Story by Todd Williams
Images by Kim Floyd for Steed Media Service
From her breakthrough performance as the vampire mother of the title character in 1998’s superhero action flick Blade, Sanaa Lathan has been attracting the world’s attention. The New York native is one of the most watchable actresses in Hollywood, and has proven herself capable of delivering consistently excellent performances in a wide variety of roles — from a gun-toting butt-kicker in Alien vs. Predator; to a beautiful and successful hip-hop journalist in Brown Sugar, Ms. Lathan has done it all. While many actors and actresses look back with some hint of regret at plum roles that they passed on, (think John Travolta passing on An Officer and a Gentleman or Will Smith turning down The Matrix), Lathan doesn’t look back with any of the usual ‘shoulda-woulda-couldas’ when it comes to her career.
“I don’t have any roles that I wish I would’ve taken,” she says firmly. “I have been very careful about the [projects] I get involved in because I really believe that it’s my responsibility to put out things in the world that are uplifting and that I [can be] proud of.” Lathan understands that following those precepts doesn’t always mean reaping the box-office rewards that Hollywood salivates over, but she’s still managed to build a successful career. “Regardless of what the outcome has been with the projects I’ve taken, at least I’m proud of my intentions going into them,” she adds.
In keeping with following her heart, Lathan’s latest project is a unique documentary sponsored by Vaseline® Cocoa Butter. “The project that I’m involved with now [is] a documentary that I’m narrating,” she explains. “We go around the world interviewing people of color about what their skin means to them. It’s really uplifting and inspiring — the answers that people come up with.” Lathan has been especially touched by her involvement in the project. “It reminds us that [our skin] is something that we take for granted — yet it’s with us all the time.”
And what does Sanaa Lathan’s skin mean to her? “My skin means so many things,” she shares. “It’s very important in what I do, because I’m on camera a lot, so it’s important I take care of it. It [also] represents my mother and my father, and their mother and their father. And so on and so on. I honor my skin because it represents my ancestors and my heritage, it reflects that I’m a part of a community. A community [that] I take so much pride in.” She encourages everyone to take part in the project. “Everyone [can] go to www.Skinvoice.com and share their story about how they honor their skin and what their skin means to them,” she says. “And they can see snippets of what we’ve already shot. I’m really excited about that.”
It comes as no surprise that Lathan took to performing with such gusto. Her mother, Eleanor, was a Broadway performer. It was while sitting and watching her mom during those rehearsals, curtain calls and final bows that Lathan first got ‘the bug.’ “I grew up in the theater, my mother was in the original Wiz on Broadway, [and] the original Timbuktu on Broadway,” she shares. “So when I was a little girl I used to go out on the stage after the show, and imagine myself there.”
Those first experiences with the Great White Way would help shape a young Sanaa’s future, and years later, the actress would fulfill a dream. “Probably three years ago, I did Raisin In the Sun on Broadway,” she recalls. “For me, it has always been a lifelong dream to be on the Broadway stage. That was kind of a full circle moment for me.” Ironically, the adolescent Sanaa, in a typical case of teenage rebellion, initially decided against a performing career. “[Although] my mother had me in acting classes, dance classes, and plays, I still rejected it because my parents were in the business. You don’t think it’s cool when your parents are doing it. When I [came] of age and was figuring out what I want to do with my life, I asked myself ‘what truly makes me the happiest?’ ” The answer was easy. “It was performing,” Lathan says. “So I followed that.”
Her mother wasn’t the only creative and professional influence in Lathan’s life. Her father, Stan Lathan, worked in television production on such classic shows as “Sanford & Son” and “Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam,” as well as for PBS. She credits his love and support for giving her a strong sense of confidence and conviction and she commends him for repeating those loving characteristics with her younger sister. “I’m very fortunate to have a really young sister — I get to see how he is with her, and it reminds me of how he was with me,” shares Lathan, smiling. “[He’s] very encouraging, always telling her how smart and beautiful she is, listening to her, showing up at every event, just to show her that she means something. He did all those things with me and I’m so grateful.”
Family is very important to the star, and it helps to have a strong support system when you’re an up-and-coming actress in a city like Los Angeles. It was at her father’s encouragement that Sanaa moved out West, and after graduating from Yale, (and having made a name for herself off-Broadway,) she packed up and headed across the country. While most of her family is still back East, Lathan appreciates the surrogate family she’s built for herself in the Golden State. She counts actresses Nia Long and Regina Hall among her circle of amigos.
“I have a family [and] I have my family of friends — my extended family,” she notes with a laugh. She also has one very special friend that stays particularly close to her heart. It’s obvious in the grin plastered on her face at the mention of her closest companion. “I have an English bulldog — his name is Pops and he snores, and he farts, and he drools,” she says with a giggle. “He makes me smile all day long. He’s crazy, but he’s funny.”
As with any beautiful single woman who happens to grace the covers of magazines and billboards, the fans and media consistently speculate on her love life. But Lathan is fiercely private when it comes to her love life. For now, the only man she’s willing to gush about is Pops, and as far as the prospects of starting her own family, she’s especially ambivalent. “I have a great family already,” she says slyly, before adding. “I hope that [one day] I’ll be blessed with a family of my own.”
“Regardless of what the outcome has been with the projects I’ve taken, I’m proud of my intentions going into them.”
Appropriately, her next major motion picture will be Tyler Perry’s The Family That Prays Together, as Lathan continues to pursue film and television projects that are important to her. And while the beauty from the Big Apple is quick to admit how blessed she is, she understands that the picture of celebrity that most of the general public sees is merely a facade. “You may look at other peoples lives and think that it’s easy and they’ve been luckier than you,” she says. “[But] know that [even though] magazines and television shows paint a picture that [says] this person’s life is easy — everybody has a struggle. Keep your eyes on your path and your road, and look at the blessings in your life and you will be able to overcome your struggles — more so than if you’re constantly comparing yourself.”
Lathan fought to get to where she is, and she appreciates everything that she’s accomplished. “I think that it’s such an honor to do what I do, I feel very grateful,” she says. “I feel that what I do is in the service of the people who share in what I do. I never think of it as a chore — it’s really a blessing for me. I feel really grateful that I am able to do something that I love and get paid for it. That’s the greatest gift in the world.”
