Queen Latifah: Queen Bee

The hardest-working woman in showbiz built an empire without losing her soul.

By Margy Rochlin

From Reader's Digest

Images from this article

wayne master/icon international

The name Latifah means "sensitive" in Arabic: "I will cry at a movie."

javascript:void(0);

wayne master/icon international

The name Latifah means "sensitive" in Arabic: "I will cry at a movie."

While Queen Latifah may be best known for her performances in Chicago and Hairspray, she plays loads of other roles in real life: She's a Jenny Craig spokeswoman, CoverGirl makeup model, hip-hop artist, hit-making film producer, CEO of a record label, and owner of five hamburger stands … there's more.

"I've always been like this, before it was called multitasking," says the 38-year-old Newark, New Jersey, native cheerfully. "I'm not going to say I have ADD, but it's almost like I need this kind of variety to keep my interest."

Born Dana Elaine Owens, she has answered to Latifah ever since she was eight, when a cousin gave her the nickname. "Queen" was added as she rose to the top of the hip-hop heap, where bragging rights come with the territory.

If anyone deserves a crown, it's Latifah. Her easygoing aura and klieg light smile create a stir in the Beverly Hills restaurant where Reader's Digest meets her. One well-wisher after another-both friends and strangers-makes a beeline for her table, each ready with a hug and a request. (Over the course of two hours, she is asked to sing at the Democratic National Convention, appear at a benefit for muscular dystrophy, and star in a movie.) Every time she answers, it's with a genuine sweetness and diplomacy that's matched only by the wise beekeeper she plays in her upcoming movie The Secret Life of Bees. Quite unlike August Boatwright, however, she has no plans to handle hives again anytime soon.

Q. What's it like to have a million bees as your costars?

A. I've never been more terrified in my life. I mean, I can jump off cliffs. I can drive a car at 150 mph. I can ride a motorcycle that fast. But the bees? If they're not in a good mood? All I could think of is, I'm going to get stung. I mean, it was hard to say my lines, be in character, and work with all these bees flying around me. I'm not going to deny it.

Q. You're an Oscar nominee, a Golden Globe recipient, and a Grammy winner. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has your name on it. Do you have any celebrity attitude that you can't believe you've picked up?

A. I try to avoid all that. I've tried to be in Hollywood but not of Hollywood. I never say "Let's do lunch"-unless I'm joking.

Q. Let's be serious, then. When did acting click for you?

A. In my first year of high school, when I played a part in Godspell. I went to an all-girls' Catholic school. My freshman year, they brought in boys from different schools and a director from outside who was really hard-core. He made us work and got us into not being anywhere else but right there in the play when Jesus is about to be hung on the cross. I remember, when that part came and we were carrying his body and singing, I was just moved to tears. I remember my aunt coming up to me after the show and saying, "Dana, you were great." She was so proud of me. I think I realized that you could connect to people through being this [character]. And I thought that was kind of cool.

Q. Did you pick up any life lessons when you were a power forward on your high school basketball team?

A. Defense first, I guess. [Laughs] It helped me to learn to work with lots of different kinds of people and be a team player, to be able to move your ego out of the way and block out whatever else is going on in your life and focus on the task at hand. My coach drilled the word composure into our heads. I've used that throughout my entire career.

Q. In 1992 your older brother, Lance, was killed in a motorcycle accident. How did you explain to your mother that you were going to continue riding?

A. Honestly, I think that my brother and I had such a close relationship that she expected me to get back on that bike. It was the last thing my brother and I did together; every day, we rode bikes. It's my way of connecting with him. I'm sure my mom didn't like it. But I think she just put me in God's hands.

• Actors

• Hear a clip from this interview
• 
• Quiz: Test Your Queen Latifah IQ
•