Since her marriage to Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez has freed herself from scandal. Now the Latina powerhouse shows the world how to do it all…

When people taunt me by referring to me as “Celly From the Block”—a trite allusion to my sassy mouth, ’round-the-way demeanor and, of course, my Puerto Rican heritage—I’m actually flattered. See, I’ve been rooting for Jennifer Lopez since 1991, when Keenan Ivory Wayans introduced her as the newest Fly Girl on his sketch-comedy show, In Living Color. Back then J.Lo’s naturally dark hair was cut boyishly short, her hips and thighs were slightly fleshier, and her lips were perpetually slathered with vampy red lipstick. The bronzed siren with the flowing caramel tresses and the mile-long eyelashes was still years away, but she was a natural beauty. Even more importantly, she could execute the most dynamic dance routines, punctuated with high kicks and punches, with equal amounts of grace and strength.

She’d seduce you one minute and hit you with that right jab the next. In those days, I liked Lopez for simple reasons: She was Puerto Rican, pretty, charming and a gifted dancer.

Throughout the years Lopez morphed into a screen idol, pop star and fashion mogul, and like all media-savvy audiences, I dissected her every move like an overeager critic. Her rendition of the late Tejana singer Selena was eerily spot-on. Her comedic timing was perfect in Monster-in-Law. The scene in which Charlie (played by Lopez) drugs her sabotage-minded soon-to-be mother-in-law (Jane Fonda) and watches her fall face-first into her dinner? Priceless.

She’s crafted praise-worthy music, too. Songs such as “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “Waiting For Tonight” and “I’m Real” fared well on radio for a reason: Though she may not have had Mariah’s pipes, Lopez excelled within her own niche of summery, danceable pop cuts with just that slight hip-hop edge.

As a public figure, there’s no denying her influence. After wearing the now-infamous green Versace dress to the 2000 Grammy Awards, every Hollywood ingenue started rocking dresses with similarly risqué necklines. When she showed her pink diamond Harry Winston engagement ring to Diane Sawyer during the Ben Affleck era, pampered brides started seeking out the rare gems. And think about it: Lopez’s rear end alone sparked a cultural trend, with men and women everywhere voicing an appreciation for a curvy behind.

When each of her relationships unraveled (Ojani Noa, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Chris Judd, Ben Affleck), I didn’t buy into the tabloids’ depiction of her as a vicious maneater. I always saw her as someone who, in the pursuit of that ideal, all-consuming love, sometimes operated on impulse rather than logic. And what woman can’t relate to that?

There have been many moments where I’ve grown disillusioned with J.Lo. Her portrayal of an Italian woman in The Wedding Planner sent me into a self-righteous tirade, and I complained that she’d betrayed Latinos by “passing”—if only in film. I wasn’t implying Lopez should only accept roles with a clearly defined Latino background—after all, her characters in Out of Sight and The Cell were both ethnically ambiguous. But race and culture weren’t major plot points in either of those films, so the characters’ backgrounds were inconsequential. In The Wedding Planner, a cute but hardly profound romantic comedy, Mary Fiore (Lopez) had to grapple with her conservative Italian father, who wanted her to settle down with a nice Italian boy. There was no reason why Mary couldn’t have been, say, Cuban or Colombian, but instead the filmmakers made her Italian, probably so the flick would be more palatable to mainstream (read: white) audiences. And that was downright insulting. Lopez should have convinced producers to make her character Latina. It may seem like a militant stance, but after stars such as Rita Hayworth, Lynda Carter and Raquel Welch all changed their names or disguised their ethnic backgrounds to succeed in Hollywood, do we need a main Latina icon to eschew her race for a silly film?

Still, that was a minor snag compared to when she donned a maid outfit and had Ralph Fiennes’s wealthy character woo her and ultimately save her from drudge work (and single motherhood) in Maid in Manhattan. I couldn’t believe someone of her stature would be complicit in perpetuating such stereotypes. Yes, there are Latina maids out there, but we also have saleswomen, teachers, doctors, lawyers and artists, so why is it we always have to be either packin’ heat or pushing brooms onscreen? When so many older Latino actors had to battle with being subjected to these roles (Lupe Ontiveros, for one, has played a maid more than 20 times in TV shows such as Who’s The Boss? and Charlie’s Angels and films such as As Good as It Gets), why would someone who has choices take on such a role?

But Lopez always bounced back. After all, she never lost her Bronx accent or swagger. She always waved the Puerto Rican flag. Now more than ever, she’s using her influence to make films and music that address the Latino experience.

She brushed up on her Spanish and released a full-length Spanish album, this spring’s Como Ama Una Mujer. She produced this summer’s Héctor Lavoe biopic, El Cantante, in which she co-starred with her husband of three years, salsa singer Marc Anthony, not to mention the upcoming Bordertown, which discusses the real-life murders of hundreds of immigrant women along the Mexico-Texas border. She’s even releasing another English-language pop album, this month’s Brave.

In my eyes, Jennifer Lopez is rather brave. I kept tearing up while watching El Cantante, thinking to myself, “This could be it: the project that breaks the door down for Latinos.” Save Piñero, Frida and a handful of low-budget indies, there has been a glaring absence of films celebrating and immortalizing the lives of Latino icons. We have yet to make a Lady Sings the Blues or even an Introducing Dorothy Dandridge… Hell, we don’t even have a Crooklyn. So to me, El Cantante was groundbreaking both artistically and culturally—and had Lopez not produced the film, Lavoe’s story might never have been told.

So hate on her all you want or take the harder route, and give Lopez her due. I sure will.