Queen Latifah Biography : People.com

Biography

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2003: March 07
Bringing Down the Box Office
Latifah stars and executive produces Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin (left), where she plays an escaped inmate who tracks down a man she met on the Internet. Latifah gets criticized for perpetuating negative stereotypes about blacks, but the comedy grosses more than $132 million. Next, she costars in Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Gisele Bündchen, and Barbershop 2, which spawns spin-off Beauty Shop in 2005.
2004: September 28
Finding Her Voice
Latifah releases The Dana Owens Album (right), a collection of classic covers, which earns her a Grammy nod for Best Jazz Vocal Album. "I was struck by the fact that [Latifah] was a rapper who could sing that well," her label president Ron Fair tells the AP. "It's kind of like somebody who first got their driver's license and their first car is a Ferrari. Her instrument is that evolved that it's a very natural thing." In 2007, she releases her seventh album, Trav'lin' Light.
2006: January
A Certified Star
Latifah (pictured with her parents) is the first hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "It's one of the few things I've actually wanted," Latifah tells the AP. Marveling at her daughter's success, Rita Owens tells CBS, "She did show signs of talent, talent, talent early in life...I had no clue that it would be this massive."
October
The Gay Issue
Latifah graces Essence's Power Issue, where she discusses the ongoing speculation about her sexual orientation. "If I'm not going to tell you what guy I'm dating," Latifah tells Essence in 2006, "I sure wouldn't tell you I'm dating a girl." Regardless of her partner preference, Latifah does talk about the possibility of having children: "Some people assume, unless you are Angelina Jolie, that you're adopting because you don't have a man and you may be gay and you want to have a kid."
2007: July 20
Hairspray: Musical Magic Take 2
After receiving an Emmy nod for playing an HIV-positive woman in HBO's Life Support, Latifah lands the coveted role of Motormouth Maybelle (right) in the big-screen version of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hairspray. The film, which stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron, grosses more than $118 million at the box office.
2008: October 17
Bees Dramatic Buzz
The film adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees opens in third place, earning $11.1 million. Costarring Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, the film centers on three sisters, a young girl, and her caretaker that band together in 1964 South Carolina. "August was just so nurturing and maternal and comfortable in her own skin," Latifah says of her character. "I felt she would be fun to play."