So its amazing to think about that. And I was just at that point where this motivated me to start doing that. It was like she was showing me parts of myself Id forgotten about, ignored or maybe never knew were there. No, I love the way that ended, because its like she fought for what she wanted, and she got what she wanted. She already had more than 30 plays under her belt, and that gave her some of the confidence she needed to get through it all. Tamani: Yes. And like you said, when she went on to play overseas, its probably not just Q, Quincy she was missing, its her friends and family from home. And if those fears and insecurities are alive within us, and especially if we are unaware of them, of course theyre gonna be passed on to our children. And then one night, I sat down at my drafting table and started writing. Though most people who watchLove and Basketballsee it as the role that made Sanaa Lathan a star, looking back at it now, 19 years after the films release, the 47-year-old actress said shooting the project was a miserable experience. Along the way to becoming a writer, I worked in marketing, which I guess I have to incorporate it for my writing, but I dont enjoy it. There was a lot of crying behind the scenes for me.. And my first year of law school, its like youre out of college, and youre at that point where youre like, OK, this is not playtime anymore, [laughs] I felt like. Liara Tamani is the author of the acclaimed Calling My Name, which was a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist, and All the Things We Never Knew, which was a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year. Percy: But that was also kind of radical, because when I watch it now Im like, this dude he was being set up to play in the NBA, and he actually ends up leaving college to go play for the Lakers. Her typical diet plan is as follows . And she said to me, she was like, do you love acting? and I said, Yes. And shes like, Are you having fun learning basketball? And I thought about it and was like, Yeah. She was like, Are you getting a good workout when youre playing basketball. I said, Yeah. She was like, Then just do it for that. Stop worrying about getting the job. Her first name Sanaa is pronounced as Sa-NAA just as Sinatra would be pronounced with missing tra. Monica wanted to play for the Los Angeles Lakers Was sanaa lathan ever married? In the past, she started a foundation called the. SANAA LATHAN is a well-established American actress. And I had known for years that I did not want to be a lawyer, even before I applied, really. Shes living a life of her own, one she created. But for me, Monica Wright will always be a shining example of whats possible when we have the courage to stand alone in the truth of ourselves. And, depending on how things pan out, it might be the top recruiting class in the nation. | That song played, and I was like, ooh. WebLove & Basketball Sanaa Lathan was: 28 Played: Monica Wright Fri, Apr 21 2000 The Best Man Sanaa Lathan was: 28 Played: Robin Fri, Oct 22 1999 The Wood Sanaa She cant play! So there was a lot of crying, a lot of crying behind the scenes for me.. People talk about Harvard like its the pinnacle thing you can achieve. Learn how your comment data is processed. Growing up, I was a good girl. Thats freedom. We had other Black love movies at the time, like Love Jones and even Brown Sugar. Her brother Tendaji Lathan is a well-known DJ. Epps is one of Sanna's boyfriend who by profession is a actor, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. But be prepared to leave it belonging a little more to yourself. [laughs] And I thought that was a perfect song. Actress and comedian, Hall is the first lady partner of Lathan. Percy: Youre a parent too. Tamani: Exactly. On the 20th anniversary of Love & Basketball, you may revisit the movie craving romanceand trust, the chemistry between Monica and Quincy is there. You say, At the end of the movie, Monicas running onto the court in a Los Angeles Sparks uniform with Quincy cheering her on from the sidelines. But she holds both confidence and strength alongside vulnerability in a way that just literally leaves me speechless, each time that I watch her, and I just fall further in love with her. This podcast is produced by On Being Studios, which is located on Dakota Land. Sanaa Lathan is opening up about her miserable experience working on Love & Basketball considered one of the best sports rom-coms ever. Other things in my life at the time just the misery, too [laughs] was making me feel like that. [music: Love and Happiness by Al Green]. My latest is the love story of two high school basketball players. To maintain this lifestyle, they work hard to get good money from the roles their play. Atlanta Black Star is a narrative company. I love the film Love & Basketball. The two dated during the, Did Sanaa Lathan have a baby with Denzel Washington? Released in 2000, it stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps as childhood friends turned young adults bound by feelings for each other and a shared passion for basketball. Dont think Im preaching this message from the mountaintop. Despite being in many relationships, Lathan is still single. Watch Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan in the famously steamy scene from their 2000 romance film. Ive worked really hard, Percy: Is it like, Do we all have this, as women? I went on a winding path through the sports and entertainment