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Sanaa McCoy Lathan (born September 19, 1971)is an American

actress. She starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway

in A Raisin in the Sun.

Early life

Lathan was born in New York City

and attended Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics

. Her first name means "work of art" in Swahili. She is of African American and Native American descent. Her mother, Eleanor McCoy, was an actress and dancer who performed on Broadway with Eartha Kitt. Her father, Stan Lathan, worked behind the scenes in television for PBS, as well as a producer on shows such as Sanford & Son and Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam. Her brother is Tendaji Lathan (now a DJ).

She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley

with a degree in English. Lathan contemplated a career in law, but instead enrolled at the Yale School of Drama.

Career

Lathan at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego

Following her training at Yale

, where she studied with Earle R. Gister and 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 a role in Life with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy and back-to-back turns in The Best Man and The Wood. The Best Man was a comedic ensemble film, starring Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau Jr., and Morris Chestnut. The Best Man went on to become one of the top ten highest grossing African American films in history and Lathan received a NAACP Image Award nomination for her performance. The Wood, another ensemble film starring Diggs and Omar Epps, cast her as the love interest of Epps. 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 performance in Love & Basketball earned her the 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress and a BET 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.

In 2002, Lathan starred in the romantic comedy, Brown Sugar, alongside Diggs, Queen Latifah, and Mos Def. Lathan’s performance earned a NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The film also received a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding 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 for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger. 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 played the plot-twist antagonist, sharing the screen with protagonist 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.

Lathan played Andrea in Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, which also featured Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates and was released in the U.S. on September 12, 2008.

In 2009, Lathan co-starred with Matthew Broderick in the drama Wonderful World. Lathan also voiced a character on The Cleveland Show, an animated series that will premiere in the fall of 2009. The show was created by Seth McFarlane as a spin-off of the popular TV series Family Guy. In December 2009 Lathan returns to theater alongside James Earl Jones for the West End

production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1998	Blade	Vanessa Brooks
1998	Drive	Carolyn Brody
1999	The Wood	Alicia
	The Best Man	Robin
	Life	Daisy
2000	Love & Basketball	Monica Wright, Monica Wright-McCall
2000	Disappearing Acts	Zora Banks
2002	Brown Sugar	Sidney 'Sid' Shaw
2003	Out of Time	Ann Merai Harrison
2004	Alien vs. Predator	Alexa Woods
2005	The Golden Blaze	Monica	voice only
2006	Something New	Kenya McQueen
2006	Nip/Tuck	Michelle Landau	recurring role
2008	A Raisin in the Sun	Beneatha Younger
2008	The Family That Preys	Andrea Pratt-Bennett
2009	Wonderful World	Khandi
2009	The Cleveland Show	Donna Tubbs	voice