Sanaa Lathan
Also Known As: Sanaa McCoy Lathan, ثنا لیتن
Biography: Sanaa McCoy Lathan (/səˈnɑ/ born September 19, 1971) is an American stage, film, television, and voice actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. She earned bachelor's degree in English from University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in drama from Yale. She is best known for her roles as Robyn in The Best Man films and subsequent TV miniseries on Peacock, Naomi Hicks on Netflix's Hit & Run, Violet Jones in Nappily Ever After, Ashe Akino on Fox's drama Shots Fired, Deputy Director Natalie Austin in Now You See Me 2 (2016), Leah Vaughn in The Perfect Guy (2015), Jenelle Wilson on Showtime's drama The Affair, Mona Fredricks on Starz' drama Boss, Andrea in Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008), Beneatha Younger in ABC's film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun (2008), Kenya McQueen in Something New (2006), Ann Merai Harrison in Out of Time (2004), Sidney 'Sid' Shaw in Brown Sugar (2002), Monica Wright in Love & Basketball (2000), Zora Banks in Disappearing Acts (2000), Alicia in The Wood (1999), Vanessa Brooks - the mother of Wesley Snipes' title character - in Blade (1998), and Briana Gilliam on NBC's sitcom Lateline. She had recurring roles on HBO's Succession and FX's Nip/Tuck, and starred on NBC's short-lived sitcom Built to Last. In 2022, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for her work on the television series Succession. Her other movie credits include With/In Vol 1 (2021) and Vol 2 (2022), American Assassin (2017), Contagion (2011), Powder Blue (2009), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), and more. She voiced Catwoman on HBO's animated series Harley Quinn, and Donna Tubbs on The Cleveland Show and on all Family Guy appearances. In 2004, she starred on Broadway as Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Combs, Audra McDonald, and Phylicia Rashad, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. She later reprise her role in the 2008 film adaptation. In 2010, she starred in the all-black performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London. She earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her recurring role on Succession. She received an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in Brown Sugar. She received a NAACP Image Award nomination for her performance in The Best Man. She earned an Essence Award for Best Actress for her performance in Disappearing Acts. She earned the 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress, and a BET Award for her performance in Love & Basketball. In 2000, she was named by Ebony magazine as one of its 55 Most Beautiful People and was honored by Essence magazine and Black Entertainment Television. In 2022, she made her directorial debut with the film On the Come Up, in which she also has a supporting role.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Birthday: September 19, 1971
Adult: No
Gender: Female
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Known For:
AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Overview: When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
Genres: Adventure Science Fiction Action Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2004-08-12
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Out of Time
Overview: Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.
Genres: Thriller Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2003-10-03
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Young. Wild. Free.
Overview: High school senior Brandon is drowning in responsibilities when his world is turned upside down after being robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams.
Genres: Drama Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2023-01-22
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Life
Overview: Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.
Genres: Comedy Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-04-16
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A Raisin in the Sun
Overview: Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads whare the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Should they buy a new home for the family? Perhaps a liquor store? While no choice is easy, life on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s is even harder.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2008-02-25
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Wonderful World
Overview: Ben Singer is a failed children's folk singer, a career proofreader, a less-than-extraordinary weekend dad, and perhaps the most negative man alive. Floundering in all aspects of his life, Ben's only comfort comes from regular chess games and friendly debates on game theory with his Senegalese roommate Ibou. When Ibou is suddenly struck ill, Ben's pessimistic worldview seems unequivocally confirmed. It takes an extended visit from Ibou's sister Khadi for Ben to realize that cynicism may be all a matter of perspective.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-01-08
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Blade
Overview: The Daywalker known as "Blade" - a half-vampire, half-mortal man - becomes the protector of humanity against an underground army of vampires.
Genres: Horror Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-08-21
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Love & Basketball
Overview: Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since childhood. As they grow into adulthood, they fall in love, but they also share another all-consuming passion: basketball. As Quincy and Monica struggle to make their relationship work, they follow separate career paths though high school and college basketball and, they hope, into stardom in big-league professional ball.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-04-21
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Something New
Overview: Kenya McQueen, a corporate lawyer, finds love in the most unexpected place when she agrees to go on a blind date with Brian Kelly, a sexy and free-spirited landscaper.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2006-01-29
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Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys
Overview: Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout several decades. Recently, their lives have become mired in turmoil as their adult children’s extramarital affairs, unethical business practices, and a dark secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2008-09-12
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The Wood
Overview: In the panicky, uncertain hours before his wedding, a groom with prenuptial jitters and his two best friends reminisce about growing up together in the middle-class African-American neighborhood of Inglewood, California. Flashing back to the twenty-something trio's childhood exploits, the memories capture the mood and nostalgia of the '80s era.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-07-16
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The Best Man
Overview: After writing a soon-to-be bestselling novel, writer and committed bachelor Harper attempts to hide the fact that his saucy new book is loosely based on the lives and loves of his tight-knit group of friends. Harper is set to be best man at his friend Lance's wedding, and all his friends will be in attendance. When an advance copy of the book makes its way into the hands of his ex-flame, Jordan, Harper attempts to keep it under wraps.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-10-22
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Brown Sugar
Overview: Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one single childhood instant... witnessing the birth of hip-hop on a New York street corner. Now some 15 years later, she is a revered music critic at a national magazine and he is a successful, though unfulfilled, hip-hop record company executive. Both come to realize that their true life passions will only be fulfilled by remembering what they learned that day on the corner.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2002-10-05
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Disappearing Acts
Overview: A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.
