Latifah reigns as Queen on, off “˜House’ set

Actor, rapper, producer and possibly emerging sex symbol, Queen
Latifah is shaking up movie star stereotypes on her rise to
prominence in Hollywood’s aristocracy.

“I don’t want to fit into other people’s idea
of me. I want to be something else,” Latifah says.

In “Bringing Down the House,” Latifah is certainly
something else, playing an all-attitude jailbird who will do almost
anything to convince a strait-laced uptown lawyer, played by Steve
Martin, to help clear her name. Like her character, Latifah has has
had her run-ins with the law, being charged at one time with
marijuana possession.

“I don’t consider that to be criminal personally,
but I don’t think it’s the best thing either, too much
of anything isn’t right,” she said of smoking
marijuana.

Like her character in the film, the real life Latifah also
exudes confidence in her curvaceous, full-figured body, exuding a
sensuous aura that many men find sexually enticing.

“If you see a sexy, full-figured woman, you’ve got a
new idea in your head, if you didn’t have that before,”
Martin said of Latifah’s effect on people.

“Women are sexy. It’s not about their measurements.
It’s about what they’ll do for you,” he jokingly
added.

Latifah, recently featured in Glamour magazine and former
television star on the hit comedy show “Living Single,”
relates to women who find it hard to be comfortable with their
figure.

“When I was younger it really messed with your self-esteem
knowing that you didn’t really look like anybody in the
magazines, or the people on TV,” she said.

She was recently nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar
for her role of Matron “Mama” Morton in the movie
“Chicago,” in which she sings “When You’re
Good to Mama.” Though she didn’t win the Golden Globe,
she enjoyed the star-studded evening.

“It really tripped me out at the Golden Globes,” she
said. “You’re in this room with all these actors
you’ve been watching all this time, and I’m like,
“˜Damn, they’re so tiny,'” she said
smiling.

Latifah did walk tall at the event, but did so without a
significant other on her arm.

“Sexy to me is someone comfortable in their own skin.
Someone who is a leader and a follower, in the sense that
there’s a time for me to sit back and let you lead, and there
is a time for you to let me lead and just kind of roll with
it.”

And on the subject of sex, Latifah is up-front about her needs
as a woman in the bedroom.

“You know, being the type of woman that I am, I
won’t give up the wheel unless I feel I’m giving it to
a responsible driver,” she said. “I’ll take my
chances with myself.”

Latifah isn’t taking any unneeded chances with her future
in Hollywood either. She wasn’t just a lucky callback for her
role in “Bringing Down the House,” she was the producer
for both the film and its soundtrack. She’s a modern-day
Frank Sinatra: acting, singing, and producing.

Adam Shankman, director of “Bringing Down the
House,” perhaps sums up Latifah’s importance on the
Hollywood scene best.

“She’s unashamed, she’s gorgeous, she’s
a one-woman NAACP and has always stood for what is right, and right
now is just her time,” Shankman said.