industries and the interior design field. And I look at, you know, if I get a no, then it wasnt a match for me. When she was growing up, she felt that she needed to become a lawyer, just like her father she even went to Harvard and started law school; then saw Love & Basketball, and the movie completely changed her life. Id become a master at taming, hiding and cutting out the parts of myself that werent compatible with the person other people wanted me to be: the rebellious, curious and sexy parts; the questioning and fearless parts. She gets to the point where she makes this decision with me, but I felt like the default.. What was the trajectory in your mind, and the steps that led you to ultimately embracing your identity as a writer? Its drama; its the movie. So it is very important to me that my daughter not have that fear. And that says a lot about, I think, where I was, [laughs] just thinking about the love story. Tamani: But my father was a lawyer, and I was expected to follow in his footsteps. WebLove & Basketball (2000) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood Writing Credits ( WGA) Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Terence Blanchard Cinematography by Reynaldo Villalobos Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire Casting By Aisha Coley Tamani: I would say, now that Im a writer, I have an appreciation for Gina Prince-Bythewood as an artist, as a storyteller. In the next scene, a fresh cut is bleeding on Monicas chin and her mother is cleaning it in the bathroom while scolding her for running around like a little boy. Annoyed, Monica yanks her head away, eyes her new wound in the mirror and smiles. And then what you experienced was really personal. The accolades include: The actress has been in various relationships throughout her life. Predator, Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar and The Family That Preys. An American actor and former fashion model, Shemar is one of Lathan's boyfriend. Its hard, like we said, because as human beings, also, as much as we say, Oh, I dont care what anybody thinks you know those people? On top of that, Quincy will be playing there, too. The boys grudgingly let her play, and she schools them. Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress, best known for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Flash-forward to later in the movie: shes a high school senior (played by Sanaa Lathan), sitting at the dining table, listening to her dad urge her to consider options besides playing basketball. Percy: And you wrote about that in your really just beautiful essay for Time magazine, called Love & Basketball Was More Than a Movie. And now, re-watching it preparing to talk to you, I realized that, as you said so beautifully, Gina Prince-Bythewood, she was telling us, This is actually what the story is about. And we all have to balance that, I think, with our careers and our work. If she could have dinner with any one person (dead or alive), she would like to do it with James Baldwin. I went to church. 51 years old: Family Name : Lathan: Birth Country : United States: Birth Sign : Virgo : Height : 5 Feet 7 Inch: Name: Sanaa Lathan: Alien vs. Company Credits They dated from 1985 till 1996. I didnt know what I wanted my future to look like. The two have been together for a long time, having dated for a while before getting married, and are a perfect power couple. Fifteen years ago on Tuesday, Love & Basketball debuted in theaters. We bonded quickly thereafter. All About Angie Watson, The Best Drama Movies on Netflix to Stream Now, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Friendship Timeline, The Cast of 'The Super Mario Bros Movie': All About the Voice Actors, *NSYNC Remembers U.S. The role for me was easy. August 25, 2021. I would always get to the last step and then they would throw in another basketball player. As an actor, she does this for me in every role that she takes on even when the movies arent very good, shes still fantastic. Lathans net worth is $5 million as of 2022. All Rights Reserved. Get into your joy. The actress said, as soon as I switched to that energy and started having fun in the process, I got the job., In 2019, the Nappily Ever After star spoke about her experience while shooting the beloved film, expressing that she felt miserable and had often believed that she got the job because I think [director] finally got to the point where she had to hire somebody. She added, Its almost like she hired me because she couldnt find somebody else. No, she concentrated on building her career first and creating a future for other young black actors. Through her social media, Sanaa has done endorsement work for several brands such as . It felt like being united with a huge piece of my identity. Impossible. Its just like you ended your essay, because you said in your essay, Dont think Im preaching this message from the mountaintop. Percy: You write about it in that same essay for Time. She had gone to University and pursued a degree in English. I had a dance background, but I had never picked up a basketball. Ive spent a whole lifetime, really, trying to break free from fear. Its funny, because Im like, Where do you get this from? Sanaa was 5 years oldwhen she met the legendary singer-songwriter. