Click Here

     Latifah joins returning sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbuster CGI film “Ice Age” – Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the saber-toothed tiger, and the hapless prehistoric squirrel/rat known as Scrat.  In the new film, from director Carlos Saldanha and the Academy Award® winning creators of “Ice Age” and “Robots,” the Ice Age is coming to an end, and the animals are delighting in the melting paradise that is their new world.

     Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary return to voice our three heroes: Manny, Sid, and Diego.  In addition to Latifah, other new voices include Seann William Scott (the “American Pie” trilogy), late night talk show king Jay Leno, Will Arnett (“Arrested Development”) and Josh Peck (“Drake and Josh”).

     In Ice Age: The Meltdown, our trio is still together and enjoying the perks of their now melting world.  Manny may be ready to start a family, but nobody has seen another mammoth for a long time; Manny thinks he may be the last one.  That is, until he miraculously finds Ellie, the only female mammoth left in the world.  Their only problems: They can't stand each other – and Ellie somehow thinks she’s a possum!

     Ellie comes with some excess baggage in the form of her two possum “brothers”...Crash and Eddie (voiced by Scott and Peck), a couple of daredevil pranksters and cocky, loud-mouthed troublemakers. 

     In casting Ellie, the filmmakers searched for a voice that was rich with personality – not just an actress with a big personality.  “We had to consider how she would sound opposite Ray Romano,” says Saldanha.  “In addition, we wanted someone with a voice that had strength, independence, empathy and humor.  Queen Latifah embodied all these qualities.”

In "Ice Age: The Meltdown," Queen Latifah plays Ellie the confused mammoth who thinks she's a possum.

Latifah enjoyed exploring Ellie’s “complications” --

     “Ellie is just the sweetest, lovable lump that you've ever seen.  But she’s…well…she’s a little strange. A little aloof.  And a little confused about her identity.  You see, Ellie thinks she's a possum.  But she’s really a woolly mammoth.  That’s real confusion!”

     The actress/musician has had several on-screen romances, but none compare to the stakes in Ellie’s relationship with Manny.  “Manny  thinks he's the last woolly mammoth on earth, until he meets Ellie,” she explains.  “There's a potential to save the species, if only Ellie would realize who she is: a mammoth, and not a possum.”

     At Latifah’s request, the producers developed background on her character to explain why she thought she was a possum.  A flashback scene was added, “When Ellie ends up in the location where she was abandoned as a baby mammoth, she suddenly remembers her lonely tears turning to joy when she is befriended by the possums.  They accept her as part of their family and they develop a loving, non-traditional family relationship.  I think that is a cool message, because there are a lot of people who can relate that kind of situation,” she says.  

     Latifah says her background as a hip hop artist was a big factor in helping her create a voice performance for Ellie.  “I think one of the reasons I enjoyed working on this film was because of the innate vocal rhythm I have as a musician.  You catch things off that rhythm and you hear things a bit differently.  So it was interesting for me to get Ellie’s vocal inflections and make sure they worked for the character.”

     She also loves the way Ellie looks.  “She has a Tina Turner-looking coiffeur with big, pretty eyes and makes cute expressions.  She is so adorable,” she says.

     Latifah is a musician, television and film actress, a label president, an author and an entrepreneur.  Blessed with style and substance, Queen Latifah has blossomed into a one-woman entertainment conglomerate.  Heralded by the press and the industry as a force to be reckoned with, Latifah has quite simply done it all and shows no sign of slowing down.

     Latifah has had amazing success in Hollywood.  She received rave reviews, an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe nomination, and a SAG Award nomination for her portrayal as Mama Morton in Miramax’s “Chicago.”  Next, Latifah starred in Disney’s box office hit “Bringing Down the House,” on which she also acted as executive producer. Last year, she appeared opposite Jimmy Fallon in Fox’s Taxi and then starred in MGM’s “Beauty Shop” (a spin-off of the hit Barbershop), which she also produced.

     Earlier this year, Latifah starred in director Wayne Wang’s The Last Holiday, opposite LL Cool J.  She also starred in director Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction playing opposite Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman.  Up next is Paramount’s action film Bad Girls with Jada Pinkett Smith, which Latifah will also produce. 

     To most people releasing multiple movies would be enough, but Latifah wasn’t satisfied.  Last September, Latifah returned to the music scene with a brand new album, demonstrating her singing talent.  Latifah teamed up with Grammy® Award-winning producer Arif Mardin as well as Ron Fair to release her first vocal album, “Queen Latifah – The Dana Owens Album,” which earned her a Grammy nomination this year.  The album was a collection of timeless classics chosen and covered by the Latifah herself.  As Latifah demonstrated both in Living Out Loud (1998) and her Oscar-nominated performance in Chicago (2002), her vocal talent is as impressive as her acting.

     Latifah is also one of music’s most well respected rappers.  From her ground breaking 1989 debut “All Hail the Queen,” which set the visual and contextual standard for female rappers, to her bold foray into R&B, Latifah continues to define what a woman in the music industry should be.  She has earned four Grammy nominations as well as a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance in 1994.  Latifah is touring the U.S. as part of The Sugar Water Festival with fellow soul sisters, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott.  

     And then there’s Flavor Unit Entertainment, a production company owned and operated by Queen Latifah and her partner, Sha-kim Compere.  The company, based in New Jersey, is quickly establishing itself as one of the most important production companies in the film industry. They began by executive producing the box office hit Bringing Down the House.  After that, Latifah starred in, and Flavor Unit produced Beauty Shop for MGM.  They are also co-producing Bad Girls at Paramount with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Overbrook.  Then, there are a number of projects that Flavor Unit is producing or has produced in which Latifah does not star including The Cookout with Lionsgate, My People My People with Hyde Park, and Just Right with Disney.

     Latifah is also not a stranger to the small screen. Her first television series, “Living Single,” was a huge success and is currently in syndication.  From the small screen, Latifah made a leap to film and her acting skills have earned her the status of leading lady.

     Since her screen debut in Spike Lee’s 1992 film Jungle Fever, her film career has taken off.  She starred in Set it Off, which earned her a nomination for a Spirit Award in the Best Actress category and co-starred with Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito in the critically acclaimed Living Out Loud.  In 1999, she was seen in The Bone Collector directed by Philip Noyce starring Denzel Washington.  In 2002, she co-starred with Taye Diggs and Sanaa Latham in Fox Searchlight’s Brown Sugar.

     In addition to music, film and television, Queen Latifah has also written a book on self-esteem entitled Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman.

     Latifah is diligent in her pursuit of excellence, as is evident by the awards she has received for her work in film and music.  Her sincere concern for others is revealed by the generous amount of time and money that she donates to worthwhile charitable organizations.   Every year, Latifah serves as co-chairman for the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, Inc.  Established by her mother, Rita Owens, to perpetuate the memory of a loving son and brother, the foundations provides scholarships to students who excel scholastically, but are limited in financial resources.

# # #

Source

Roz Stevenson

Roz Stevenson Public Relations/RSPR         

 323-296-6612 / rozstevenson@aol.com