In 1977, at the age of ten, Jackson was selected by producer Norman Lear to play a recurring role in the sitcom Good Times. Jackson's career as an actress began with the debut of the CBS variety show The Jacksons, in which she appeared alongside her siblings Tito, Rebbie, Randy, Michael, Marlon, Latoya and Jackie. In 1974, at the age of seven, Jackson appeared on stage in Las Vegas, Nevada alongside her siblings in a routine show at the original MGM Casino. Jackson commented, "No one ever asked me if I wanted to go into show was expected." Her father, however, planned for her to follow in the family's footsteps. The Jacksons settled in a gated mansion that they referred to as " Hayvenhurst." Although born into a family of musical prodigies, Jackson-whose love of horses initially inspired her to become a race-horse jockey-had no aspiration to become an entertainer. The Jackson 5's success allowed the entire family to move to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California in 1971. In March 1969, the group signed a record deal with Motown, and by the end of the year they had recorded the first of four consecutive number-one singles. By the time she was a toddler, her older brothers- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael-had already started to perform on stage at nightclubs and theaters as the Jackson 5. The family were lower-middle class and devout Jehovah's Witnesses. Janet Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the daughter of Katherine Esther ( née Scruse) and Joseph Walter Jackson, and is the youngest of the nine Jackson children. and Disciplineīiography 1966–1982: Early life and career debut 1.3 1986–1992: Control and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.1.2 1982–1985: Janet Jackson and Dream Street.1.1 1966–1982: Early life and career debut.Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (2007), for which Jackson won a NAACP Image Award, became her third consecutive film to open at number one at the box office, following Poetic Justice (1993) and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). Amidst her recording career, Jackson has also starred in feature films since the mid-1990s. She is ranked as the ninth most successful act in the history of rock music and the second most successful female artist in pop music history, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
Though Jackson is listed by the Recording Industry Association of America as the eleventh best-selling female artist in the United States with 26 million certified albums, Billboard magazine named her one of the top-ten selling artists in the history of contemporary music. Although critics have compared her contemporary work less favorably to that of her initial breakthroughs, the critical and commercial success of her innovative multi-platinum albums, music videos and choreography have contributed to Jackson's successful career as an entertainer. However, with the collaboration of record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jackson found record-breaking success, producing five consecutive number one studio albums on the Billboard 200 beginning with the release of Control (1986) followed by Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), janet. Jackson faced initial difficulties after launching her recording career in 1982, often criticized for having a limited vocal range and being yet another child from the Jackson family to become a recording artist. She went on to star in other television shows including Good Times, A New Kind of Family, Diff'rent Strokes, and Fame.
Initially performing on stage with her family at the age of seven, Jackson began her career as an actress with the variety television series The Jacksons. Born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Encino, California, she is the youngest member of the Jackson family of musicians. Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actress.