Why Jennifer Lopez Still Considers Herself A Hollywood Underdog

Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez has a lot of critical plaudits under her belt. Per IMDb, she was nominated for an Emmy award in 2020 for her Super Bowl halftime show appearance and has had some acclaim for her performances in films like "Selena," "Out of Sight," "Hustlers" and "The Cell." Her work has helped to generate thousands at the box office (per The Numbers) and made her a reliable, bankable face in the romantic comedy and action film worlds.

Even though she's been established in the entertainment world ever since she burst onto the scene as a Fly Girl for Fox's "In Living Color," Lopez has faced a struggle to be taken seriously as an actress by critics. For instance, she's accumulated 13 Razzie nominations and was nominated as their Worst Actress of the Decade in 2010 for the movies she appeared in during the '00s. As such, a recent interview with the star of the upcoming film "Marry Me" confirms that she still feels like an underestimated figure in Hollywood.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Lopez admitted that she not only thinks she's an underrated figure in the acting business; she also feels like she "wasn't the one that was supposed to be in the room" due to her working class roots, which included no entertainment connections. "I think I'm an underdog. I always feel like I'm scraping from the bottom," she said. "That's part of being Puerto Rican and from the Bronx and a woman. Not being born into a family with money. Not knowing anybody in the business." 

But the actress was determined to follow her own path to Hollywood success. "I'm going to just try. I'm going to try to get in here," she continued. Lopez added that she is well aware that she has been the target of critical brickbats over the span of her career. "You know, I think I've done some nice work over the years, some really nice work," she said. "But there is a club that I just wasn't a part of." 

That "club" seems to represent an echelon of critical acceptance that keeps her work on the underestimated side of the fence. The fact that her last film, "Hustlers," was denied any Oscar recognition after Lopez garnered a SAG award nod and a Golden Globe accolade was not lost on the actress per a 2020 interview with Oprah Winfrey for the mogul's "2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus Tour" (per Deadline).

"I was sad. I was a little sad because there was a lot of buildup to it," she said. Noting that "Hustlers" provided her with "more [good notices] than ever in my career," the lack of a nod was "a little bit of a letdown," she told Winfrey.