Dana Elaine Owens, better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American actress, singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, model, and talk show hostess. For Disney, she played Aunt Em in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz and "Cha-Cha" the bartender in The Country Bears. She also posed as Ursula in the Disney Dream Portrait Series "Where Memories Take Hold and Never Let Go". Additionally, she appeared in the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode about insects, and was mentioned in an episode of K.C. Undercover. She also portrayed Ursula in the 2019 TV special The Wonderful World of Disney: The Little Mermaid Live! and Charlene Morton in the 2003 Touchstone Pictures film Bringing Down the House.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Latifah lived primarily in East Orange and attended Catholic school, but graduated from Irvington High School. After high school, she attended classes at Borough of Manhattan Community College. She later began rapping and singing with groups before releasing her first single, "Wrath of My Madness". She continued her music career with hits, such as "Ladies First", "Fly Girl/Nature of a Sista'", and the Grammy Award-winning song "U.N.I.T.Y.".
Also branching into acting, Latifah is best known for her roles as Khadijah James in the Fox sitcom Living Single (1993–1998), Bobbie in the BET romantic comedy series Let's Stay Together, and Gina Norris in the 2004 MGM comedy-drama film Barbershop 2: Back in Business and its spin-off movie Beauty Shop. She is also well-known for voicing Ellie the mammoth in Blue Sky's Ice Age franchise. Her other film credits include Chicago, Scary Movie 3, Stranger than Fiction, Hairspray, Joyful Noise, and the television films HBO's Bessie and NBC's The Wiz Live!.
Roles[]
(The Country Bears)
(The Muppets' Wizard of Oz)
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