Amanda Bynes takes on the role of rebellious teenager Penny Pingleton whose relationship with Seaweed (Elijah Kelley) helps open the eyes of her best friend, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), to racial discrimination in Hairspray. Taking it to the streets, Tracy, Seaweed and Penny launch a campaign to end segration. While the subject matter sounds heavy, the film's approach to the topic is definitely not.

Amanda Bynes is no stranger to playing the lead, but she was perfectly content being part of the big ensemble cast of Hairspray. “Definitely. That was another reason why I wanted to be in this movie because even though I have a substantial part, I felt like it was not about me. It was fun to play a fun, quirky part in a big ensemble movie. So there was definitely much less pressure and I had days off. That was very exciting.” Read On...
_{(Photo © New Line Cinema)}

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Queen Latifah on Hairspray and Her Music Career
Queen Latifah stars as Motormouth Maybelle in the 2007 version of John Waters' movie musical, Hairspray. Her co-stars include Hollywood veterans John Travolta, Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer as well as a batch of popular young actors including Brittany Snow, Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron (High School Musical). While her more mature co-stars had nothing but sweet things to say about working with Queen Latifah, her younger Hairspray cohorts were even more effusive in praising the Academy Award nominated rapper-turned-actress. Read On...
_{(Photo © Richard Chavez)}