Sanaa Lathan: Click Here For Sanaa's Filmography

Sanaa was born October 19, 1971 in New York. The name Sanaa is Swahili for 'Work of Art' and it is pronounced like Sinatra...just stop before you get to the 'tra'. Her mother is Broadway actress/dancer Eleanor McCot and her father is director/producer Stan Lathan...so obviously the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, even in her family of five kids (Sanaa being the second oldest). She grew up performing, in both dance and gymnastics as well as flying back and forth between New York and L.A. after her parents split up.

She studied English at Berkeley where she eventually fell in with the worst group of people you can find on campus...actors. Actually she was involved with the Black Theater Workshop and found herself sufficiently intrigued to follow the path to the Yale School of Drama. She became involved with Shakespearean productions and with her father in L.A. and his blessings to boot she began hitting the audition circuit landing roles in Family Matters, N.Y.P.D. Blue, and Moesha in 1996.

It wasn't until 1998 though that her fortunes to really change as she landed feature film roles like the aforementioned part in Blade (she played the mother of Wesley Snipes title character). What really helped propel her along though were the 'urban dramedies' like The Best Man, The Wood and then finally the lead in Love & Basketball (for which she would win a BET award). As a result of all this hard work she landed the Rising Star Award in 2001.

Most recently she can be seen opposite Denzel Washington in Out of Time.

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