Speakers

After a short stint as a Burger King employee, Queen Latifah made her breakthrough as a rapper when she was just 18 years old. She soon made the transition to acting on screen, where she made her debut on the popular sitcom “The Prince of Bel Air,” starring fellow rapper Will Smith, and in the Spike Lee feature film, “Jungle Fever.” In 1993 she landed a regular role on the sitcom “Living Single,” which ran for five years before going into syndication.

However, she hadn’t given up her rapping career, and in 1994 she won a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance. Meanwhile, Latifah was also racking up more feature credits for her resumé, including “My Life,” starring Nicole Kidman, “Hoodlum,” starring Laurence Fishburne, and “Sphere,” starring Dustin Hoffman. In 1999, “The Queen Latifah Show” debuted on television. The hour-long syndicated talk show ran for two years and gave Latifah the opportunity to interview celebrities, talk to the public, and present related issues.

Latifah continues to work steadily on the big screen. In 2002, she appeared in “The Country Bears,” “Brown Sugar” and the musical “Chicago,” for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for her standout performance as Matron “Mama” Morton. In 2003, she landed the co-starring role opposite Steve Martin in the comedy “Bringing Down the House,” playing an inmate who breaks out of prison to be with a friend she makes via the Internet.

In January 1999, Latifah continued her message of self-esteem and, using her life as an example, wrote the book Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman, illustrating everyone’s potential for becoming a king or a queen.

Queen Latifah is diligent in her pursuit of excellence, as evidenced by the awards she has received for her work in film and music. Her sincere concern for others is revealed by the generous amount of time and money that she donates to worthwhile charitable organizations. Every year Queen Latifah serves as co-chairman for the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Established by her mother, Rita Owens, to perpetuate the memory of a loving son and brother, the foundation provides scholarships to students who excel scholastically, but are limited in financial resources.

Blessed with beauty, brains and talent, Queen Latifah has, quite simply, done everything she set out to do in her young life. And with the success of her career choices, she shows no signs of slowing down–quite the opposite, this lady knows no boundaries. Grammy Award-winning recording artist, star of television and film, published author, artist manager, business owner, talk show host and executive producer, Queen Latifah is an entertainment triple-threat, twice over.