Guess Who This Striped Sweetie Turned Into!

She's a Jersey girl who went to school in Maryland and known by friends as Christine Flores ... but you know her by a different name. She's Cuban-American and grew up as a huge Janet Jackson fan. It wasn't long before she signed to Def Jam ... at just 19 years old.

She blew up after just a couple of albums ... working alongside Jay-Z and mega-producer L.A. Reid when her third album came around in 2005. She enjoyed commercial success as a singer but her dream was to be an actress.

She achieved that dream ... earning her first lead in the 2003 flick "Love Don't Cost a Thing."