Sanaa Lathan is best known for starring in movies like The Best Man, Love & Basketball and the Hip-Hop-themed Brown Sugar. The veteran actress will reportedly take on the role of the late Youree Dell Harris (aka Miss Cleo) next.
According to Deadline, Sanaa Lathan partnered with Legendary Entertainment to develop a drama television series about Miss Cleo. Lathan will also serve as an executive producer for the project.
The Psychic Readers Network hired Youree Dell Harris to portray Jamaican mystic Miss Cleo in commercials for the pay-per-call-minute service. Miss Cleo’s popular catchphrase “Call me now!” became part of the 1990s pop-culture lexicon.
Sanaa Lathan’s Miss Cleo will cover the rise of Youree Dell Harris to infomercial legend and the fall of the Psychic Readers Network. In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission accused the company’s owners of deceptive advertising, billing, and collection practices.
“The lesson in this case is that companies that make a promise in an ad need to deliver on it – whether it’s about availability, performance, or cost,” J. Howard Beales III, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated at the time. “I’m no psychic, but I can foresee this: If you make deceptive claims, there is an FTC action in your future.”
Youree “Miss Cleo” Harris passed away on July 26, 2016, at the age of 53 from colorectal cancer. The HBO Max streaming platform released the Call Me Miss Cleo documentary about her life in December 2022.
Sanaa Lathan began her acting career in the 1990s. She scored a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her work in HBO’s Succession. The Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series honor went to Squid Game‘s Lee Yoo-mi that year.