Ana Maria Lombo, 22, was born in Medellin, Colombia and has spent her whole life traveling the world and performing music with her parents and two sisters. She went on stage for the first time at age 3, performing alongside her sister in matching dresses at a Mexican restaurant, singing in both English and Spanish. More recently, the family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and began performing with a 10-piece back-up band with a style that blends many different cultural influences. In 1999, the family went on a world tour with Julio Iglesias, Jr. performing as background vocalists. Popstars was Ana Maria’s first solo audition.
Ivette Sosa, 24, was born and raised in Edison, New Jersey. Of Puerto Rican descent, she began dancing at age 3 and has since always had a passion for musical theater with her sights set on making it to Broadway. While earning a B.F.A. in dance at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, she spent summers performing in regional theater productions including Will Rogers Follies, Fiddler on the Roof, Godspell, The Robber Bridegroom, and Funny Girl. In addition, Ivette co-wrote and starred in two cabaret shows in New York City and most recently appeared in a production of West Side Story at the famed La Scalla Opera House in Milan, Italy.
Maile Misajon, 24, of Irish, Filipino and Hawaiian decent, grew up in Long Beach, California, and began singing at age 3 alongside her two brothers and one sister with the International Children’s Choir, traveling all over the world performing for leaders including President Ronald Reagan. She pursued her passion for singing while attending Orange County High School of the Arts and later at UCLA, earning a bachelor’s degree in theater arts. Maile spent years singing with her father’s local Los Angeles band.
Nicole Scherzinger, 22, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Her mother was the lead hula dancer in a big Hawaiian family and taught Nicole to dance the hula when she was just a little girl. She always loved to sing and attended a theater arts high school in Louisville and later majored in theater arts at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She cut her academics short for the opportunity to go on tour with the rock group Days of the New, performing as a female background vocalist in concert opening for bands including Foo Fighters and Bush, and also sang on their CD.
Rosanna Tavarez, 24, was born in New York and raised in Miami, Florida. Her parents, both from the Dominican Republic, raised her and her younger brother, who is a jazz drummer, in an atmosphere of music. She began dancing at age 3 when her mother found her imitating the moves of the Solid Gold dancers and ballerinas from a televised performance of The Nutcracker. She attended New World School of the Arts high school in Miami, studied dance at the University of Michigan and was just one project away from finishing her graduate dance studies at Ohio State University when she got the call for Popstars.
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