Jordin Sparks was born on Staten Island, New York. She lived briefly in the town of Ridgewood, NJ on Orchard Place, and attended Orchard school. Sparks is currently homeschooled and is a resident of Glendale, Arizona.

As an actress, Sparks has appeared in several plays. Her first appearance was in March 2002 as an Emerald City dancer and as a poppy in The Wiz. She also appeared in Viet's production of Cinderella in June 2002 and another production of The Wiz in August 2002. She's also performed several times with Vaudeville Youth Theatre Company and Valley Youth Theatre in Phoenix.

In 2003, at the age of thirteen, Sparks recorded a five-song album titled For Now, working with Matthew Ward, a legendary Christian music artist, and Gary Leach, an engineer who has worked on several of Leann Rimes' albums. She appeared in a compilation album titled Live at Mr. Lucky's in 2004.

She was chosen to represent Thailand for the Australian Television program "World Telly Broadcast", which also featured Youth in Asia and was broadcast in 1996. The program was seen by audiences in Australia and throughout Southeast Asia.

Sparks finished second in 2004 at the Music in the Rockies national competition for aspiring Contemporary Christian Music artists.In 2004, Sparks appeared in America's Most Talented Kids twice, winning in her first appearance. She was one of seven to appear in a special championship edition of the show. This appearance followed two noted auditions in 2003, one with American Juniors and the other, Star Search. She has appeared with Alice Cooper (in his 2004 Christmas show) and has twice toured with Christian contemporary singer Michael W. Smith.

Sparks appeared on the January 17, 2007 broadcast of American Idol, earning a "gold ticket" and the right to appear in the Hollywood Round. Sparks first auditioned in Los Angeles, California. She was not invited to Hollywood. She returned home to compete in the Fox affiliate-sponsored Arizona Idol, which she won. The winner of Arizona Idol was guaranteed an audition with the producers of American Idol at the Seattle, Washington auditions. Sparks was featured in the audition episode that aired on January 17, 2007. She sang "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion.

Sparks was the only contestant in season 6 who was never in the bottom 2 or 3. The only times she appeared to be in the bottom 2 or 3 were in the 2nd round of the semi-finals and also in the "Idol Gives Back" special. In the latter case, Seacrest made it appear that Sparks would be eliminated but then stated that everyone was safe due to the charity nature of the program.

On May 23,2007, she was declared the winner of the 6th season of American Idol. She is the youngest winner of American Idol.