Jennifer Lopez Says She’s Always Fought to Be Taken Seriously as an Actress

29 September 2025

Jennifer Lopez in "Kiss of the Spider Woman". Roadside Attractions

In a revealing interview on CBS News Sunday Morning, Jennifer Lopez opened up about a struggle that has shadowed her entire career: her fight to be recognized as a serious actor rather than just a singer or dancer. At 56, she described feeling like an underdog, misunderstood, and often pigeonholed by public perception. She admitted that people’s first impressions are durable: “When they see you first as one thing, it’s hard for them to see you as something else,” she said.

Lopez was asked directly whether she had ever struggled to be taken seriously. She laughed and replied “At first? At first and maybe always.” She elaborated that part of the challenge lies in the public’s assumptions versus her own internal doubts. Even after playing roles opposite luminaries such as Robert Redford, George Clooney, Jane Fonda, and Robin Williams, she confessed, “People are not gonna really know who you are, your heart.” That tension between appearance and essence has been something she says she contends with constantly.

For Lopez the answer to her critics has always been steady forward motion. “I stay steady,” she declared. “I don’t change. I grow, but I don’t change.” She credits that approach with helping her weather years of skepticism, criticism, and assumptions about what she “should” do rather than what she felt drawn to.

Her upcoming film musical Kiss of the Spider Woman represents a particularly meaningful turning point. It’s her first foray into a musical feature, one she has said she’s waited for her whole life. In Lopez’s eyes this is not just a new acting challenge it’s a chance to expand perceptions of what she can do. She will portray Aurora / Ingrid Luna in the adaptation directed by Bill Condon.

Lopez has long been no stranger to criticism about her acting. In earlier phases of her career she was frequently dismissed or labeled in ways that minimized her ambition. In a 2022 interview, she said she often felt “treated like a punchline,” especially early on, as media and industry voices focused on her appearance, her identity as an entertainer, or her body more than her craft.

That history informs the resilience she projects now. Lopez said that over time she learned to let her work speak louder than the labels. She acknowledged that insecurities creep in “a little bit. Or maybe it’s just me in my own head” but described those as part of the public life she chose.

The underlying message of the interview is one of persistence. Lopez has had to prove again and again that she belongs in roles that demand dramatic depth, range, and presence not just spectacle or glamor. That she continues to push toward projects like Kiss of the Spider Woman signals her intention to lean into the challenge rather than shy from it.

This conversation also taps into broader industry dynamics about how female entertainers are judged. Lopez’s experience highlights how women in entertainment often encounter narrower expectation sets required to succeed in music, dance, film all while resisting reductive categorization. For Lopez, her statement “I stay steady” becomes an act of resistance against those limiting narratives.

Whatever the reception to her new work may be, Lopez seems positioned to claim it not as proof of her worth but as continuation of a trajectory she’s long traveled. She does not ask for validation. She seeks presence and in that presence, insists on being seen fully.