felt like I never left, being on those streets. I know what it’s like to get up and go to work and get on a train." Oh yes, at one time La Lopez did indeed travel the New York subway system. "I worked at a bank at one time and did the whole 9-5 thing. It was hard." Lopez recalls.

Of course that was then, this is now. Lopez adds that, despite her fame and wealth, she works harder now than in the bad old days of banking and anonymity. "I work much more than I did then but I love what I do and that makes it a little better." Yet it is interesting that Lopez is attracted to playing on screen working class heroes-- Marisa Ventura in Maid in Manhattan, or the waitress Slim in Enough. Perhaps playing roles reflective of her roots is important for the actress? "No, for me it’s more when a good project comes along, I just respond to it." She says that she is attracted to films such as Maid in Manhattan, a film that was written specifically for her "because I understand those characters. They bring out something in me that enable me to help tell that particular story."

Lopez has achieved extraordinary success in a relatively short time. Stardom didn’t come easy to the actress, who had been trying to carve a niche for herself since appearing as a "fly girl" on the TV variety series "In Living Color" from 1991-1993. While promoting Antz at the Toronto Film Festival, Lopez first mentioned her desire to make the segue from acting to music. Looking back she remains surprised at how her dream of singing as well as acting resulted in stardom on a mass hysterical level. "Of course I was surprised by all of that, not that I didn’t work hard for the idea of wanting to make music at that time. For me it was something that I had to do and wanted to do so badly, even with movies, wanting to do better ones and grow as an actress. When you have that passion to act and sing, you don’t factor in becoming a celebrity in the public eye. It’s more about doing what you do and that other stuff is just a by-product of it in a weird way. Something else you have to accept and deal with."