The Sanaa Lathan Handbook - Everything you need to know about Sanaa Lathan

Smith Emily

Description

Sanaa McCoy Lathan(born September 19, 1971) is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in many films, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun. In 2010, she starred in the all-black performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London.

This book is your ultimate resource for Sanaa Lathan. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, photos, and much more.

In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about Sanaa Lathan's Early life, Career and Personal life right away. A quick look inside: Sanaa Lathan, A Raisin in the Sun, A Raisin in the Sun (2008 film), Alien vs. Predator (film), Blade (film), Boss (TV series), Brown Sugar (2002 film), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, Contagion (film), David Garrison, Disappearing Acts, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Life (film), Lucille Lortel Awards, Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, Matthew Broderick, Moesha, NAACP Image Award, Night of the Hurricane, Nip/Tuck, Omar Epps, Out of Time (2003 film), Powder Blue (film), Second Stage Theatre, Something New (film), Stan Lathan, Terry McMillan, The Best Man (1999 film), The Cleveland Show, The Family That Preys, The Golden Blaze, The Wood, Theatre World Award…and more pages!

Contains selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped, combining the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the convenience of printed books. A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission.

Sujets

• Autobiography
• Biography

Informations

• Publié par: Emereo Publishing
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781488507304
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

Topic relevant selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped.

Combine the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the con- venience of printed books.

A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission: to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it eectively and globally.

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Contents

Articles Sanaa Lathan A Raisin in the Sun A Raisin in the Sun (2008 film) Alien vs. Predator (film) Blade (film) Boss (TV series) Brown Sugar (2002 film)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Catfish in Black Bean Sauce Contagion (film) David Garrison Disappearing Acts Gina Prince-Bythewood Life (film) Lucille Lortel Awards Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics Matthew Broderick Moesha NAACP Image Award Night of the Hurricane Nip/Tuck Omar Epps Out of Time (2003 film) Powder Blue (film) Second Stage Theatre Something New (film) Stan Lathan Terry McMillan The Best Man (1999 film) The Cleveland Show The Family That Preys The Golden Blaze The Wood Theatre World Award

1 6 10 13 22 27 35 38 43 46 59 62 64 66 70 72 74 81 89 93 97 106 110 112 114 119 122 124 126 130 138 143 145 147

Wonderful World (2009 film)

References Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Article Licenses License

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156 161

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Sanaa Lathan

Sanaa Lathan

Sanaa Lathan

Lathan at the premiere ofWonderful World, April 2009 Born Sanaa McCoy Lathan [1] September 19, 1971 New York City, New York, USA

Occupation

Years active

Actress, voice actress

1996–present

Sanaa McCoy Lathan(born September 19, 1971) is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in many films, including the box-office hitsLove & Basketball,Alien vs. Predator,Something New, andThe Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway inA Raisin in the Sun. In 2010 [2] she starred in the all-black performance ofCat on a Hot Tin Roofat the Novello Theatre in London.

Early life Lathan was born in New York City and attended Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. Her first name [3] means "brilliance" in Swahili and "work of art" in Arabic. She is of African American and Native American [4][5] [6] 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 & Sonand Russell Simmons'Def Comedy Jam. Her brother is Tendaji Lathan (a DJ). She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in English. Lathan also graduated at Yale University with a degree in Drama.

Career 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 asIn the House,Family Matters,NYPD Blue, andMoesha. During that same period, she won raves and a Best Actress nod from the Los Angeles NAACP Theatrical Award Committee for her performance inTo Take Arms. In 1998, Lathan earned a degree of recognition with her role as the mother of Wesley Snipes' title character inBlade. She followed this the subsequent year with a role inLifewith Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy and back-to-back turns inThe Best ManandThe Wood.The Best Manwas a comedic ensemble film, starring Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau Jr., and Morris Chestnut.The Best Manwent 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

