Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah was the first female rapper to be nominated for an Oscar.

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As a teenager, a cousin gave her the name Latifah, which means delicate and sensitive in Arabic.

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Her older brother Lance Owens, a police officer, died in a motorcycle accident on a bike Latifah had bought him as a gift. She still wears the motorcycle's key around her neck.

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In 1987, as a novice rapper, she was first introduced by 16-year-old Jada Pinkett Smith as the opening act for the hip-hop group Public Enemy at the Palladium club in Baltimore, before she had signed a record deal.

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On the set of Bringing Down the House (2003), she had to coach her co-stars Steve Martin and Eugene Levy in hip-hop slang.

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On February 3, 1996, she was arrested for carrying a loaded handgun and marijuana.

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On the album "Duets II" (2011), she sang "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" with Tony Bennett, which led Bennett to compare her to his old friend Ella Fitzgerald.

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On January 4, 2006, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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Queen Latifah was the first woman to host the Independent Spirit Awards.

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Before playing Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago (2002), she had not appeared in any musical theater since high school.

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The first album she bought was Prince's "Purple Rain" (1984), which came with a poster she hung on her bedroom wall.

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In 1994, she won the Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance for "U.N.I.T.Y."

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She played power forward on the girls' basketball team at Irvington High School and led them to two New Jersey state championships.

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Queen Latifah is friends with Jada Pinkett Smith and LL Cool J.

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She was the victim of a car theft, an incident that also resulted in her friend Sean Moon being shot.

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She was set to star in Monster's Ball (2001) alongside Robert De Niro, directed by Sean Penn. Unfortunately, the producers could not get the film ready in time and it was reshot after a delay. Her role went to Halle Berry, and De Niro's to Billy Bob Thornton.

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Queen Latifah, whose birth name is Dana Owens, and her longtime personal trainer Jeanette Jenkins bought a 2,026-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath house in Los Angeles in late 2009. The property's list price was $1,397,000.

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At a 'Meet the Filmmaker' event at the Apple Store in SoHo, New York, she told the audience that her ideal first project as a director would be either a science fiction film or an adaptation of a comic book (May 11, 2010).

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Among Queen Latifah's favorite films are Boomerang (1992) and Forrest Gump (1994).

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Of all her roles to date (2008), Queen Latifah's personal favorite is Cleopatra Sims in Set It Off (1996).

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Queen Latifah was arrested on February 6, 1996, for assaulting a photographer.

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Queen Latifah ranked 72nd on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.

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Queen Latifah lives in Colts Neck, New Jersey; Rumson, New Jersey; and Beverly Hills, California.

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Queen Latifah was considered for the role of Sharona Fleming in Monk (2002), which went to Bitty Schram. Coincidentally, Latifah had experience playing a nurse in The Bone Collector (1999).

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Queen Latifah is a co-founder of Flavour Unit Entertainment.

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Queen Latifah replaced Kirstie Alley as the spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

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Queen Latifah cites Amandla Stenberg as one of her heroes.

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Queen Latifah was listed as a potential nominee in the voting for the 2005 Razzie Awards. She was proposed in the Worst Actress category for her performances in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004), The Cookout (2004) and Taxi (2004). She was not, however, nominated.

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Queen Latifah is a friend of Grant Hill.

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Queen Latifah was awarded the 2023 National Medal of Arts in Washington, D.C. She is an artist and actress.

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Queen Latifah is one of 27 actors nominated for an Oscar for a performance in a musical; hers was for Chicago (2002). The others, in chronological order, are Bessie Love for The Broadway Melody (1929), Grace Moore for One Night of Love (1934), Jean Hagen for Singin' in the Rain (1952), Marjorie Rambeau for Torch Song (1953), Dorothy Dandridge for Carmen Jones (1954), Deborah Kerr for The King and I (1956), Rita Moreno for West Side Story (1961), Gladys Cooper for My Fair Lady (1964), Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins (1964), Peggy Wood for The Sound of Music (1965), Debbie Reynolds for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), Carol Channing for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Kay Medford for Funny Girl (1968), Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968), Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), Ronee Blakley for Nashville (1975), Lily Tomlin for Nashville (1975), Ann-Margret for Tommy (1975), Lesley Ann Warren for Victor/Victoria (1982), Amy Irving for Yentl (1983), Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge! (2001), Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago (2002), Renée Zellweger for Chicago (2002), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006), Penélope Cruz for Nine (2009), Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables (2012), Meryl Streep for Into the Woods (2014) and Emma Stone for La La Land (2016).

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Biography/bibliography: "Contemporary Authors," Volume 264, pages 284-285. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2008.

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Queen Latifah was born at 8:02 a.m. EST.

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Queen Latifah names Timothy Snell as her favorite personal stylist.

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Queen Latifah is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta.

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