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Co-starring Omar Epps and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the story centers on a young Black couple navigating the challenging worlds of romance and athletics. Your email address will not be published. Watch on. Check out this article to know more about her age, height, net worth, children, marriage and career. Parental pressure is something that the writer Liara Tamani knows very well. Thats the thing, because Monica has to stand alone in herself many a time, when people dont believe in her. [laughs] I dont enjoy the marketing aspect. Its just going in the direction of things you love, youll discover things about yourself. Percy: because this movies set in the mid-90s. Tamani: It was a long path, because I didnt even know I wanted to be a writer, when I was in law school. Selena tells the true story of the iconic Tejano singer, played by Jennifer Lopez, who broke barriers in music and fashion until her untimely death at age 23. Sanaa made her theatrical film debut asCarolyn Brody in Drive in 1997. Though most people who watch Love and Basketball see it as the role that made Sanaa Lathan a star, looking back at it now, 19 years after the films release, the Then a bright star came into view. 92 player in the nation perRivals. Tamani: Oh, Tupac, the jokes, the outfits, the language all of that, and just seeing people who looked like me loved, being loved, and loving other people up on the big screen its a big deal. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In order to maintain a calm and level-headed state of mind, she practicesTranscendental Meditation for 20 minutes on a daily basis. She realized watching it that this wasnt what was right for her that she had to listen to herself, to listen to what her body was telling her, and to change her career. [laughs], Percy: No, I really do care a lot. [laughs], But theres something about the struggle and the pain that you were going through that you describe back in your freshman year that was necessary to your own I hate using the word journey now, because it sounds so silly when people use it, but it was it was really necessary , Percy: And I think about, for Monica, breaking up with Quincy, the person that she loved the most in her life outside of her family, going and playing basketball in the womens league in Europe, because at the time this is the other thing that blew my mind at the time, the WNBA didnt exist . I had to go through so much to get the part and in all the basketball scenes, [they] surrounded me with real ballplayers, said Lathan. Thats hard., They also surrounded me in all of the basketball scenes with real ball players, she added. [laughs]. She wanted a basketball player who could act the role. Tamani: But its hard when it gets embedded in you, in a sense, when your early self is constructed around it. And we also produce other podcasts you might enjoy, like On Being with Krista Tippett, Poetry Unbound, and Becoming Wise. Thats freedom. [laughs] Its funny now, but it wasnt, then. But even with that, the overall message of the movie is that she falls in love, and she is loved, just for who she is, not because of this kind of way of showcasing femininity. I was uncomfortable inside hersad, confused and anxious. Some of her notable film credit includes the box-office hit The Best Man and its 2013 sequel, Alien vs. But then, who is gonna drop out of law school? Later, she went to the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English. Finally I demanded, If you want me to continue, youre going to have to get me a basketball coach because I hear youre giving these basketball players acting coaches, and they did.. And he was spot on when he wrote that when it came to its writer-director, the film was the first step, however unsteady, of an intriguing new talent.. Sanaa completed her schooling from theManhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. They would always do a basketball audition for me, which was just the worst. Were gonna do what you need, she says, No. But her vision of herself as a ball player holds strong. Prince-Bythewood: We'd go back and forth on the lot. And Sanaa looked great in the movie and she could do things really well, like dribbling [two] basketballs at the same time. Lathan: That two-ball scene that I'm in -- one of my bones to pick with Gina is that she put it in a silhouette. And because of that people don't think it's really me. Sanaa Lathan stars in the iconic indie as Monica Wright, a determined young woman who dreams of playing pro basketball. They were together in the year 2005. She gets to the point where she knows it, she makes this decision with me, but yet, I was like the default. That scene, to this day, its so groundbreaking and unexpected. Omar Epps plays Quincy McCall, Thank you for subscribing! Love & Basketball (2000) Official Trailer - Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps Basketball Movie HD. (Terms and conditions). Tendaji Lathan, Colette Lathan, Lilane Lathan, Arielle Lathan. The free parts. And so seeing Monica, who from the very beginning of the movie, she knows what she wants, and she is strong and aggressive, and she is about going after it no matter what anybody else has to say about it. Its almost like she hired me because she couldnt find somebody else, so there wasnt a lot of joy and there wasnt a lot of trust in me. It feels so right that we end this podcast by talking about a movie that I love dearly, Love & Basketball, with the wonderful writer Liara Tamani. And each scene unfolds the movie opens up and the kids are there, and she walks over and wants to play ball with her neighbors. [laughs]. Filming & Production Tamani: For Monica, its like with her choosing herself over Quincy. But nobody ever emphasizes it,to most kids, I think. