Black Woman Spotlight: Sanaa Lathan and Why She Embodies Black Girl Magic

Sanaa Lathan is one of my favorite female actors, and with her new special, Shots Fired, airing Wednesday, March 22nd, this is the perfect opportunity to shed a light on the body of work this talented, bold, beautiful (and I could go on) black queen has done over the last two decades.

Sanaa came on the film scene in 1997 with movies, Miracle in the Woods, Drive, and Blade.

But one of my absolute FAVORITE roles she played was in the movie, Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, a comedy drama about a Vietnamese brother and sister, Dwayne and Mal who were adopted by an African American family in Los Angeles. Sanaa played Dwayne’s girlfriend, Nina. Before the Shonda Rhimes and Scandal phenomena, there was few, if any interracial relationships on big screen.

This is when Sanaa gets interesting. She wasn’t afraid to take on the part of a black woman in an interracial couple. And there was something special about Dwayne and Nina in those moments. Even in a low-end, indie productions like this, you could tell she had immense talent and presence.

As a side note: every now and again, I’m reminded of this movie because of my own interracial relationship, and how Sanaa was bae even at the start of her career.

But this queen got her real come up in the classic Love & Basketball, a romance drama of two childhood friends falling in love and working towards their dream of becoming professional basketball players. I can definitely tell you as someone who played basketball for most of her life, this movie embodied every basketball players’ dream. Sanaa played main character, Monica and managed to capture the journey and struggles of aspiring female athletes finding themselves in a male-dominated sport. Not only is this movie great to watch during basketball season and March Madness, if you’re in your #inspiration, #goals flow, this should be on your to-watch list.

Side Note #2: Sanaa is 45. Black really doesn’t crack, yall.

From movies Brown Sugar, Something New, and A Family That Preys to television in The Affair, Nip/Tuck, and voice narration in The Cleveland Show and The Family Guy this woman has perfected her craft.

And in her new show, Shots Fired, Sanaa plays investigator, Ashe Akino, who explores the parallel deaths of a white college student and a black teenager. I have crazy confidence Sanaa will enthrall us in this ten-part murder mystery series. This show will also speak to a larger point- shedding light on police relations with the black community, which we definitely need to see more of in art and entertainment.

This woman consistently produces great work on the screen, and as far as woman crushes go, this beautiful black sister is definitely at the top of my list.