Model and actress Yaya DaCosta will portray the role of Whitney Houston in Lifetime's upcoming biopic, according to a TVLine report. The 31-year-old fashion model and American actress was a runner-up in the third cycle of "America's Next Top Model." She placed second next to the eventual winner Eva Marcille. After the reality show contest, DaCosta appeared in several movies including "Take the Lead," "The Butler," "Tron: Legacy," and television shows such as "All My Children" and "Ugly Betty." She is married to Joshua Bee Alafia, an independent film producer and director. The couple wed in June 2012, and they now have a son named Sankara.

The biopic will be the first to depict the life and story of Whitney Houston since she passed away in February of 2012. It will be set in the 1980s and 1990s, following her volatile relationship with Bobby Brown during her rise to superstardom in the music industry. The film will showcase the couple's early beginnings all the way up until the breakdown of their relationship, including from the time they met each other, their courtship, the time they reached celebrity status, and all the hardships in-between. It will also tackle both the many rewards as well as consequences that fame and fortune brought about in their lives.  

American actor Angela Bassett will be making her directional debut as the network tapped her to direct the film, possibly due to her experience of portraying the roles of real-life women in biographical films. The upcoming show is tentatively titled "Whitney Houston," and the rest of the cast is yet to be completed. It is also unscheduled, but producers are aiming for a release in 2015. It has also been reported that Shem Bitterman will be writing the script for the TV movie.