QUEEN LATIFAH
Name: Dana Elaine Owens
Born: 18 March 1970 Newark, New Jersey
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 Golden Globe award, Grammy Award, five
additional Grammy nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Award, an Emmy Award
nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Rita, a schoolteacher
who worked at Irvington High School, and Lancelot Owens, a policeman.
Her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Latifah performed the number "Home"
from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. Her stage name, Latifah,
meaning "kind" 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, was a
power forward on her basketball team.
Latifah started her career beatboxing for the rap group Ladies Fresh. Latifah
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. In
1988, 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 nineteen. That year, she
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.
In 2007, Latifah released an album entitled Trav'lin' Light. Jill Scott, Erykah
Badu, Joe Sample, George Duke, Christian McBride, Stevie Wonder made guest
appearances on the project. It has been nominated for a Grammy in the "Best
Traditional Pop Vocal Album" category.
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 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 Actress in a Supporting Role for her role, but
lost to co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2003, she starred with Steve Martin
in the film Bringing Down the House, which was a major 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 2006, Latifah
voiced Ellie, a friendly mammoth, in the animated film, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(her first voice appearance in an animated film), and also appeared in the drama
Stranger Than Fiction.
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 two 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. Also in 2007, she portrayed an HIV-positive woman in the
film, Life Support, a role for which she garnered her first Golden Globe Award
and an Emmy nomination. Latifah is starting off 2008 with the release of the
crime comedy Mad Money opposite Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton as well as
Katie Holmes and Ted Danson.
Latifah produced the upcoming film The Perfect Holiday penned by Marc Calixte
and Lance Rivera in Westfield, NJ. Along with producing the film Latifah stars
alongside Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy,
Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love in the movie.
Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for Cover Girl cosmetics, Curvation ladies
underwear, Pizza Hut and Jenny Craig. 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).
Name: Dana Elaine Owens
Born: 18 March 1970 Newark, New Jersey
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 Golden Globe award, Grammy Award, five
additional Grammy nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Award, an Emmy Award
nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Rita, a schoolteacher
who worked at Irvington High School, and Lancelot Owens, a policeman.
Her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Latifah performed the number "Home"
from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. Her stage name, Latifah,
meaning "kind" 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, was a
power forward on her basketball team.
Latifah started her career beatboxing for the rap group Ladies Fresh. Latifah
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. In
1988, 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 nineteen. That year, she
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.
In 2007, Latifah released an album entitled Trav'lin' Light. Jill Scott, Erykah
Badu, Joe Sample, George Duke, Christian McBride, Stevie Wonder made guest
appearances on the project. It has been nominated for a Grammy in the "Best
Traditional Pop Vocal Album" category.
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 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 Actress in a Supporting Role for her role, but
lost to co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2003, she starred with Steve Martin
in the film Bringing Down the House, which was a major 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 2006, Latifah
voiced Ellie, a friendly mammoth, in the animated film, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(her first voice appearance in an animated film), and also appeared in the drama
Stranger Than Fiction.
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 two 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. Also in 2007, she portrayed an HIV-positive woman in the
film, Life Support, a role for which she garnered her first Golden Globe Award
and an Emmy nomination. Latifah is starting off 2008 with the release of the
crime comedy Mad Money opposite Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton as well as
Katie Holmes and Ted Danson.
Latifah produced the upcoming film The Perfect Holiday penned by Marc Calixte
and Lance Rivera in Westfield, NJ. Along with producing the film Latifah stars
alongside Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy,
Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love in the movie.
Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for Cover Girl cosmetics, Curvation ladies
underwear, Pizza Hut and Jenny Craig. 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).