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Sanaa Lathan

Epps were reunited onscreen in Gina Prince-Bythewood'sLove & Basketball, this time playing a couple as passionate about basketball as they are about each other. In reality, the couple was also dating at the time. 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. In 2000, Lathan appeared in the Off-Broadway production of "The Vagina Monologues" along with Teri Garr and Julianna Margulies. In 2001, Lathan earned additional acclaim for her work in the multicultural comedyCatfish in Black Bean Sauce. Next was her second collaboration with Prince-Bythewood:Disappearing Acts; it is based on a novel by Terry McMillan. In the HBO movie, Lathan is cast 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 byEbonymagazine as one of its55 Most Beautiful Peopleand was honoured byEssence 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 an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The film also received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Motion Picture.

Lathan at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego.

In 2004, Lathan starred on Broadway inA Raisin in the Sunwith 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, includingAlien vs. Predator, which was Lathan's biggest role to date.Alien vs. Predatorwas a major success grossing over $171 million worldwide.Out of Timewas 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 inSomething 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'sThe Family That Preys. The film also features Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates; it was released in the U.S. on September 12, 2008.

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Sanaa Lathan

In 2009, Lathan co-starred with Matthew Broderick in the drama Wonderful World. She also began voicing the character Donna Tubbs onThe Cleveland Show.

Lathan is currently playing the title role in Second Stage Theatre'sBy The Way, Meet Vera Starkby Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage co-starring Stephanie J. Block, and David Garrison closing June 12.

In 2011, Lathan co-starred in the Steven Soderbergh thrillerContagion alongside Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne. Lathan with Matthew Broderick at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival premiere ofWonderful In 2011, Lathan starred alongside Anthony Mackie and Forest World. Whitaker inVipaka, a psychological thriller directed by Phillipe Caland. [7] Lathan is currently shooting the second season of Starz' original seriesBoss, starring Kelsey Grammer, set to premiere August 17. [8][9]

Filmography

Year 1997

1998 1999

2000

Title Miracle in the Woods Drive Blade The Wood The Best Man Catfish in Black Bean Sauce Life Love & Basketball

Disappearing Acts 2002Brown Sugar 2003Out of Time 2004Alien vs. Predator 2005The Golden Blaze 2006Something New Nip/Tuck 2008A Raisin in the Sun The Family That Preys 2009Wonderful World Powder Blue 2009–presentThe Cleveland Show 2010–presentFamily Guy 2011Contagion 2011Night of the Hurricane

Young Lilly Carolyn Brody Vanessa Brooks

Role

Alicia Robin Nina Daisy Monica Wright, Monica Wright-McCall Zora Banks Sidney 'Sid' Shaw Ann Merai Harrison Alexa Woods Monica (voice) Kenya McQueen

Michelle Landau

Beneatha Younger Andrea Pratt-Bennett Khadi Diana Donna Tubbs (voice)

Donna Tubbs (voice)

Aubrey Cheever

Donna Tubbs (voice)

Other notes

recurring role

cast member various episodes

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Sanaa Lathan

Awards and nominations  BET Award 2001, Best Actress: (Winner)  Black Movie Awards  2006, Best Actress:Something New(Nominated)  Black Reel Award  2008, Best Actress:The Family That Preys(Nominated)  2006, Best Actress:Something New(Nominated) 2004, Best Actress:Out of Time(Winner)  2003, Best Actress:Brown Sugar(Nominated) 2001, Best Actress:Love & Basketball(Winner)  2001, Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series:Disappearing Acts(Nominated)  Image Awards  2009, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie/Mini-Series:ARaisin in the Sun(nominated)  2007, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture:Something New(Nominated)  2007, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:Nip/Tuck(Nominated)  2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture:Out of Time(Nominated)  2003, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture:Brown Sugar(Nominated) 2001, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture:Love & Basketball(Winner)  2000, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: 'The Best Man' (Nominated)  Independent Spirit Awards  2001, Best Female Lead:Love & Basketball(Nominated)  Theatre World Award 2004A Raisin in the Sun(Winner)  Tony Award  2003, Best Featured Actress in a Play:ARaisin in the Sun(Nominated)  Lucille Lortel Awards 2012, Outstanding Lead Actress:By The Way, Meet Vera Stark(Winner)  Drama Desk Award  2012, Outstanding Actress in a Play:By The Way, Meet Vera Stark(Nominated)