Genres: TV Movie Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-12-09
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Contagion
Overview: As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.
Genres: Drama Thriller Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2011-09-08
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Powder Blue
Overview: On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-05-08
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Repentance
Overview: An earnest life-coach/author, Thomas Carter, is mysteriously abducted by a deranged client, Angel Sanchez, who delves into Thomas' teachings and uses his spiritual messages of Karma - action and reaction (Vipaka), against him to terrorize him and his family for their past sins.
Genres: Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2014-02-28
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The Best Man Holiday
Overview: When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be reignited.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2013-11-15
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The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
Overview: Three lifelong best friends known as “The Supremes” share the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood from decades of weathering life’s storms. Through the joys and sorrows of life, marriage and children, happiness and blues, love and loss, new shades of heartbreak and illness threaten to stir up the past when the trio sees their bond put to the test as they face their most challenging times yet.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2024-08-07
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The Perfect Guy
Overview: With a fulfilling career and a loving relationship, lobbyist Leah Vaughn seems to have it all. Things come crashing down when Dave, her long-term boyfriend, disagrees with her future plans for marriage and a family. The resulting painful breakup leaves Leah heartbroken, until she meets the charming and handsome Carter Duncan. Soon, the budding romance turns dangerous as Carter reveals his volatile nature, forcing Leah to break up with the man she thought was Mr. Right. She soon realizes that Carter doesn't want to let her go.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2015-09-11
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On the Come Up
Overview: Sixteen-year-old Brianna Jackson is a gifted rapper who plans to take the battle rap scene by storm to lift up her family and do right by the legacy of her father, a local hip-hop legend whose career was cut short by gang violence. However, when her first hit song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself torn between the authenticity that got her this far and the false persona that the industry wants to impose on her.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2022-09-23
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The Golden Blaze
Overview: Two African American boys schoolyard rivalry spirals out of control when their fathers develop superpowers.
Genres: Animation
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2005-05-10
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Leap
Overview: Sanaa Lathan's directorial debut. A short film created for the With/In anthology.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
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With/In Volume 2
Overview: An anthology film that centres around relationships, love and family. A man misses his flight and instead finds love in quarantine, a lonely therapist finds companionship in an unwanted pet, two sisters find courage to say things they never had the words to say, and an unexpected packet of sourdough starter has horrifying and hilarious consequences. These are some of the stories captured in WITH/IN, a collection of thirteen films created by actors and their families during the time that changed our lives forever.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2022-03-15
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Now You See Me 2
Overview: One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their mind-bending spectacles, the Four Horsemen resurface only to find themselves face to face with a new enemy who enlists them to pull off their most dangerous heist yet.
Genres: Crime Thriller Action Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2016-06-02
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Approaching the Unknown
Overview: Captain William Stanaforth is on a one-way solo mission to take the first steps in colonising Mars. Like all pioneers throughout history, Stanaforth will face insurmountable odds and life and death decisions as he rockets bravely through space.
Genres: Thriller Drama Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2016-06-03
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Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
Overview: An African American couple (Winfield and Alice) adopt two orphans from a Vietnamese refugee camp. After twenty-two years, the children are reunited with their birth mother, bringing deeply submerged resentments and misconceptions to the surface and forcing the characters to reexamine their identity and relationships in both comical and poignant situations.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-04-14
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Drive
Overview: A prototype enhanced human, on the run from Chinese-hired hit men, hooks up with a dread-locked bystander, and the two of them elude their pursuers narrowly each time.
Genres: Action Adventure Science Fiction Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-08-06
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American Assassin
Overview: Following the murder of his fiancée, Mitch Rapp trains under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley. The pair then is enlisted to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on military and civilian targets.
Genres: Action Adventure Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-09-14
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Native Son
Overview: A young black man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-01-24
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Nappily Ever After
Overview: After an accident at the hair salon, Violet realizes she's not living life to the fullest. A soulful barber helps her put the pieces back together.
Genres: Comedy Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-09-21
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Miracle in the Woods
Overview: Quarreled sisters; Sarah and Wanda inherit property from their mother. It has always belonged to the family. Sarah insists on selling it as soon as possible because she has many difficulties. She goes there with her daughter; Gina. Wanda, on the other hand, wants to keep the property in family. They soon discover that it's not abandoned. Old lady, Lilly Cooper has been living there for many years and doesn't want to leave the house, at least, not as long as she can meet her son.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-10-26
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With/In Volume 1
Overview: Giving creatives the chance to step outside the box while being confined to their own homes, the filmmakers behind With/In range from seasoned directors to first-timers, all provided with the same iPhone and basic gear to bring their visions to life.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2021-06-13
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