Sanaa Lathan

Born: 1971-09-19

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.


Placeholder

as Vanessa
Released: 1998-08-21

The Daywalker known as "Blade" - a half-vampire, half-mortal man - becomes the protector of...

Movie page
See!

Now You See Me 2

as Deputy Director Natalie Austin
Released: 2016-06-02

One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their mind-bending...

Movie page
as Aubrey Cheever
Released: 2011-09-08

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the...

Movie page
See!
as Alexa Woods
Released: 2004-08-12

When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they...

Movie page
Don't See

American Assassin

as Irene Kennedy
Released: 2017-09-14

Following the murder of his fiancée, Mitch Rapp trains under the instruction of Cold War veteran...

Movie page

Life

as Daisy
Released: 1999-04-16

Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for...

Movie page

The Best Man Holiday

as Robyn
Released: 2013-11-15

When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how...

Movie page

The Best Man

as Robyn
Released: 1999-10-22

After writing a soon-to-be bestselling novel, writer and committed bachelor Harper attempts to...

Movie page

Powder Blue

as Diana
Released: 2009-05-08

On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and...

Movie page

The Perfect Guy

as Leah Vaughn
Released: 2015-09-11

With a fulfilling career and a loving relationship, lobbyist Leah Vaughn seems to have it all....

Movie page

Love & Basketball

as Monica Wright
Released: 2000-04-21

Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since...

Movie page

The Wood

as Alicia
Released: 1999-07-16

In the panicky, uncertain hours before his wedding, a groom with prenuptial jitters and his two...

Movie page

Something New

as Kenya McQueen
Released: 2006-01-29

Kenya McQueen, a corporate lawyer, finds love in the most unexpected place when she agrees to go...

Movie page

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys

as Andrea
Released: 2008-09-12

Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of...

Movie page

Brown Sugar

as Sidney 'Sid' Shaw
Released: 2002-10-05

Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one...

Movie page

Out of Time

as Ann Merai Harrison
Released: 2003-10-03

Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious...

Movie page

Drive

as Carolyn Brody
Released: 1997-08-06

A prototype enhanced human, on the run from Chinese-hired hit men, hooks up with a dread-locked...

Movie page

Nappily Ever After

as Violet Jones
Released: 2018-09-21

After an accident at the hair salon, Violet realizes she's not living life to the fullest. A...

Movie page

The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat

as Barbara Jean Maxberry
Released: 2024-08-07

Three lifelong best friends known as “The Supremes” share the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood...

Movie page

Approaching the Unknown

as Captain Emily Maddox
Released: 2016-06-03

Captain William Stanaforth is on a one-way solo mission to take the first steps in colonising...

Movie page

Native Son

as Trudy Thomas
Released: 2019-01-24

A young black man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago...

Movie page

Disappearing Acts

as Zora Banks
Released: 2000-12-09

Zora Banks is a school teacher and aspiring singer hoping to become a successful star while...

Movie page

With/In Volume 2

as uncredited
Released: 2022-03-15

An anthology film that centres around relationships, love and family. A man misses his flight...

Movie page

Repentance

as Maggie
Released: 2014-02-28

An earnest life-coach/author, Thomas Carter, is mysteriously abducted by a deranged client,...

Movie page

On the Come Up

as Jay
Released: 2022-09-23

Sixteen-year-old Brianna Jackson is a gifted rapper who plans to take the battle rap scene by...

Movie page

A Raisin in the Sun

as Beneatha Younger
Released: 2008-02-25

Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the...

Movie page

Young. Wild. Free.

as Janice Huffman
Released: 2023-01-22

High school senior Brandon is drowning in responsibilities when his world is turned upside down...

Movie page

Wonderful World

as Khadi
Released: 2009-01-08

Ben Singer is a failed children's folk singer, a career proofreader, a less-than-extraordinary...

Movie page

Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

as Nina
Released: 1999-04-14

An African American couple (Winfield and Alice) adopt two orphans from a Vietnamese refugee...

Movie page

With/In Volume 1

as (segment "Leap")
Released: 2021-06-13

Giving creatives the chance to step outside the box while being confined to their own homes, the...

