Jennifer Lopez needed life experience for TV role

Jennifer Lopez needed to explore the "complexities and the complications of life" before starring in Shades of Blue.

The singer and actress currently stars in the TV series as a New York Police Detective Harlee Santos, a single mother caught up in an FBI anti-corruption investigation. It's a grittier turn than her previous starring roles in romantic comedies Monster-in-Law and Maid in Manhattan, but Jennifer believes each job arrives at the ideal moment.

"Even though I've learned more and I've grown as an actor and as a person, I think it just would be different," she told Glamour.com when asked if she could go back and portray another character again.

"It would have to be at a certain place, and I think that's why you get cast and why certain roles come to you. I'm a big believer in that. I think this role came at a perfect time for me with (Shades of Blue) because I needed to explore the complexities and the complications of life and where you go and why we do the things we do."

Jennifer is a mother to twins, son Max and daughter, Emme, eight, from her marriage to singer Marc Anthony. Her little girl is "fascinated" by her mum's career and tuned into the first few nights of the star's Las Vegas residency shows, until Jennifer realised it was too late for her to be up.

As Emme gets older, she's becoming more and more aware of her own life; an aspect which the pop star loves to witness.

"She's starting to (ask these questions), but I think she's very much her own person," Jennifer added. "She loves what she loves, and I like that about her. I want her to have her own identity. I show her a lot of different things, so it's good."