It looks like Rihanna has Katy Perry as a Fashion Week pal in Paris. The two were spotted hanging at the Karl Lagerfeld fashion show this week, looking chummy. Rihanna has shown an interest in acting by taking classes recently, but perhaps this Barbados-born singer will make the catwalk her next big success!

Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in Saint Michael, Barbados, attended Charles F. Broome Memorial School and Combermere School in Barbados. At 15 years old, she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates. Friends introduced the trio to record producer Evan Rogers, and Rihanna and her mother spent the next year traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Barbados.

Before relocating to the U.S. at age 16, Rihanna tried her hat as a teen model and won the Miss Combermere Beauty Pageant and was an army cadet with the military of Barbados. But, it was clear that music was where she belonged.

Under Rogers’ support, she auditioned for Jay-Z, who was head of Def Jam Recordings at the time. The audition landed her a contract and she’s worked with producers such as Carl Sturken, Stargate, J.R. Rotem, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, and continues to enjoy her success.

Do you think that teens are influenced by how stars like Rihanna handle their personal turmoil, such as her serious issues with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown?

[Photo: Gemma Mary]