External links [1] Rebecca Flint Marx (2009). "Sanaa Lathan:Biography on MSN" (http:/ /movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/sanaa-lathan/). MSN. . Retrieved 2008-05-13. [2] Sanaa Lathan Joins Jones and Rashad in West End Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (http:/ /www.broadway.com/shows/cat-hot-tin-roof-london/ buzz/98647/sanaa-lathan-joins-jones-and-rashad-in-west-end-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof) [3] Biography for Sanaa Lathan (http:/ /www.imdb.com/name/nm5125/bio) at the Internet Movie Database [4] "VERGO Presents: Fashion with a Side of Life" (http:/ /vergomedia.com/fashion/?tag=sanaa-lathan).Vergo Magazine. 2008. . Retrieved 2009-05-13. [5] Vissa Studio: The Hair E-Magazine (2010). "Sanaa Lathan Hair Styles" (http:/ /vissastudios.com/sanaa-lathan-hair-styles). Vissa Studios 2010 an Alfam Company. . Retrieved 2010-12-05. [6] Sanaa Lathan Biography (1971?-) (http:/ /www.filmreference.com/film/65/Sanaa-Lathan.html) [7] http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Forest-Whitaker-To-Star-In-Voodoo-Horror-Flick-Vipaka-With-Anthony-Mackie-26029. html [8] http://tvline.com/2012/02/05/boss-sanaa-lathan-season-2/ [9] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/boss-season-2-kelsey-grammer-jonathan-groff-331204

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 Sanaa Lathan (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5125/) at the Internet Movie Database  Sanaa Lathan (http://www.askmen.com/women/actress_250/266_sanaa_lathan.html) at AskMen.com Interviews  Essence Interview (http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/entertainment/articles/sanaalathanoct08/) (September, 2008)  MSNBC interview (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11130422/) (February 2, 2006)  MetroMix interview (http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/ mmx-060202-chicago-movies-sanaa-lathan,0,6355058.story?coll=mmx-movies_top_heds) (February 2, 2006)  BlackFilm interview (http://www.blackfilm.com/20060127/features/sanaalatham.shtml) (January, 2006)  Latino Review interview (http://www.latinoreview.com/films_2004/fox/alienvspredator/sanaa-interview. html) (August, 2004)  BlackFilm interview (http://www.blackfilm.com/20040806/features/sanaalathan.shtml) (August, 2004)

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A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

First-edition publication (Random House 1959)

Written by

Characters

Date premiered

Place premiered

Lorraine Hansberry

Walter Younger Ruth Younger Travis Younger Lena Younger (Mama) Beneatha Younger George Murchison Joseph Asagai

Marcha11,a1959

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Original languageEnglish

Genre

Setting

Domestic tragedy

South Side, Chicago

[1] IBDB profile

[2] Theatricalia profile

[3] A Raisin in the SunThe title comes from theis a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. [4] poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred" ) by Langston Hughes. The story is based upon a black family's experiences in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood.

