La La Anthony

Background

Alani Nicole Anthony, better known as La La Anthony, is an Afro-Puerto Rican television personality, author, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Brooklyn on June 25, 1982, she is the eldest sibling to one brother and two sisters. Growing up, Anthony’s interest has always been in music, however, did not pursue this path and instead, embarked on the entertainment industry at a very young age. In 1997 — when she was just 15 years old and still in high school — the ambitious teenager worked at WHTA-FM radio station as an intern in Georgia and thereafter, hosted alongside Ludacris on the “Future Flavas” show. At 19 years old, she moved on to Los Angeles’s 92.3 The Beat and co-hosted “The B-Syde” show. The young radio host started at M.T.V. in 2001 as a co-host for the “Direct Effect” and “Total Request Live” shows before working as a producer on Mike Tyson’s documentary — “Tyson”— in 2003.

Embarking on her career as a radio and television host, Anthony’s acting career started in 2001 when she landed a role in the film “Two Can Play That Game.” In 2004, she starred in “You Got Served,” “Monster Island,” and “Soul Plane.” Within the same year, she got engaged to NBA basketball player Carmelo Anthony, and three years later, their son, Kiyan Carmelo Anthony, was born. In 2010, the couple filmed their wedding under the title “La La’s Full Court Wedding,” which the couple thereafter developed into a reality show in 2011 called “La La’s Full Court Life,” documenting their life as a married couple.

In addition to her own reality show, Anthony hosted several additional television shows and appeared in a few episodes of ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ from 2010 until 2011. In 2013 she landed a guest role in an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” She is widely recognized for her role as Lakiesha Grant in seasons one to six of the television series “Power,” which aired from 2014 until 2020. In addition to television, she continued her career in movies, starring in films such as “Think Like a Man” in 2012 and its sequel, “Think Like a Man Too” in 2014, among others. Today, the actress has, collectively, starred in over 40 films and television shows and continues to make her appearance in films and television series.

In addition to acting, Anthony has also launched her clothing line called 5th & Mercer and has her makeup line called Motives by La La. She authored “The Love Playbook: Rules of Love, Sex, and Happiness,” which was published in 2014 and became a “New York Times” number one bestseller. Her second book, “The Power Playbook: Rules for Independence, Money, and Success” was published in 2015.