Good Morning Obots!
Today’s Black celebrity who attended an Ivy League school is Sanaa Lathan.
Sanaa Lathan was born on September 19, 1971, in New York. Her mother, Eleanor McCoy, performed on Broadway with the likes of Eartha Kitt and her father. Stan Lathan, worked behind the scenes in television for PBS.
Academically gifted, Lathan attended the University of California at Berkeley majoring in English. Nearing the end of college, Sanaa considered law school but her fate was sealed as she was encouraged to apply to the Masters program at the Yale School of Drama by a recruiter.
During her three years at Yale, Lathan was able to visualize how she could effectively combine her talents, gifts and intelligence to express herself through acting. She gained a love for the stage and the drama greats like Shakespeare by performing in school productions such as “Othello,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Winter’s Tale,” and “Twelfth Night.”
Early Acting Career
Upon her own initiative, without the help of her accomplished dad, she was able to get notable appearances in television on shows such as In the “In the House” (1995), “Moesha” (1996), “NYPD Blue” (1993), “Family Matters” (1989), and the made-for-TV movie, Miracle in the Woods, playing the younger character opposite Della Reese. Her first movie role came in the action movie Drive (1997), where she played the estranged wife opposite Kadeem Hardison. Other brief but substantial roles came in the the comedy/drama The Wood (1999), where she played the adult girlfriend opposite Omar Epps.
Stardom
The chance meeting with Epps provide the opportunity for them to build a friendship and real life romantic relationship. Upon completion of The Wood (1999) shoot, Sanaa went to New York to join the ensemble cast for The Best Man (1999). In 2000, she lent her acting talents under the direction of her brother Tendaji Lathan in his award-winning film short The Smoker (2000).
She also appeared in the acclaimed romantic drama Love & Basketball (2000), where she played the lead role opposite her real life boyfriend Omar Epps. Lathan played the lead role in he made-for-television HBO movie Disappearing Acts (2000) based on the best-selling novel by renowned author Terry McMillan.
In 2002, Lathan starred in the romantic comedy, Brown Sugar, alongside Diggs, Queen Latifah, and Mos Def. Lathan’s performance earned an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. In 2004, Lathan starred on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Combs, Audra McDonald, and Phylicia Rashad. Lathan received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. Several years later, Lathan reprised the role in a critically acclaimed ABC Network production of A Raisin in the Sun.
Lathan subsequently starred in several major Hollywood films, including Alien vs. Predator, which was Lathan’s biggest role to date. Alien vs. Predator was a major success grossing over $171 million worldwide. Out of Time was also an important role for Lathan as she shared the screen with protagonist Denzel Washington. In 2006, Lathan co-starred with Simon Baker in Something New, a romantic comedy about an interracial relationship. In 2011, Lathan co-starred in the thriller Contagion.
