Jennifer Lopez reveals the major movie role she lost out to Madonna

Jennifer Lopez is a superstar in music and film, but previously, she has also had to audition for roles just like everyone else.

During her nearly 40 year career, the Marry Me star, now 56, has built an impressive list of acting credits, including her breakthrough role in the 1997 biopic Selena, in which she played Selena Quintanilla. 

However, before that success, Jennifer was still trying to land major roles and in 1995, she auditioned for Evita, a musical that tells the story of Argentine activist and actress Eva Perón.

Here's the story, straight from the diva's mouth:

The audition

On September 10, she shared this memory during a post-screening Q&A for her new movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman.

The Shotgun Wedding actress said, “I went to audition for Evita for director Alan Parker.” 

The loss

Jennifer further explained that she spent weeks preparing for the audition, determined to impress. But she quickly learned that the role for the movies, released in 1996, was already taken.

“I had been practicing for weeks and I sang my heart out and he goes, 'You’re amazing. You know Madonna has the part, right?',” the On The Floor singer recalled.

Jennifer said she left the audition politely, though disappointed. “I said, 'OK, bye-bye. Nice to meet you'.”

Success at last

This wasn’t the only time Jennifer missed out on a big part. Earlier this year, when Kiss of the Spider Woman premiered at Sundance, she reflected on her past auditions for other movie musicals.

The Dance Again songstress added, “I remember auditioning for Evita, I remember auditioning for Chicago and for Nine, getting very close on Nine, there were a lot of things that I had always hoped that I could do and just wasn’t the right time. But this is the right thing.”

Since then, Jennifer Lopez has starred in musical films like El Cantante (2006), Marry Me (2022) and now Kiss of the Spider Woman, which hits theaters on Friday, October 10.