- Born
- Nicknames
- Nana
- SL
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Sanaa Lathan is an actor, director, producer, and activist, well-known for starring in such hit films as LOVE & BASKETBALL, THE BEST MAN and BEST MAN HOLIDAY, BROWN SUGAR, ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, and NAPPILY EVER AFTER.
She recently made her feature directorial debut for Paramount Pictures' ON THE COME UP, based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. Premiering at the Toronto film festival to stellar reviews. Currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
Coming soon: MACRO Films' YOUNG WILD AND FREE which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
She is currently starring in the 3rd season of the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Succession. For which she was nominated for an Emmy award.
Lathan can be seen starring in REPLAY, an episode of the Jordan Peele's remake of The Twilight Zone on CBS All Access. She also stars in Showtime's The Affair and Fox's Shots Fired created by Gina Prince- Bythewood, and Rashid Johnson's Native Son on HBO.
Lathan is the voice of 'Donna Tubbs' on Fox's animated series Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, as well as the voice of 'Catwoman' in the DC animated series Harley Quinn.
On stage, Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A RAISIN IN THE SUN and starred as 'Maggie the Cat' opposite James Earl Jones in the Olivier award winning revival of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at the Novello Theatre in London's West end.
Lathan made her directorial debut with the short film LEAP for Maven Pictures, which she shot during lock down, about a Zoom therapist who suffers from OCD and panic disorder. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
She also stars in Peacock's MAN: FINAL CHAPTERS limited series with the original cast for which she was nominated for an image award.
Later this year she will be starring in the Fox Searchlight film: SUPREMES AT EARL'S ALL YOU CAN EAT based on the book of the same name.
Her lengthy list of credits also includes Steven Soderbergh's CONTAGION, NOW YOU SEE ME 2, AMERICAN ASSASSIN and Focus feature's SOMETHING NEW.
- IMDb mini biography by: CAA
- Parents
- RelativesTendaji Lathan(Sibling)Wesley Brice McCoy(Grandparent)Wesley Duncan McCoy(Great Grandparent)
- Her name is Swahili for "art" but can be loosely interpreted as "artwork" or "work of art".
- Alfre Woodard has played Sanaa's mother in three different films: Something New (2006), Love & Basketball (2000) and The Family That Preys (2008).
- Graduated from the University of California-Berkeley with a B.A. in English.
- Yale School of Drama graduate.
- Sanaa was raised partly in Beverly Hills with her father, director Stan Lathan, and partly in New York with her mother, Eleanor McCoy, a Broadway stage actress.
- I grew up in the business. My dad is a director/producer and my mom is a dancer, she performed with Alvin Ailey, but I didn't even think about becoming an actress.
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