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital (The WNBA didnt exist yet.). Released in 2000, it stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps as childhood friends turned young adults bound by feelings for each other and a shared passion for basketball. Bankrolled by New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Brothers (Spike Lee was a guardian angel), it went on to premiere at the 2000 Sundance festival. Thank you for listening, for your emails, for your support, and for learning and growing alongside us. Does Sanaa Lathan have a husband? I dont think Id ever, before that point, I really dont think Id ever seen a character like her on the screen. | And when you are so focused or when I was so focused on success, success, achievement, achievement, and worried about what other people would think of me if I dropped out, or if I went down a path that was less traveled and less set up for the type of success that society thinks is successful, there was a great fear in departing from that, because its about setting up a version of success for yourself or defining success for yourself. But then the song Candy Girl plays, New Editions [sings] Candy Girlwhen shes schooling them like, she schools them. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); You have entered an incorrect email address! But I hated this sanitized, diminished version of myself. It was a message I really needed to hear at that time. And I remember, with Love & Basketball, Love and Happiness by Al Green playing even before the first shot was up on the screen. It took dismissing the pressures from everyone else and standing strong in herself. Sanaa attended Beverly Hills High School for her basic education before joining Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. But its hard. And I loved how short-lived it is, because hes like, Oh, now you have to ride on the back of my bike. And shes like, No. She wasnt auditioning a lot of actresses. Sanaa Lathan makes her like "Love & Basketball," "Succession" and "A Raisin In The Sun." And I soon found out and soon realized that she really wasnt wanting to hire me. The 49-year-old said she It was a big deal for her and nobody knows me then really. The 49-year-old said she thought hard about quitting and even was suggested to by several people in my life, including some of my representation said, Just drop out. Lathan revealed that the stress of chasing her acting dreams was getting to her, but at the advice of a close confidant in her inner circle, the actress realized there were other options. Ryan Garcia's kids, wife, baby mamas, and his dating life. She doesnt get there that dayher team loses the game. Tuko.co.ke shared an interesting article about Kourtney Pogue's nationality, net worth, career, and Justin Turner's relationship. Sanaa Lathan Monica Wright: Omar Epps Quincy It was a big deal for her. Prince-Bythewood, who started out writing for TV, developed the script for Love & Basketball at the Sundance labs. Percy: I know. And I was starting to get this terrifying sense that if I stayed in law school, I could get trapped in her the rest of my life.. Here's everything you need to know, Jesus Ortiz Paz's parents, net worth, wife, and daughter, 20 female celebrities with black hair to follow in 2023, Germany hopes to help climate with discount travel card, 'Super Mario' is year's first film to pass $1 bn globally, Muigai Wa Njoroge's 2 Beautiful Wives Steal Show at Hubby's Event, JPMorgan to buy First Republic after regulators seize control. Tamani: Just Love & Happiness, because that is what its about. Its a very powerful scene, indeed. What is Sanaa Lathans ethnicity? #doubleornothing., Years later, the Shots Fired star says there was a powerful lesson throughout all of this, stating, Even at this stage of my career, I know at every level, you know, some of the most famous people in the world youre dealing with, not only having to prove yourself over and over again, but you are dealing with being rejected, but I dont see it as rejection anymore., She added, I see these opportunities as experiences to see if its something that fits me. While Monica and Quincy are falling in love, theyre also trying to navigate the pressures that come with trying to make a career out of something that they love, basketball. After finishing my first year of law school, I didnt go back. Anyone can read what you share. Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Crenshaw High School Girl's Basketball Team, key hair stylist (as Brian Andrew Tunstall), assistant director: additional photography / second assistant director, supervising sound designer / supervising sound editor, camera operator: "b" camera / steadicam operator, assistant location manager (as Judy Heinzen), production coordinator: Spain (as Maxine Parker). She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and lives in Houston. 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Were gonna give you all the details you need to follow along. Predator, Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar and The Family That Preys. She takes her incense wherever she goes to feel at home. However, she has read the holy scriptures of several religions like The Bible, Quran, Hindu scriptures.