Movie page

The Golden Blaze

as Monica (voice)
Released: 2005-05-10

Two African American boys schoolyard rivalry spirals out of control when their fathers develop...

Movie page

Miracle in the Woods

as Young Lilly
Released: 1997-10-26

Quarreled sisters; Sarah and Wanda inherit property from their mother. It has always belonged to...

Movie page

Family Guy

as Claire Huxtable (voice)
First aired: 1999-01-31

Sick, twisted, politically incorrect and Freakin' Sweet animated series featuring the adventures...

TV Show page

Family Guy

as Muhammad Ali's Wife (voice)
First aired: 1999-01-31

Sick, twisted, politically incorrect and Freakin' Sweet animated series featuring the adventures...

TV Show page

Family Guy

as Donna Tubbs (voice)
First aired: 1999-01-31

Sick, twisted, politically incorrect and Freakin' Sweet animated series featuring the adventures...

TV Show page

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

as Self - Guest
First aired: 2009-07-16

Bravo network executive Andy Cohen discusses pop culture topics with celebrities and reality...

TV Show page

Curb Your Enthusiasm

as Sibby Sanders
First aired: 2000-10-15

The off-kilter, unscripted comic vision of Larry David, who plays himself in a parallel universe...

TV Show page

Succession

as Lisa Arthur
First aired: 2018-06-03

Follow the lives of the Roy family as they contemplate their future once their aging father...

TV Show page

LIVE with Kelly and Mark

as Self - Guest
First aired: 1988-09-05

A morning talk show with A-list celebrity guests, top-notch performances and one-of-a-kind...

TV Show page

The Jennifer Hudson Show

as Self
First aired: 2022-09-12

Talented entertainer and newly-minted EGOT Jennifer Hudson takes on the daytime talk show landscape.

TV Show page

The Cleveland Show

as Donna Tubbs (voice)
First aired: 2009-09-27

The bizarre adventures of Cleveland Brown and his family.

TV Show page

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

as Self - Guest
First aired: 1993-09-13

Stepping into the late-late slot vacated by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien stars in a show that...

TV Show page

Nip/Tuck

as uncredited
First aired: 2003-07-22

Hotshot plastic surgeons Dr. Sean McNamara and Dr. Christian Troy experience full-blown midlife...

TV Show page

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

as Self
First aired: 2003-01-26

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and...

TV Show page

Family Matters

as Allison
First aired: 1989-09-22

A long-running dramedy centering on the Winslow family, a middle-class African American family...

TV Show page

Harley Quinn

as Catwoman (voice)
First aired: 2019-11-29

Harley Quinn has finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker and attempts to make...

TV Show page

The Twilight Zone

as Nina Harrison
First aired: 2019-04-01

Tales of science fiction, fantasy and the occult, exploring humanity's hopes, despairs, prides...

TV Show page

Moesha

as Ebony
First aired: 1996-01-23

Moesha was an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May...

TV Show page

The Affair

as Jenelle Wilson
First aired: 2014-10-12

The Affair explores the emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between Noah Solloway...

TV Show page

In the House

as Charese
First aired: 1995-04-10

In the House is an American sitcom

TV Show page

Hit & Run

as Naomi Hicks
First aired: 2021-08-06

A happily married man's life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mysterious...

TV Show page

LateLine

as Briana Gilliam
First aired: 1998-03-17

LateLine is an American TV sitcom that ran on NBC from March 17, 1998, through March 16, 1999....

TV Show page

Boss

as Mona Fredricks
First aired: 2011-10-21

Boss is an American political drama television serial created by Farhad Safinia. The series...

TV Show page

Solos

as Nia (voice)
First aired: 2021-05-21

Anthology series telling character-driven stories set at different moments in time, aiming to...

TV Show page

Shots Fired

as Ashe Akino
First aired: 2017-03-22

A media storm sets off when an African-American cop kills a white teenager in a small North...

TV Show page

The Best Man: The Final Chapters

as Robyn
First aired: 2022-12-22

Catch up with Harper, Robyn, Jordan, Lance, Quentin, Shelby, Candace, and Murch as their...

TV Show page