It's only fitting that Queen Latifah's namesake chess piece is the one that can move in any direction. There's hardly a title this Queen doesn't own: rapper, actor, producer, and the author of two books, including the just-released "Put on Your Crown," a tome on self-esteem that falls somewhere between biography and self-help book. Born Dana Owens, Latifah was a teenager when she won raves for her 1989 debut album "All Hail the Queen," in which she announced her arrival with, "A woman can bear you, break you, take you/Now it's time to rhyme, can you relate to/A sister dope enough to make you holler and scream."Latifah soon transitioned into acting with a turn in Spike Lee's 1992 film "Jungle Fever." Eager to see a wider range of women represented on television, she co-created and starred in the comedy "Living Single," which ran for five seasons on Fox.
- 5/12/2010
- backstage.com
Throughout her life, Jennifer Hudson leaned on one person more than any other: her mom. "They were very close, very tight," says Richard Lyons, Hudson's acting coach for her 2006 Oscar-winning role in Dreamgirls. "Her mom came down to the set and she was just the sweetest person. She was so humble." Now Hudson, 27, is mourning the death of her mother, Darnell Donerson, who was murdered on Oct. 24. Hudson's brother Jason was also fatally shot in the crime, which took place in Donerson's home on the South Side of Chicago. Three days later the body of the singer's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King,...
- 10/28/2008
- by Tiffany McGee and Kim Peiffer
- PEOPLE.com
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