Queen Latifah mini-bio: Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by the stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress.
Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Grammy Award and five additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey to Rita, a schoolteacher who worked at Irvington High School, and Lance Owens, a policeman. Her parents divorced when Latifah was eight.
Latifah performed the number "Home" from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. Her stage name, Latifah, meaning "nice" in Arabic, was given to her when she was eight by her cousin.
Latifah was raised in the Baptist religion,and, while in high school, she was a power forward on her basketball team.
In the early days of her career, she was one of the members of the original version of the Flavor Unit, which, at that time, was a crew of emcees grouped around producer DJ Mark the 45 King. She was also a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths, a Faradian Islamic sect. After becoming successful, DJ Mark the 45 King began to abuse drugs, and Latifah took over the crew, forming it into her management company with the help of Jake Abrams.
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 was the host of Yo! MTV Raps. Freddy helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records, which released Latifah's first album All Hail the Queen in 1989, when she was 19. In that same year, she also appeared as Referee on the UK label Music of Life album "1989—The Hustlers Convention (live)." Her debut managed to be both a critical and a commercial success and was followed by the albums Nature of a Sista and Black Reign, which contained the Grammy Award winning hit single, U.N.I.T.Y. In 1998, she released her fourth hip-hop album Order in the Court. In 2004 she released the soul/jazz standards The Dana Owens Album.
On July 11, 2007, Latifah made her singing debut at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as the headliner act in a live jazz concert. Before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 12,400, she was backed by a 10-piece live orchestra and three backup vocalists, aka The Queen Latifah Orchestra. In the concert, Latifah performed new arrangements of standards including California Dreaming, first made popular by '60s icons The Mama's and The Papa's.
Latifah will release a new album entitled Trav'lin' Light on September 25, 2007 on standards. Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Joe Sample, George Duke, Christian McBride, Stevie Wonder will make guest appearances on the project.
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 in a supporting role in the 1991 films House Party 2, Juice, and Jungle Fever.
Latifah first attracted notice for her role portraying 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). She later played the role of Thelma in the 1999 movie adaptation of Jeffrey Deavers' "The Bone Collector" alongside Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. 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", "Kung Faux", and "Beauty Shop".
In early 2006, Latifah appeared in a romantic comedy/drama entitled Last Holiday. Film critic Richard Roeper stated that "this is the Queen Latifah performance I've been waiting for ever since she broke into movies".
Also in early 2006, Latifah voiced Ellie, a friendly mammoth in the animated film, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (her first voice appearance in an animated film). She also appeared in the drama Stranger Than Fiction.
Currently, she is filming The Perfect Christmas penned by Marc Calixte and Lance Rivera in Westfield, NJ, alongside co-stars Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy, Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love.
She has starred in two movie remakes (Taxi and Last Holiday, four sequels (House Party 2, Scary Movie 3, Barbershop 2: Back in Business and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, 1 Spinoff (Beauty Shop), 1 movie based on a book (The Bone Collector) and 2-screen adaptations of musicals (Chicago) and (Hairspray). In regards to the difference between rap and musicals, Queen admits that she grew up watching musicals and singing in that style. "What the hell was I going to do," she revealed to CraveOnline, "it wasn't like I was going to perform much of that... but now it's all paying off because here come the musicals again and I get a chance to have some fun with a lot of these songs."
The summer of 2007 has brought Latifah triple success in the big-screen version of the Broadway smash hit Hairspray, in which she acts, sings, and dances. The film has rated highly with critics and stars, among others, John Travolta and Christopher Walken.
In 2007, she received an Emmy nomination for her work on the TV movie Life Support.
Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for Cover Girl cosmetics, Curvation ladies underwear, and Pizza Hut. She has developed her own line of cosmetics for women of color called the Covergirl Queen Collection and has starred in several commercials for the line, as well as a commercial with fellow spokeswoman and singer Faith Hill. She had her own talk show, The Queen Latifah Show, from 1999 to 2001.
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, and Best Actor, The Pursuit of Happyness, 2007).
In 2007, Latifah discussed her life and career on the broadcast of an interview-style program, likely The Actors Studio, featured on Cable-TV's Bravo! network. While on the show, she broke down in tears, while speaking of her late brother Lance.
Latifah's older brother Lance was killed in 1992 in an accident involving a motorcycle that Latifah had recently bought him. Latifah still wears the key to the motorcycle around her neck, which can be seen throughout her performance in her sitcom Living Single. She also dedicated Black Reign to him. In 1993, Latifah was the victim of a carjacking, which also resulted in the shooting of a friend. In 1996, she was arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana and a fully loaded hand gun, resulting in a fine and 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.
Because of her portrayal of a lesbian in Set It Off and her avoidance of discussing her romantic life, tabloid media have at times speculated on her sexual orientation. 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."
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.
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