How Queen Latifah Achieved a Net Worth of $60 Million

Queen Latifah is a well known American native of New Jersey who found fame and success in the entertainment business. She’s an established actor who got her start in the music business. She’s not only an actor but is also a professional singer and producer. Queen Latifah has an estimated net worth of $60 million. How did she become so rich? Was it through her singing, acting, producing or a combination? We looked into her life and career and here is what we learned.

Her early life

She was born in March of 1970 in East Orange, New Jersey. Her parents are Rita Lamae and Lancelot Amos Owens. They named their daughter Dana Elaine Ownes. She later adopted the stage name Queen Latifah for professional reasons. Her childhood wasn’t always easy because her parents separated and divorced before she became a teenager, but her mother did ensure that she attended Catholic School and was taught the Baptist faith.

Her career

Queen Latifah achieved success at the young age of just 19 years with her hit album “All Hail to the Queen” in 1989. She was signed with the record label Tommy Boy Music and her album sold a million copies. This gave her the financial boost that she needed to form her own record company which she called Flavor Unit Records and Management Company with her partner Shakim Compere. The stage name that she chose had significant meaning, translated from Arabic, it means “kindness.” After the founding of her company, the young Dana Owens became the Chief Executive Officer, and was an executive in the business world while she was still a very young woman, in 1991.

A third career line

Queen Latifah had already become a successful singer and business executive, but the multi-talented lady knew that she was capable of yet more. She decided to give acting a try. She delivered an excellent performance in the 1992 film “Juice,” and was so successful that she was offered the lead in the television series “Living Single.” The latter was a sitcom and she also excelled in this role. It wasn’t long before she accepted a part in the film “Set it Off” in which she played a female bank robber along with Vivica Fox and Jada Pinkett Smith, again, delivering high and making her lesbian character believable and powerful in 1996. Queen Latifah was on a major roll and in 1998, she was not only involved in the film “Living Out Loud,” but she also delivered her fourth album in the hip hop genre titled “Order in the Court,” which she also co-produced and released through her own label.

Changes were coming

In 2004, she released the film “Taxi” but it was not as popular as her other acting work. She also made a change in the type of music that she was singing. She moved out of the hip hop realm and into jazz and soul-flavored music. Although there was a bit of a droop in her acting career with Taxi, she recouped her forward momentum with her 2015 performance in “Bessie” for HBO. The film was so well received that Owens was awarded both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, which was a bit redemptive. There were several other films that Owens was involved in, and whether the films were successful or just so so, there was nothing average about her performance in any of the roles she portrayed. Owens had established herself as a talented actress in addition to all of her other successful ventures both in the business world and in entertainment, which often crossed paths.

Other interesting facts

Queen Latifah has also added to her amazing portfolio of other endeavors. She’s been a professional rapper, television producer, a comedienne, a record producer, a model, and even a talk show hostess. As of 2019, she is 49 years old and she’s amassed a good-sized fortune to the tune of $60 million. She’s considered to be one of the pioneers in hip hop music representing a feminist point of view. She’s also been the recipient of multiple awards including two NAACP Image Awards for the songs that she wrote which hit hard on issues encountered by Black women. She was also awarded three Screen Actors Guild Awards, One Grammy Award, several Grammy nominations, a nomination for an Academy Award and she was given a Golden Globe Award.

Where did she make her millions?

After reviewing Queen Latifah’s interesting career history, it’s obvious that this lady has a great many talents. It seems that she is good at everything that she’s tried her hand at. She got her start in the music business, in the hip hop genre in particular. The popularity of her first album and the high sales gave her the start that she needed to expand her options professionally. The music industry has been good to her, but likewise, she’s been good for it as well. It’s rare that we see such a fast rise to fame and success in any artist, but Owens just kept going from one success to another and it seemed to happen with rapid succession. To top it all off, she hasn’t let success change her. She’s managed to keep a good head on her shoulders and attend to business.

Conclusion

There aren’t many people who experience this kind of good fortune, even when they’re extremely talented. There’s something different about Owens though. She has a strong mind and a strong drive to succeed. She’s shown the world several things that she’s capable of and we don’t think that she’s finished yet. Forming her own record and management company was a big event and becoming an executive at an early age gave her a start on building her net worth. From the success that she achieved in her music, producing and acting ventures, we’re compelled to conclude that she earned her $60 million through a combination of these activities and not from any single source.