Sanaa Lathan on Shots Fired, Sex Scenes, and Meeting Big Bird | Screen Tests | W magazine

In this Screen Tests interview, 'Shots Fired' star Sanaa Lathan reflects on the career she almost had before becoming an actress, what it's like to shoot a sex scene and meeting Big Bird on her birthday. Transcript I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. I was kind of a nerd, but I was always around the business 'cause both my parents are in the business. When it came time to decide what I wanted to do when I really researched being a lawyer, I realized I had no interest. So I was like, let me do what I like to do and I kind of pursued acting and it kind of worked out. What was the first job I got? You know what, I got a Secret deodorant commercial. When I came out of drama school, it wound up paying my rent for a year. It felt like a mini movie. It was like me getting ready with my boyfriend and like rushing around the house and like, pouring coffee and kissing him and I felt like I did a little mini movie that day. Pew, pew. Shots Fired is the show that I'm on right now. It is a -hour mystery thriller that is very reflective of the world that we're living in right now. I play Ashe Akino. I call her #BadAshe. She is an investigator with the Department of Justice. She's going through a crisis in her personal life that kind of threatens her being a mother to her child. I have some good sex scenes with some cutie pies. Sometimes it feels like soft porn. TV is getting racier and racier so you have to do it, it's part of