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Queen Latifah's roller-coaster ride to the top - Cover Story - Biography
Ebony, April, 2003 by Lynn Norment
SHE'S been up and she's been down, but there is no doubt in anybody's mind that Queen Latifah is now on top of her game. And that game is entertainment--movies, music and television. Turn on the spotlight and give her a microphone, and the woman sparkles and dazzles whoever happens to be watching. That's what she did so brilliantly in the film Chicago.
The multifaceted dynamo continues to win accolades for her portrayal of a sassy prison matron in Chicago, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress, tier diverse fans, from those in the mansions of Beverly Hills to those in the projects of New Jersey and other inner cities, will watch in anticipation as she struts the red carpet on Oscar night.
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"I feel really good and proud and surprised and excited," she says of the nomination. "I jumped around and hollered and screamed. I tried to call my mother. Tried to call my dad.
"You always hope for these things," she says of the Oscar nomination. "But there are so many talented people out there, and so many good movies. I am just glad to have my name thrown in the mix. After the Golden Globe nomination, it hit me that it was a real possibility."
Many might consider Latifah an unlikely Academy Award nominee. She is a New Jersey-reared streetwise woman who got her first taste of the spotlight by rapping as a teenager. After conquering the music world, she tried movies and television. She had a successful sitcom and her own TV talk show. Then more movies. And in between she released four recordings and won a Grammy Award. Her fifth CD, First Love, will be released this summer.
But Dana Elaine Owens, also known as Queen Latifah, takes it all in stride. It's as though she was born to do this--to do it all, and do it well. "Making Chicago was a fantastic experience," she says during an interview at her Los Angeles home two days after the Oscar nominations were announced. "It's good to have options. I wanted to do different things from one film to the next, from one part of my career to the next. From rapping to acting and TV and movies. Chicago was a good opportunity to show another side. I thought it would be fun and challenging, and it meant working with a great movie studio [Miramax] that is known for doing different things and taking chances.
"Besides, I could sing, dance and act--three times the fun."
At age 32, Latifah has experienced exceptional high points, yet she is constantly reminded that she is, after all, only human; when she makes mistakes, she must pay the consequences. A recent and very public reminder came when Latifah accepted "full responsibility" and pleaded no contest to reckless driving after an incident on the Hollywood Freeway. She was sentenced to the three years probation.
"It was learning experience," she says of the incident. "God was just trying to get my attention. And He got it in a big way. I said, `I'm listening.'"
It was not Latifah's first close encounter with the law or the other side of the law. She admits that as a youth she made mistakes and tried drugs, that she had her share of sex, love and heartache. But her life and lifestyle now are far removed from the rough life depicted in the movie Chicago.
Following the 2002 Oscar wins by Halle Berry and Denzel Washington, Latifah is the only Black actor nominated in 2003. "I feel honored to represent for my folks," she says. "The more diversity in the body that does the voting, the more you'll see others, not just African-Americans, but Asians, American Indians, Hispanic people, Middle Eastern, or whatever it may be."
Latifah is the only professional singer among the lead actors in Chicago. (Taye Diggs and recording artist Maya also appear in the movie.) But Latifah does much more than sing. Her Mama Morton character is sassy, brassy and integral to the plot. And she plays the role full throttle.
While shooting Chicago in Toronto, Latifah was traveling back and forth to New York, where she was also filming Brown Sugar with Taye Diggs and Sanaa Latham. Then she went right into filming the Touchstone Pictures comedy Bringing Down the House, in which she co-stars with Steve Martin.
In this new movie, Latifah portrays Charlene, a prison inmate who over the Internet poses as an attorney as she corresponds with the conservative, father-of-two attorney played by veteran actor Steve Martin. She breaks out of jail and shows up at his house in hopes that he will help clear her name. Their face-to-face meeting leads to riotous, over-the-top comedy.
"That movie is as funny as hell," she says of Bringing Down the House. "There are parts that challenge racial ideas and issues. It paints a picture of how ignorant racism is, how ignorant stereotypes are, but through humor."
But racism is no laughing matter to Latifah, who says she has experienced more than her share. "Yes, I've experienced racism--on airplanes, in attitudes, trying to get a taxi. In New York when they find out you are going to Harlem or Brooklyn, they won't take you. That s--- hurts. Sometimes I find racist attitudes in people at hotels. But I make some noise about it. I find the owner or manager and make some noise.
