Queen Latifah’s Success in the Movies
Queen Latifah is not only a successful singer but a successful actor as well. Her acting career stared with a starring role on Living Single for which she also wrote and performed the theme music. Queen Latifah’s film career began with supporting roles in the 1991 and 1992 films House Party 2, Juice and Jungle Fever. She also had her own talk show, The Queen Latifah Show for two years. Queen Latifah also acted in the second season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Queen Latifah also acted in The Bone Collector (1999) alongside Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.
Though doing quite well and picking up lots of roles Queen Latifah only got mainstream success after playing “Mama” Morton in the Oscar-winning film adaptation of the musical Chicago. She even got nominated Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the Academy Awards but lost to co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones.
In 2003 Queen Latifah co-starred with Steve Martin in t Bringing Down the House. The film did extremely well at the box office. Other movies that Queen Latifah has had leading and supporting roles include Scary Movie 3, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Taxi, Kung Faux, Beauty Shop, and Hairspray. Queen Latifah’s performance in the romantic comedy Last Holiday was well appreciated with one film critic going so far as to say “this is the Queen Latifah performance I’ve been waiting for ever since she broke into movies”. Other roles Queen Latifah has acted in include the voice of Ellie the mammoth in Ice Age: The Meltdown and an appearance in Stranger Than Fiction.
In 2007 Queen Latifah acted, sang and danced in the film version of Hairspray along with actors of the likes of John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Allison Janney, Christopher Walken and Zac Efron. Another achievement in 2007 was Queen Latifah’s portrayal of an HIV-positive woman in the film Life Support. Her performance was well received and Queen Latifah got a Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award as well as an Emmy nominations for her work. Queen Latifah’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.
Books by Queen Latifah include Put on Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments on the Path to Queendomby Queen Latifah and Samantha Marshall and Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman. Books about Queen Latifah include Queen of the Scene Book and CD and In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah by Annette Madden.