Queen Latifah snags a starring role in Lee Daniels’ girl-group TV pilot

Last week she was a wizard, but this week Queen Latifah has a new job.

The rapper-turned-actor will get the starring role in a still-untitled pilot about an aspiring girl group that writer-producer Lee Daniels starts shooting this month in Atlanta, according to a news release issued Monday from the network.

Latifah will play a beauty-salon proprietor who helps guide an ambitious girl group on the rise.

Daniels is, of course, best known as the guiding force behind “Empire,” Fox’s hit soap set in the hip-hop world.

Queen Latifah has extensive TV experience already. Last week she had the title role in NBC’s “The Wiz Live!,” a nearly three-hour adaptation of the Broadway musical from the 1970s. Earlier in the year, she starred in “Bessie,” HBO’s made-for-TV biopic about blues pioneer Bessie Smith. She has also hosted two briefly running daytime talk shows, the more recent of which ended last spring.

What do you think of Queen Latifah and her latest role?

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT