Sanaa McCoy Lathan was born in New York on 19 September 1971. On 19 September 2026 she turns 55. Her parents, producer Stan Lathan and actor Eleanor McCoy, tie her to performance before the first role. Her career neither begins nor ends with a single film.

She studied English at the University of California, Berkeley, then took a master’s in acting at the Yale School of Drama. After television she appeared in Blade (1998) and The Best Man (1999). In 2000, Love & Basketball, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, brought her an NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a motion picture.

Brown Sugar, Alien vs. Predator, Something New and The Perfect Guy followed. In animation she voiced Donna Tubbs in The Cleveland Show and Family Guy. On Broadway, Beneatha Younger in the 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun brought a Tony nomination for featured actress in a play.

She reprised the role in the 2008 ABC film. She also played in London in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 2022 she was nominated for an Emmy for a role in Succession. The honours are noted as nominations, not as awards won without a check.

The anniversary is about an actor who moved from film to theatre and voice work. Posters and studio stills are not used here. The photograph credit, if any, stays with a licensed public event, not Monica Wright on the court.

Encyclopaedia Britannica and BlackPast hold the date of birth and the run of roles. This account invents no recent projects and does not turn a Tony nomination into a win.

Fifty-five years coincide with a long filmography, not a single premiere night. New York, Yale and 2000 remain the years that can be checked.

Image: Sanaa Lathan at San Diego Comic-Con / Wikimedia Commons. A convention, not the 2000 film set. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Sanaa Lathan | Encyclopaedia Britannica; Sanaa Lathan (1971– ) | BlackPast.