Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah publicly acknowledged her partner Eboni Nichols and her son, Rebel, during her acceptance speech for the 2021 BET Lifetime Achievement Award. She has generally kept her personal life private, telling The New York Times in 2008 that she did not feel obligated to discuss her sexuality or private relationships.

Her mother, Rita Owens, died in 2018 after a long battle with a heart condition. Latifah has also spoken about the death of her older brother, Lancelot Jr., who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1992. She dedicated her 1993 album Black Reign to him.

Latifah began performing with the rap group Ladies Fresh and became part of the Flavor Unit, a crew centered around producer Mark James, also known as D.J. Mark the 45 King. A demo of her song “Princess of the Posse” reached Fab 5 Freddy and attracted the attention of Tommy Boy Music executive Dante Ross. Tommy Boy released her first single, “Wrath of My Madness,” in 1988, followed by her debut album, All Hail the Queen, in 1989, when she was 19.

Her music addressed domestic violence, street harassment, misogyny and the objectification of Black women. Black Reign became the first album by a solo female rapper to receive a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, while its single “U.N.I.T.Y.” won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. “Ladies First,” featuring Monie Love, was the first collaborative track by two female rappers who were not members of the same group.

Latifah later broadened her musical focus through jazz and soul standards on The Dana Owens Album in 2004 and Trav'lin' Light in 2007. She returned to hip-hop with Persona in 2009. Her singing career also included a 2007 Hollywood Bowl performance backed by a 10-piece orchestra and a 2011 duet with Tony Bennett on “Who Can I Turn To.”

Latifah made her film debut in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever in 1991 and appeared in Juice the following year. Her breakthrough television role came as Khadijah James on the sitcom Living Single, which ran from 1993 to 1998. She also wrote and performed the show's theme song. The series was notable for focusing on a group of Black women and their professional and personal lives.

Her film roles included Cleopatra “Cleo” Sims in Set It Off, Thelma in The Bone Collector, and Charlene Morton in Bringing Down the House. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for playing Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago in 2002. She subsequently appeared in Beauty Shop, Last Holiday, Hairspray, The Secret Life of Bees, Joyful Noise, Girls Trip and other films. In Hairspray, she combined acting, singing and dancing as Motormouth Maybelle.

Latifah earned critical recognition for playing blues singer Bessie Smith in the HBO television film Bessie, which she also co-produced. She received an Emmy nomination for the performance, and the film won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. Her later television work included the series Star, the miniseries Hollywood, the live musical The Little Mermaid Live! and the title role of Robyn McCall in The Equalizer, which ran from 2021 to 2025.

She also hosted The Queen Latifah Show from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, she officiated the weddings of 33 same-sex and opposite-sex couples during the Grammy Awards performance of “Same Love” by Macklemore.

Latifah is often identified as a pioneer of female rap and as one of the first hip-hop artists to cross successfully into television and film. She became the first rapper to perform during a Super Bowl halftime show in 1998 and the first hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. She was also the first female rapper to receive an Academy Award nomination in an acting category.

Her influence extends beyond recording and performance. In 1995, she co-launched Flavor Unit Records and Management Company with Shakim Compere, who became her business partner. The company developed artists and later expanded into film and television production.

Latifah received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2023, becoming the first female rapper to receive the distinction. Her debut album, All Hail the Queen, was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2023. She has also received a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, Actor Awards and NAACP Image Awards.