Queen Latifah: changes her figure and her tune

Ebony, Jan, 2005 by Lynn Norment

Queen Latifah has plenty to dance and be happy about. The multitalented entertainer who got her start as a rapper and then conquered television with a hit sitcom and a talk show, now sparkles on the silver screen and gets accolades for her many and diverse movie roles.

IT is a Cinderella story. A former tomboy from the 'hood parlays her love for music into rap stardom and her street smarts into an entertainment career that also encompasses television and movies, in front of the cameras as well as behind the scenes.

It is the story of Queen Latifah, who was born Dana Owens in New Jersey 34 years ago, and who now is a successful and glamorous movie star as well as film director and producer. And she heads an entertainment conglomerate that encompasses producing music and movies.

And as we embark upon a new year full of possibilities, Latifah is forging ahead with her exploding career with a new figure and a new persona--that of a jazz singer. With her back-to-back movies creating a lot of buzz and pulling moviegoers into theaters, Latifah at the same time enthralled music lovers with a critically praised jazz recording, The Dana Owens Story, on which she performs a set of jazz and blues tunes. Through it all, she is sporting a new, slimmer figure, thanks to a beefed-up fitness routine and breast reduction surgery.

Latifah has always been proud of her body and has never had a problem being a full-figured woman. In fact, she has encouraged other women to accept and love their full figures. But to enhance her health and decrease the strain on her back, she decided to have her breasts reduced. She had pondered the possibility for more than a year. "I really love my breasts," she says, adding that after losing weight, they became even more of a problem. Her posture was getting worse and she suffered an aching back.

She emphasizes that her decision to have the surgery was not based on lack of self-esteem. "I didn't feel that anything was wrong with my body," she says. "I love my breasts."

And the camera and microphone and millions of fans love Queen Latifah. The Oscar-nominated actress is in the midst of an incredible year in which she will star in or produce more than seven movies, including the box-office hit Taxi with Jimmy Fallon, and another movie she produced, The Cookout, with Danny Glover.

When asked how she has managed to do so much when others have a hard time getting any kind of Hollywood gig, Latifah says simply: "Hard work and hustle, baby."

She quickly points out that since the early 1990s, when she appeared in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, she steadily has been building an acting career. She appeared in House Party, scored her own hit television sitcom Living Single, portrayed a bank robber in Set it Off and a jazz singer in Living Out Loud. And there were roles in The Bone Collector (with Denzel Washington) and in Brown Sugar.

"Living Out Loud led to Chicago, which became a critical success," she says. And it won her a best-supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Mama Morton, the sassy, brassy prison warden in the acclaimed musical film. While Chicago was still basking in Oscar glory, Latifah had another No. 1 hit movie, Bringing Down the House (with Steve Martin), packing the movie theaters. For that film she was executive producer.

"I tried to make good use of all the opportunities that come with that kind of success," she says. "When people in Hollywood start to look at you as a box-office draw, that's when you are able to do back-to-back-to-back films of the caliber I've been able to do.

"And there is no overnight success," she says. "I've been working hard to get to this point. And it's great for me. I'm working and I get to hire people and spread that love."

She describes Cookout as a "small budget film made for $3 million." In addition to Danny Glover, the cast included Jenifer Lewis, Farrah Fawcett and Latifah's mother, Rita Owens. That was followed by Taxi. "It was just good fun, action, hysterical," she says, adding that she and Fallon met on the set of Saturday Night Live when she hosted the legendary comedy show, and they hit it off. She was cast in Taxi first, and had a say in who would be her costar. When Fallon heard that he would be working with Latifah, he signed on immediately. "Jimmy is known for turning down 65 movies. That's his reputation" she says.

Coming up in spring 2005 is Beauty Shop, a spin-off of Ice Cube's hit movie Barbershop. While Ice Cube is one of the movie's executive producers, Latifah says he has a "hands off" policy with Beauty Shop. Also on the schedule is Bad Girls, which will co-star Jada Pinkett Smith and will be produced by Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment.

And then there's My Wife as a Gangster, the Miramax remake of a Korean film. "It is serious action comedy," she says. There's also Kidnapped being made with Lions Gate films. And several other movies are being produced by Flavor Unit but will not star Latifah.

"Every time we do one of these films, we pay back our community with employment," Latifah says. "Just doing the talk show, we employed 150 people. I had a mandate that African-Americans be hired, so that went from me down the line. When I get in a position to do that, I can lay down the law like that. It's not that I'm excluding people, but I'm including people. Including my people. The other day I ran into one of the producers I had hired for the talk show. She is now" working at BET. She said, 'I want to thank you for giving me an opportunity. 1 have been doing my thing ever since.' Another of my producers works for the Ellen show, another on Divorce Court and the Jane Pauley Show. They got their start with me."