was born May 16, 1966 in Gary, Indiana, United States. She is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress. Born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Encino California, she is the youngest member of the Jackson family of musicians. 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. She went on to star in other television shows including Good Times, A New Kind of Family, Diff'rent Strokes, and Fame.
After launching her recording career in 1982, Jackson saw moderate success with the release of her self-titled debut album and its successor Dream Street (1984). 
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. (1993), The Velvet Rope (1997), and All for You (2001).
Although Jackson experienced commercial decline with subsequent albums Damita Jo (2004) and 20 Y.O. (2006), her tenth studio album Discipline (2008) became her sixth album to debut at number one.
Though Jackson is listed by the Recording Industry Association of America as the eleventh top-selling female artist in the United States with 26 million certified albums, Billboard named her one of the top-ten selling artists in the history of contemporary music.
She is also ranked as the ninth most successful act in the history of rock and roll and the second most successful female artist in pop music history, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
Tyler Perry's feature film Why Did I Get Married? (2007), for which Jackson won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, 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). 
