Queen Latifah
National Medal of Arts recipient Queen Latifah with President and First Lady Biden. Photo courtesy of White House
Bio
Queen Latifah is a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated musician, actress, producer, label president, author, and entrepreneur. Her previous film credits include Jungle Fever, Set It Off, Chicago, Bringing Down the House, The Last Holiday, Beauty Shop, Life Support, Bessie, Girls Trip, and End of the Road. Her television credits include Living Single and Star. Latifah starred in the live television adaptations of The Wiz Live! for NBC and The Little Mermaid Live! for ABC. Latifah, along with Shakim Compere, owns and operates their production company Flavor Unit Entertainment. Latifah has earned six Grammy Award nominations, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance in 1994. In 2004, she was nominated for Best Female Rap Solo Performance for “Go Head.” In 2005, she was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Dana Owens Album, and in 2008, she was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Trav’lin Light. Latifah currently stars and is an executive producer on the CBS series reboot of The Equalizer, which quickly became TV’s #1 scripted series.
White House citation:
For leading the Nation as a champion of women’s empowerment. A natural storyteller and one of the first ladies of hip-hop, Queen Latifah breaks the mold for women in entertainment — rapping about overcoming loss and abuse of power to exuding cool and confidence as a critically-acclaimed actor and activist, showing how infinite love is the only hope for unity.