Early life

The youngest of three boys, Lathan was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Julia Elizabeth (Dunston) and Stanley Edward Lathan. His mother was a clerical employee. His brothers are William Lathan of New York, a medical doctor, and Charles Lewis, a musician living in Phoenix, Arizona.

Lathan graduated from Overbrook High School in 1963. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in theater at Pennsylvania State University in 1967 and moved to Boston to pursue a master's degree from Boston University. In response to the heightened tension surrounding the civil rights movement at that time, he was recruited by television station WGBH-TV in 1968 to help create and direct the country's first magazine show entirely produced by, for, and about African Americans-- Say Brother.

Career

Lathan has directed the pilots for many sitcoms, including Martin, Moesha, The Parkers, The Steve Harvey Show, Amen, South Central, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, All of Us, Eve!, The Soul Man and Real Husbands of Hollywood.

He was executive producer and director of Dave Chappelle’s comedy specials Killin’ Them Softly for HBO and For What It’s Worth for Showtime. He also executive produced and directed "Cedric The Entertainer: Taking You Higher"—a one-hour comedy special for HBO—and It’s Black Entertainment—a two-hour musical documentary for Showtime.

Lathan began directing network television in 1973, when he was brought to Los Angeles to direct multiple episodes of Sanford & Son. He went on to direct Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Cagney & Lacey, Frank’s Place, Roc and others. He also directed the 1984 feature film Beat Street for Orion Pictures.

Lathan directed dramas for public television’s Great Performances, American Playhouse and The American Short Story. For PBS, he directed Alvin Ailey: Memories & Visions and other dance specials featuring the Martha Graham Company, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Agnes de Mille. He directed three seasons of the music and African-American arts series, SOUL!, and he was one of the first directors of Sesame Street.

In 1989, Lathan partnered with Russell Simmons to create the comedy franchise Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam on HBO. This franchise showcased many of today’s popular television & movie stars.

Lathan and Simmons developed the Russell Simmons Presents brand and received a Peabody Award for their series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" on HBO. The same year, they produced—and Lathan directed—Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. The show won a Tony Award for best special theatrical event, and has since toured both domestically and internationally.

In 2006, Lathan and Simmons created Run’s House, a five-season program for MTV that spawned a spinoff, Daddy’s Girls. The duo also executive-produced Running Russell Simmons, an eight-part series for Oxygen and Russell Simmons Presents: The Ruckus for Comedy Central.

In 2008, Lathan was the creator and executive producer of Brave New Voices, a seven-part docu-reality series for HBO. As a follow up, in 2009, Lathan staged and directed An Evening of Poetry, Music and Spoken Word, hosted by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in the White House.

Lathan received the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors. He has received six NAACP Image Awards for his achievements in film and television. He was honored in May 2014 by the Directors Guild of America for his directing career.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]