Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah is a musician; television and film actress; a label president; an author and an entrepreneur. Blessed with style and substance, Queen Latifah has blossomed into a one-woman entertainment conglomerate.

Latifah has had amazing success in Hollywood and became the first hip-hop artist to be crowned with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 4, 2006. She received rave reviews, an Oscar nomination, a Golden Globe nomination and a SAG Award nomination for her portrayal as Mama Morton in Chicago. Latifah also starred in Disney’s box office hit Bringing Down the House, for which she also acted as executive producer.

In the TV movie, Life Support, Latifah received rave reviews as well as an Emmy nomination, a Golden Globe win, and a SAG Award win. She starred in Hairspray playing Motormouth Maybelle and was also seen in the film "Mad Money."

Queen Latifah’s other film credits include the award-winning The Secret Life of Bees, Just Wright, The Dilemma, Joyful Noise, and Steel Magnolias, the last of which she also acted as executive producer for. Also a voice actress, she was the voice of the Wooly Mammoth, Ellie, in Ice Age 2, a role she reprised in Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Queen Latifah is also one of music’s most well-respected rappers. From her groundbreaking 1989 debut "All Hail the Queen," which set the visual and contextual standard for female rappers, to her bold foray into R&B, Latifah continues to define what a woman in the music industry should be. In 1994, Latifah won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "U.N.I.T.Y."

And then there’s Flavor Unit Entertainment, a production company owned and operated by Queen Latifah. Flavor Unit Entertainment quickly established itself as one of the most important production companies in the film industry. The production company is behind films including Bringing Down the House, Beauty Shop, The Perfect Holiday, Just Wright, Life Support," the Lifetime original movie Steel Magnolias and Netflix’s House of Bodies.

In addition to music, film, and television, Queen Latifah is also a published author, with a book on self-esteem entitled "Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman." Queen Latifah’s second book, "Put on Your Crown: Life Lessons from the Queen," was released in May 2010.

Every year, Queen Latifah serves as co-chairman for the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Established by her mother, Rita Owens, to perpetuate the memory of a loving son and brother, the foundation provides scholarships to students who excel scholastically but are limited in financial resources.