SANAA LATHAN

'Sanaa McCoy Lathan' (born September 19 1971) is a Tony Award-nominated American actress.

Contents

Biography

Career

Personal Life

Trivia

Selected filmography

Awards & nominations

External links

Interviews

Biography

Career

Following her training at Yale, where she performed in a number of Shakespeare's plays, Lathan earned acclaim both off-Broadway and on the Los Angeles stage. Encouraged by her father to make Los Angeles her professional base, the young actress found early television roles on episodes of such shows as ''In the House'', ''Family Matters'', ''NYPD Blue'', and ''Moesha''. During that same period, she won raves and a Best Actress nod from the Los Angeles NAACP Theatrical Award Committee for her performance in ''To Take Arms''.
In 1998, Lathan earned a degree of recognition with her role as the mother of Wesley Snipes' title character in ''Blade''. She followed this the subsequent year with back-to-back turns in ''The Best Man'' and ''The Wood''. ''The Best Man'' was a comedic ensemble film, starring Taye Diggs, Nia Long and Morris Chestnut. ''The Wood'', another ensemble film starring Diggs and Omar Epps, cast her as the love interest of Epps, who at the time was also her real-life boyfriend.
Lathan and Epps were reunited onscreen in Prince-Bythewood's ''Love & Basketball'', this time playing a couple as passionate about basketball as they are about each other. The film served as a break-out role for Lathan, who played a leading character instead of the girlfriend of one. Her work in ''Love & Basketball'' earned her "Best Actress" nominations for both the NAACP Image Award and the Independent Spirit Award. That same year, Lathan earned additional acclaim for her work in the multicultural comedy ''Catfish in Black Bean Sauce'' and for her second collaboration with Prince-Bythewood, ''Disappearing Acts''. Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, the HBO movie cast Lathan as an aspiring singer/songwriter in love with a carpenter, played by her Blade co-star Wesley Snipes. For her work in the film, Lathan earned an Essence Award for Best Actress, as well as the added assurance of a very busy work schedule. That year, she was named by ''Ebony'' magazine as one of its ''55 Most Beautiful People'' and was honoured by ''Essence'' magazine and Black Entertainment Television.
Lathan subsequently starred in several major Hollywood films, including ''Alien Vs. Predator'' which was Lathan's biggest role to date. Lathan was the female lead in a Science Fiction movie which is rare for a african-american actress. In addition, ''Alien Vs. Predator'' was a major success grossing over $171 million dollars worldwide. ''Out of Time'' was also an important role for Lathan as she played the bad girl.
In 2006, Lathan co-starred with Simon Baker in ''Something New'', a romantic comedy about an interracial relationship. Lathan appeared in a recurring role as Michelle Landau in another interracial relationship as the much younger wife of a Texas businessman (Larry Hagman) during the fourth season of the television series, ''Nip/Tuck''.

Personal Life

Generally private, Lathan has never been married but had been involved with actor Omar Epps for a time. Actress Regina Hall is among her closest friends.
She is the daughter of Stan Lathan, an influential producer/director.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0490133/

Trivia

At least three of the films she's starred in contain some sort of wedding sequence.
Brother Tendaji is a well known LA based deejay.
As the female lead in ''Alien vs. Predator'', Lathan has three things in common with Sigourney Weaver, the last female lead in the franchise: both majored in English at a California university, both graduated from Yale School of Drama, and both have fathers who created shows for television.
Has worked on two separate occasions with three different lead actors: Wesley Snipes, Taye Diggs, and Omar Epps.

Selected filmography

'Year'	'Title'	'Role'	'Other notes'
2006	''Nip/Tuck''	Michelle Landau	''recurring role''
2006	''Something New''	Kenya McQueen
2004	''Alien Vs. Predator''	Alexa Woods
2003	''Out of Time''	Ann Merai Harrison
2002	''Brown Sugar''	Sidney 'Sid' Shaw
2000	''Disappearing Acts''	Zora Banks
2000	''Love & Basketball''	Monica Wright
1999	''The Best Man''	Robin
1999	''The Wood''	Alicia
1998	''Blade''	Vanessa Brooks

Awards & nominations

★ BET Award

★
★ '2001, Best Actress: (Winner)'

★ Black Movie Awards

★
★ 2006, Best Actress: Something New (Nominated)

★ Black Reel Award

★
★ 2006, Best Actress: Something New (Nominated)

★
★ '2004, Best Actress: Out of Time (Winner)'

★
★ 2003, Best Actress: Brown Sugar (Nominated)

★
★ '2001, Best Actress: Love & Basketball (Winner)'

★
★ 2001, Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series: Disappearing Acts (Nominated)

★ Image Awards

★
★ 2007, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Something New (Nominated)

★
★ 2007, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Nip/Tuck (Nominated)

★
★ 2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Out of Time (Nominated)

★
★ 2003, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Brown Sugar (Nominated)

★
★ '2001, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Love & Basketball (Winner)'

★
★ 2000, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: The Best Man (Nominated)

★ Independent Spirit Awards

★
★ 2001, Best Female Lead: Love & Basketball (Nominated)

★ Theatre World Award

★
★ '2004 A Raisin in the Sun (Winner)'

★ Tony Award

★
★ 2004, Best Featured Actress in a Play: A Raisin In the Sun (Nominated)

External links

★

★ Sanaa Lathan at AskMen.com

Interviews

★ MSNBC interview (February 2, 2006)

★ MetroMix interview (February 2, 2006)

★ BlackFilm interview (January, 2006)

★ Latino Review interview (August, 2004)

★ BlackFilm interview (August, 2004)