Lifetime Movie 'Whitney' Premieres Tonight, Stars Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston

Yaya DaCosta and Arlen Escarpeta star in Whitney. Photo: Jack Zeman/Lifetime 2014

Golden Globe Award winner and Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett makes her directorial debut with the Lifetime Original Movie Whitney, featuring Yaya DaCosta (All My Children, Lee Daniels' The Butler) in the lead role with Arlen Escarpeta (Final Destination 5) alongside her as Bobby Brown. The much-anticipated world premiere will be on Saturday, January 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Whitney chronicles the headline-making relationship between the iconic singer, actress, producer and model Whitney Houston and singer and songwriter Bobby Brown from the time they first met at the very height of their celebrity to their courtship and tumultuous marriage. Throughout it all, difficulties followed the superstar couple while they dealt with the overwhelming rewards and consequences of the fame and fortune created by Houston's meteoric rise that would soon overshadow them both.

Yaya DaCosta to Play Whitney Houston in Lifetime Movie

Yaya DaCosta will play Whitney Houston in upcoming Lifetime film.

Yaya DaCosta has landed the lead role in Lifetime's Whitney Houston biopic.

Currently titled Whitney Houston, the movie will focus on the relationship between the singer and her ex-husband Bobby Brown from the time they met through the dissolution of their tumultuous marriage.

DaCosta made her small-screen debut on America's Next Top Model Cycle 3, but has since appeared in All My Children, Ugly Betty, House and Lee Daniels' The Butler.

Whitney Houson is set to premiere in 2015, only three years after the singer was found dead in her hotel bathtub at age 48 due to an accidental drowning.

Oscar nominee Angela Bassett, who starred opposite Houston in Waiting to Exhale, will direct the film.