Queen Latifah

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Also see the Arab singer Latifa

Queen Latifah (born Dana Elaine Owens on March 18, 1970) is a Grammy-winning American rapper/singer and Academy Award-nominated actress.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Music career 1.3 Acting career 1.4 Other work 1.5 Personal life 2 Discography 3 Selected filmography 4 Awards 5 References 5.1 Footnotes 5.2 Interviews 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Queen Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Lancelot Owens, a police officer, and Rita Owens, a high-school art teacher. They divorced when Latifah was 8. ^[1] She performed the number "Home" from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. Her stage name, Latifah (لطيفة), meaning "nice" in Arabic, was given to her when she was 8 by her Muslim cousin. While in high school, she was a power forward on her basketball team. Her father also gave her lessons in karate and firearms use.

[edit] Music career

Latifah started her career beatboxing for the rap group Ladies Fresh. In 1988, local DJ Mark the 45 King heard a demo version of Latifah's single, "Princess of the Posse", and gave the demo to Fab Five Freddy (who at the time hosted Yo! MTV Raps). Freddy helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records. They released Latifah's first album, All Hail the Queen, in (1989). She was 18 at the time. In that same year, she also appeared as "Referee" on the UK label 'Music Of Life's album "1989-The Hustlers Convention (live)" remonstrating between MC Duke & an unknown emcee in the crowd not to battle & to deal with the "diss" laid down by Duke as a "man" she then gets cussed for "not being English". Her debut managed to be both a critical and commercial success and was followed by the albums Nature of a Sista and Black Reign, which contained the hit single, U.N.I.T.Y., for which she won a Grammy. After releasing four rap albums (the fourth being Order in the Court, released in 1998), she released a soul/jazz standards album in 2004 called The Dana Owens Album.

[edit] Acting career

From 1993 to 1998, Latifah had a starring role on Living Single, a FOX sitcom; she also wrote and performed its theme music. She began her film career as a supporting actress in movies like House Party 2 (1991), Juice, Jungle Fever(1991), and Set It Off (1996).

Latifah first attracted notice for her role as a lesbian in the 1996 box-office hit, Set It Off, and subsequently had a supporting role in the Holly Hunter film Living Out Loud (1998). Although she had already received some critical acclaim, she gained mainstream success after being cast as Matron "Mama" Morton in the Oscar-winning musical Chicago, the recipient of the Best Picture Oscar. Latifah received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" for her role. In 2003 she co-starred with Steve Martin in the film Bringing Down the House, which was a big success at the box office. Since then, she has had both leading and supporting roles in a multitude of films that received varied critical and box office receptions, including Scary Movie 3, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Taxi, and Beauty Shop.

Her latest film, released in early 2006, is a romantic comedy/drama entitled Last Holiday. Latifah has received some notably positive reviews for the role, including a statement by film critic Richard Roeper that "this is the Queen Latifah performance I've been waiting for ever since she broke into movies".^[2] Also in early 2006, Latifah voiced Ellie the mammoth in the animated film, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (her first voice appearance in an animated film), and will soon appear in the drama Stranger Than Fiction and a remake of Hairspray, playing Motormouth Maybelle opposite John Travolta. Currently, she is filming This Christmas in Warren, NJ, alongside co-stars Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy, Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love.^[3]

[edit] Other work

Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for Cover Girl cosmetics, has developed her own line of cosmetics for women of color called the Covergirl Queen Collection and Curvation ladies underwear; she has starred in several commercials for the line, as well as a commercial with fellow spokeswoman and singer Faith Hill. She has also had her own talk show, The Queen Latifah Show, from 1999 to 2001. She has been, and still is to this day, a spokesperson for Pizza Hut.

Latifah is one of two hip-hop artists to receive an Academy Award nomination in an acting category (Best Supporting Actress, Chicago, 2002). The other is Will Smith (Best Actor, Ali, 2001).

[edit] Personal life

Latifah's older brother Lance was killed in 1992 in a biking accident involving the motorbike that Latifah had just bought him. She still wears the key to the motorbike around her neck and dedicated Black Reign to him. In 1993, she was the victim of a carjacking, in which a friend of hers was shot. In 1996, she was arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana and a hand gun; she was fined and sentenced to two years' probation.

In her 1999 autobiography, Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman, Latifah discussed how her brother's death led to a bout of depression and drug abuse from which she later recovered.

Queen Latifah also has two other sisters and a brother from her father's post-marriage from Queen Latifah's mother, Rita Owens.

Because of her portrayal of a lesbian in Set It Off and her avoidance of discussing her romantic life, tabloid media sometimes speculate that she is a lesbian. Latifah responded to these rumors in her autobiography by saying: "It's insulting when someone asks, 'Are you gay?' A woman cannot be strong, outspoken, competent at running her own business, handle herself physically, play a very convincing role in a movie, know what she wants—and go for it—without being gay? Come on." However, Queen Latifah is an advocate for same sex marriage and other gay rights issues.

In early 2003, Latifah had breast reduction surgery to relieve back pain. She also works out with a trainer and kickboxes.^[4] In March 2006, she announced that she is in the early stages of adopting a child, and will possibly have a baby by the beginning of 2007.^[5]

Queen Latifah has just recently written a children's book entitled "Queen of the Scene" (2006) to encourage young girls to accomplish their goals.

[edit] Discography

• All Hail the Queen (1989) (Uncertified: 150,000 copies sold)
• Nature of a Sister' (1991) (uncertified: 90,000 copies sold)
• Black Reign (1993) (Gold) (Gold Certification: 480,000 copies sold)
• Order in the Court (1998) (uncerified: 50,000 copies sold)
• She's the Queen: A Collection of Hits (2002) (uncertified:10,000 copies sold)
• The Dana Owens Album (2004) (Gold) (Gold certification: 510,000 copies sold)

[edit] Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Hairspray	Motormouth Maybelle
	Life Support	Ana Willis	TV film
2006	Stranger Than Fiction	Penny Escher
	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Ellie the wooly mammoth	(voice)
	Last Holiday	Georgia Byrd
2005	Beauty Shop	Gina Norris	(also producer)
2004	Taxi	Belle
	The Cookout	Security Guard	(also producer)
	Barbershop 2: Back in Business	Gina
2003	Scary Movie 3	Aunt Shaneequa
	Bringing Down the House	Charlene Morton	(also producer)
2002	Chicago	Matron "Mama" Morton
	Brown Sugar	Francine
1998	Living Out Loud	Liz Bailey
1996	Set It Off	Cleopatra 'Cleo' Sims
1992	Juice	Ruffhouse M.C.
1991	House Party 2	Zora

[edit] Awards

• Grammy Award, Best Rap Solo Performance U.N.I.T.Y.
• Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress Chicago (nomination)
• BET Award, Best Actress 2003
• Golden Globes, Best Supporting Actress Chicago (nomination)
• Image Award, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Bringing Down the House 2004
• SAG Award, **Best Ensemble Chicago

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Interviews

• BeliefNet interview (January 12, 2006)
• TheStar Q&A (January 12, 2006)
• BlackNews interview (January 9, 2006)
• MovieHole interview (March 31, 2005)
• CinemaConfidential interview (October 7, 2004)
• BlackFilm interview (March, 2003)

[edit] External links

• Queen Latifah at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Site for The Dana Owens Album
• Fansite
• Jet Review of Latifah's autobiography
• Queen Latifah biography