Paula Abdul (b. 1962) is a pop singer and choreographer who started her career as a cheerleader for the L.A. Lakers.
She is perhaps most well known for her 1989 hit single "Opposites Attract" featuring a music video in which she danced with the animated character MC Skat Kat. Eight years later, she covered the song on Muppets Tonight in episode 206 with Clifford performed bunraku-style in contrast to her previous cartoon partner. The episode ended with Abdul singing "Lean on Me" with the Muppet cast.
In 1999, she appeared at the premiere of Muppets from Space.
For Sesame Street, Abdul choreographed and appeared in the 2003 direct-to-video title Zoe's Dance Moves, where she offers dance lessons to Zoe after she misses her scheduled class. Together, they choreograph new dance moves in a number of styles including hip-hop and ballet.
Abdul paired again with the Muppets in The Muppets Mayhem episode "Eight Days a Week" when Lips calls her to make a cameo in The Electric Mayhem's documentary. She arrives at the Shack wearing an MC Skat Kat t-shirt, who, she explains, Lips originally introduced her to.
Janice sings "Straight Up" in the Electric Mayhem's Song Association video for Elle.
Her choreography work includes music videos for several Janet Jackson songs, ZZ Top's "Velcro Fly," and Debbie Gibson's "Shake Your Love." For Hollywood, she has choreographed the movies Private School (with Phoebe Cates), A Smoky Mountain Christmas (with Dolly Parton), Dragnet (with Dan Aykroyd), Can't Buy Me Love (with Seth Green), The Running Man (with Arnold Schwarzenegger), Coming to America (with Eddie Murphy), The Doors (with Debi Mazar), Jerry Maguire (with Cuba Gooding, Jr.), American Beauty (with Annette Bening), and Black Knight (with Martin Lawrence), among others.
She has also appeared in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, That's So Raven, Family Guy, Fresh Off the Boat, and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and has hosted, judged, or guest-judged on American Idol, The X Factor, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, RuPaul's Drag Race, Lip Sync Battle, and The Masked Dancer.