BY WALTER OPINDE
On this day 25th June, 1979, Alani Nicole “La La” Anthony, a television personality, New York Times’ best-selling author, business woman, producer, and actress was born. Anthony was born on in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents are both Nuyorican, people of the Puerto Rican heritage born and raised in New York City. Anthony (who describes herself as an Afro-Puerto Rican) has a younger brother and two younger sisters. As a young child, she was involved in many activities, but music was her main interest. She went to Howard University, where she studied communications.
In the early 2000s, La La rose to prominence as an MTV VJ on Total Request Live. LaLa can be seen in the Starz original drama series, Power, executive produced by 50 Cent and starring Omari Hardwick and Naturi Naughton. By 2014, she reprised her role as Sonia in the film Think Like a Man Too and, in 2015, appeared in November Rule and Destined. Back in 2004, La La began dating NBA player Carmelo Anthony, and the knot was tied by Michael Eric Dyson on 10th July, 2010 at Cipriani’s in New York City before more than 320 guests. The ceremony was filmed by VH1 and aired as part of a reality series on the couple, titled La La’s Full Court Wedding. La La and Carmelo Anthony’s son, Kiyan Carmelo Anthony, was born on 7th March, 2007.
At the age of 15 years, Anthony began her entertainment career in radio at Hot 97 station. After a short internship at that station, and while still in high school, she was given her own show, the wildly popular Future Flavas, alongside rapper/actor Ludacris. At 19, La La got an offer from Los Angeles’s 92.3 The Beat to co-host her own radio show, The B-Syde. After a successful run on radio, La La left the station in 2001 and joined the MTV family. Although she had no previous experience on TV, La La became one of the network’s premiere talents and went on to co-host two of their most popular shows, Direct Effect and Total Request Live. During her time at MTV, La La interviewed many high-profile stars including Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie, among others.
In 2003, La La left the network to launch her own production company Krossover Productions and was a producer on Mike Tyson’s critically acclaimed documentary, Tyson. La La and Krossover Productions also produced a feature film with director/producer Brett Ratner and a starring role in The Gun.
LaLa made her film debut in 2001 in romantic comedy Two Can Play That Game. She starred in the 2012 film, Think Like a Man, alongside Gabrielle Union and Taraji P. Henson. As well, she starred the 2013 film Baggage Claim alongside Paula Patton and Derek Luke. On 2nd February, 2012, she launched MOTIVES by La La, at the Market America World Conference held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Inspired to create a cosmetic line for women of color ranging in color variation. Her cosmetic line consists of multiple mineral-based products for face, cheeks, eyes, lips, and nails ranging from the prices between $16 and $40.
In 2013, La La created a clothing line, “5th & Mercer”, a capsule collection exclusive to Shopbop.com and she continues to work on new designs for the line. On 28th January, 2014, LaLa released her debut book titled The Love Playbook in which she shares how she found love and success on her own terms. The book climbed to #1 on the Barnes & Noble Best Seller list and on 7th February hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. La La’s second book, entitled The Power Playbook was released in May 2015.
Read more about LaLa via:
http://www.vh1.com/shows/la-las-full-court-life
http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/la-la-anthony/credits/339036/
No comments