Plot Walter and Ruth Younger and their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's south side. Walter is barely making a living as a limousine driver. Though Ruth is content with their lot, Walter is not and desperately wishes to become wealthy, to which end he plans to invest in a liquor store in partnership with Willy, a street-smart acquaintance of Walter's whom we never meet. At the beginning of the play, Mama is waiting for an insurance check for ten thousand dollars. Walter has a sense of entitlement to the money, but Mama has religious objections to alcohol and Beneatha has to remind him it is Mama's call how to spend it. Eventually Mama puts some of the money down on a new house, choosing an all-white neighborhood over a black one for the practical reason that it happens to be much cheaper. Later she relents and gives the rest of the money to Walter to invest with the provision that he reserve $3,000 for Beneatha's education. Walter passes the money on to Willy's naive sidekick Bobo, who gives it to Willy, who absconds with it, depriving Walter and Beneatha of their dreams, though not the Youngers of their new home. Meanwhile, Karl Lindner, a white representative of the neighborhood they plan to move to, makes a generous offer to buy them out. He wishes to avoid neighborhood tensions over interracial population, which to the three women's horror Walter prepares to accept as a solution to their financial setback. Lena says that while money was something they try to work for, they should never take it if it was a person's way of telling them they weren't fit to walk the same earth as them. While all this is going on, Walter's character and direction in life are being defined for us by two different men: Beneatha's wealthy and educated boyfriend George Murchison, and Joseph Asagai, a Nigerian medical student at a

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A Raisin in the Sun

Canadian university on a visit to America. Neither man is actively involved in the Youngers' financial ups and downs. George represents the "fully assimilated black man" who denies his African heritage with a "smarter than thou" attitude, which Beneatha finds disgusting, while dismissively mocking Walter's lack of money and education. Asagai patiently teaches Beneatha about her African heritage; he gives her thoughtfully useful gifts from Africa, while pointing out she is unwittingly assimilating herself into white ways. She straightens her hair, for example, which he characterizes as "mutilation." When Beneatha becomes distraught at the loss of the money, she is upbraided by Joseph for her materialism. She eventually accepts his point of view that things will get better with a lot of effort, along with his proposal of marriage and his invitation to move with him to Nigeria to practice medicine. Walter is oblivious to the stark contrast between George and Joseph: his pursuit of wealth can only be attained by liberating himself from Joseph's culture, to which he attributes his poverty, and rising to George's level, wherein he sees his salvation. To Walter, this is the American dream, which he pursues as fruitlessly as Willy Loman inDeath of a Salesman, with the added handicap of being black in white America. But whereas Loman dies at the end of his story, Walter redeems himself and black pride at the end by changing his mind and not accepting the buyout offer, stating that they are proud of who they are and will try to be good neighbors. The play closes with the family leaving for their new but uncertain future.

Litigation All experiences in this play echo a lawsuit (Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940)), to which the Hansberry family was a party when they fought to have their day in court because a previous class action about racially motivated restrictive covenants (Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. 519 (1934)) was similar to the case at hand. This case was held prior to the passage of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing and created the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The Hansberrys won their right to be heard as a matter of due process of law in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that theHansberry defendants were not bound by theBurkedecision because the class of defendants in the respective cases had conflicting goals, and thus could not be considered to be the same class. Interestingly, the plaintiff in the first action was Olive Ida Burke, who brought the suit on behalf of the property owner's association to enforce the racial restriction in 1934. Her husband, James Burke, was the person who sold the property to Carl Hansberry (Lorraine's father) when he changed his mind about the validity of the covenant. Mr. Burke's decision may have been motivated by the changing demographics of the neighborhood, but it was also influenced by the Depression. The demand for houses was so low among white buyers that Mr. Hansberry may have [5] been the only prospective purchaser available. Lorraine reflects upon the litigation in her bookTo Be Young, Gifted, and Black: "25 years ago, [my father] spent a small personal fortune, his considerable talents, and many years of his life fighting, in association with NAACP attorneys, Chicago’s‘restrictive covenants’in one of this nation's ugliest ghettos. That fight also required our family to occupy disputed property in a hellishly hostile‘white neighborhood’in which literally howling mobs surrounded our house…My memories of this‘correct’way of fighting white supremacy in America include being spat at, cursed and pummeled in the daily trek to and from school. And I also remember my desperate and courageous mother, patrolling our household all night with a loaded German Luger (pistol), doggedly guarding her four children, while my father fought the respectable part of the battle in the Washington court." The Hansberry house, the red brick three-flat at 6140 S. Rhodes in Washington Park which they bought in 1937, was [6] given landmark status by the Chicago City Council's Committee on Historical Landmarks Preservation in 2010.

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