Whitney ( film ) - wikipedia Whitney ( film ) Whitney Genre biographical drama Based on Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown Written by Shem Bitterman Directed by Angela Bassett Starring Yaya DaCosta Arlen Escarpeta Yolonda Ross Suzzanne Douglas Theme music composer RedOne Wuff Dan Sundquist Travon Potts Country of origin United States Original language ( s ) English Production Producer ( s ) Larry Sanitsky Kyle A. Clark Lina Wong Cinematography Anastas N. Michos Editor ( s ) Richard Comeau Running time 88 mins Distributor Lifetime Television Release Original release January 17, 2015 ( 2015 - 01 - 17 ) Website www.mylifetime.com/movies/whitney Whitney is a 2015 American made for television biographical film directed by Angela Bassett based on the late American recording artist Whitney Houston and her turbulent marriage to R&B artist Bobby Brown that premiered on Lifetime in North America on January 17, 2015. Whitney received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with praise going to DaCosta 's performance as Houston and Bassett 's direction of the film but criticism of Escarpeta 's casting and the film 's accuracy. The movie stars Yaya DaCosta as Houston, Arlen Escarpeta as Brown and Yolonda Ross as Houston 's longtime friend and road manager Robyn Crawford. Whitney is set in a period of five years ( 1989 -- 1994 ) when Houston was catapulted in the worldwide success of her film debut The Bodyguard and its subsequent soundtrack. Filming took 20 days to shoot and was primarily filmed in Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, California. Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox performs all of Houston 's vocals in the film, including `` I Will Always Love You '', `` I 'm Your Baby Tonight '', `` I 'm Every Woman '', `` Jesus Loves Me '' and `` The Greatest Love of All ''. In addition, songwriting / production team The Jackie Boyz performed Brown 's vocals for `` Every Little Step '' in the Soul Train Awards scene. Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Critical reception 3 Cast 4 References 5 External links Synopsis In 1989, Whitney Houston ( Yaya DaCosta ) is a worldwide phenomenon and household name with two highly successful self - titled albums under her belt. She attends the 3rd Annual Soul Train Awards with her high school friend and road manager Robyn, ( Yolonda Ross ) who is a lesbian. It is here that she meets R&B star Bobby Brown ( Arlen Escarpeta ) and they begin a courtship shortly after, due to her being impressed with Brown 's performance of `` Every Little Step ''. As Houston begins recording her third album I 'm Your Baby Tonight the relationship between her and Brown continues to blossom consistently, leading to a sexual relationship between the two. Unbeknownst to her, Brown is in a relationship with his girlfriend Kim, ( Nafessa Williams ) who had just given birth to his daughter. Just as Houston discovers this, she is left heartbroken and infuriated. Bobby later severs ties with Kim, and Whitney later manages to pull through and persevere in the already hectic relationship. By the start of the 1990s, Brown starts to deal with pressures after the release of his second album Do n't Be Cruel while Houston deals by coping with cocaine use ( which is hinted at earlier in the film, by two instances : at her twenty - sixth birthday where Brown first discovers her using it, and in another during a meeting with Clive Davis ( Mark Rolston ) regarding her third album ), however both are overshadowed by the love affair that continues to grow. In 1991, the courtship later becomes public knowledge, and Houston and Brown are engaged, much to the chagrin of her mother Cissy Houston ( Suzzanne Douglas ), and they are soon married by July 1992. In the meantime, Houston makes her film debut in the lead role of Rachel in The Bodyguard. She is reluctant at first, but Brown coerces her into doing so. She ultimately accepts. During filming, Houston has a miscarriage with her first child, leading her to become very sickly. As Cissy pressures her to give up on the relationship, Houston rejects her mother 's plea and continues to stay with Brown. Brown, by this time, is hit with a dry spell in his career, in which his record label pressures him to put out a greatest hits disc. Whitney struggles to keep up with fame and placate Bobby, whose career has taken a back seat to hers, as she continues to dabble with drug use after the birth of their daughter Bobbi Kristina. Soon after, The Bodyguard and its subsequent soundtrack becomes a massive success, leading Whitney to go on an international tour for nearly two years. Critical reception Whitney has received mixed - to - positive reviews from critics and holds a 62 % approval ( certified `` fresh '' ) rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 54, which indicates `` mixed or average '' reviews, based on 17 reviews. Cast Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston Arlen Escarpeta as Bobby Brown Yolonda Ross as Robyn Crawford Suzzanne Douglas as Cissy Houston Mark Rolston as Clive Davis Wesley Jonathan as Babyface Reign Morton as Eddie Murphy Nafessa Williams as Kim James A. Watson, Jr. as John Houston Deborah Lacey as Dionne Warwick ( credited as `` Award Presenter '' ) Cornelius Smith Jr. as Michael Houston Tongayi Chirisa as Gary Houston Billy `` Sly '' Williams as Pastor Marvin Winans Saundra McClain as Aunt Bae Deborah Joy Winans as CeCe Winans Timothy Bowman Jr. as BeBe Winans Hampton Fluker as Steve References Jump up ^ `` First - Time Director Angela Bassett Defends Her Whitney Houston Biopic - ABC News ''. abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2015 - 02 - 14. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ ( 2 ) External links Whitney on IMDb Official website Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whitney_(film)&oldid=770319881 '' Categories : 2015 television films American biographical films American films American television films Biographical films about singers Films directed by Angela Bassett Lifetime ( TV network ) films Whitney Houston Hidden categories : Pages using infobox television with editor parameter Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français Edit links This page was last edited on 14 March 2017, at 18 : 46. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who plays whitney houston in the lifetime movie
Answer: Yaya DaCosta