Sanaa Lathan

My first name is Swahili for Work of Art, is the second of five children born in New York City to Eleanor McCoy, a Broadway actress and dancer, and Stan Lathan, a director and producer. Surrounded by show business since birth, I began training in dance and gymnastics at an early age. Following her parents' divorce, I grew up shuttling between my mother's home in New York City and Los Angeles, California, where my father lived.During my undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, from which I earned a B.A. in English in 1992 and toyed with the idea of becoming a lawyer, I became involved with the Black Theater Workshop. Thanks in part to her stage experiences with the Workshop, I was encouraged to try out for the Yale School of Drama, where I was accepted.Following Yale, where I performed in a number of Shakespeare's plays, I then earned acclaim both off-Broadway and on the Los Angeles stage. Encouraged by my father to make Los Angeles my professional base, I then found early television roles on episodes of such shows as In the House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue, and Moesha. Winning raves and a Best Actress nod from the Los Angeles NAACP Theatrical Award Committee for the 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, The Wood, and Brown Sugar. The Best Man was a comedic ensemble film, starring Taye Diggs, Nia Long and Morris Chestnut, and featured Lathan as Diggs' girlfriend. 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 black 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 since she played the bad girl. Although after Out of Time there were false rumours that Lathan had an affair with co star Denzel Washington.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.Year Title Role 2006 Nip/Tuck Michelle Landau, 2006 Something New Kenya McQueen, 2004 Alien Vs. Predator Alexa Woods, 2003 Out of Time Ann Merai Harrison, 2002 Brown Sugar Sidney Shaw, 2000 Disappearing Acts Zora Banks, 2000 Love & Basketball Monica Wright, 1999 The Best Man Robin, 1999 The Wood Alicia and firstly... 1998 Blade Vanessa BrooksAwards & 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)a