To hear her tell it, Jennifer Lopez is just a girl from the Bronx who hopes no one wakes her up from the fairy tale she's been living. Indeed, the 31-year-old actress and singer has come very far, very fast. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, she went from an unknown who turned heads with her performance in 1997's "Selena" to a chart-devouring pop diva with whom nearly everyone in Hollywood wants to work. Her superstar status is punctuated by the unpleasant barometer of tabloid covers and late-night one-liners. Adding further magnitude to her triumph is the fact that, astoundingly, J-Lo became the highest-paid Latina actress to star in a Hollywood film, with her role in "Selena." But it seems clear that Lopez hasn't gotten where she is with just luck. She's done it with brute strength, undaunted determination and a great deal of talent. Honored for the first time by ShoWest with this year's Female Star of the Year award, Lopez spoke with Dylan Callaghan for The Hollywood Reporter about girl power, her roots and the fairy tale she hopes will never end.


The Hollywood Reporter: You're being honored by ShoWest as the Female Star of the Year. Tell me your reaction to that and how you feel about the whole Hollywood award thing in general.

Jennifer Lopez: I was very honored. I remember the first time I went to ShoWest and the room was filled with everybody - like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone - and I was just like, "Look at all these people! What am I doing here?" So to actually be in that kind of company receiving this kind of award is really amazing to me. It's almost unfathomable.

Thr: Aw, come on.

Lopez: What do you mean, come on? (Laughs.) When you're street and you come from the Bronx and you used to work in a friggin' shoe store making $3.25 an hour, this is all very big. It never really all sinks in. You just keep working hard and hoping nobody says, "Wake up, wake up!"

Thr: What do you think has made you so successful?

Lopez: I guess just hard work. I mean, I really, really work hard at what I do and try to make myself better. In this thing, and in the general journey of life, the whole point is to learn and keep growing, and that's what I strive for. I just want to do good things, things that I'm proud of, and that's what drives me every day.

Thr: Your dad is a hardworking computer technician, your mom's a schoolteacher and you attended some 12 years of Catholic school. How much do you think your distinctly wholesome, non-Hollywood upbringing had to do with your desire to strike out and become a star?

Lopez: I think my upbringing is what gave me the street smarts and common sense to help me function in this business. But I kind of think that people who are striving to do things in this business, they're kind of born with that. You're born as an artist. I don't think where you're from really has that much to do with it. I think it depends on the individual. You could be born in a cornfield-type of state somewhere or on the mean streets of the Bronx, but if you're an artist, you're an artist.

Thr: If you were forced to choose between singing and film acting, what would you choose?

Lopez: I get asked this all the time, and I think my answer has gone back and forth, but mostly I guess I'd say basically the same thing. I don't see boundaries that way, and nobody's going to force me to do anything.

Thr: No. Nobody's going to force J-Lo to do anything.

Lopez: (Laughs.) Yeah! They're going to have a pretty big fight on their hands.

Thr: I'm not going to try. But in a fun, hypothetical sense ...

Lopez: (Laughs.) You want me to choose.

Thr: The point of is not to force you. I'm just curious which you feel is more near and dear to you as an artist.

Lopez: Hmmm. I feel that acting fulfills me in a much different way - just being able to play different characters in different (situations) - it's something that's very fulfilling to me. But at the same time, music is my soul, you know what I mean? It's a more intimate thing - more you and who you are. So each is different that way, and I can't see myself choosing one over the other. That's why it's such a hard question to answer.

Thr: Tell me a little about "Enough," the new Michael Apted film you're starring in.

Lopez: It's a thriller, and I'm playing this regular girl. She's a waitress, and she thinks she's found Mr. Right. He's Prince Charming at first, but he turns abusive, so she has to go on the run with her child. More than that, it's really about taking control of these situations as women and finding that power to say, "Enough. I have to take care of myself." We do give so much of ourselves away sometimes. It's our nature to be loving and nurturing, and sometimes we forget about ourselves. It becomes a very girl-power, women's-empowerment kind of film.

Thr: If a woman's nature is to be nurturing and loving, what do you think a man's nature is?

Lopez: I think their nature is to protect, in a way, you know? To carry the burden and the load of responsibility. It's a different thing, it's about being strong and dominating - and not in a bad way. You look to that strength. That's the structure of families.

Thr: We can't help it.

Lopez: I know, and we can't help it either. Sometimes we get into trouble for our thing and sometimes you guys get in trouble for your thing.

Thr: How much did you find yourself drawing on your own personal relationships and life for this role?

Lopez: It was very personal, because we've all been in relationships where we come to realize that we've given away all our power. I've beenin relationships like that, I'm sure, as most women have. And this was very enlightening for me to go through those emotions again. It was a very tough movie for me in that way, too - to dredge up the past and go through those feelings again. But then it was great to go through the end when you say, "No, I'm not going to be a victim anymore."

Thr: You seem like a prepared, goal-oriented person. What is the next big thing on your career to-do list?

Lopez: I have a couple movies I'm working on this year but then, after that, I'd like to get back into the studio making a double album kind of thing - one English, one Spanish. But I have a lot of producing things going on. I've got a lot of stuff.

Thr: I've read that, in addition to being J-Lo, you've gone by such nicknames as La Lopez, La Guitarra, the Supernova. I have to ask you, what's the deal with you and the nickname thing?

Lopez: I don't know. You know, I don't give myself the nicknames. (Laughs.) People meet me and they do their own thing. It's all right, it's all good. It's all affection, I'm sure. I hope. I think.