Zendaya Coleman Confirms Role as ‘Aaliyah’ in Upcoming Lifetime Biopic: ‘All I Wanna Do is Honor Her’

After several years and tons of speculation, Zendaya Coleman will be playing the late Aaliyah Haughton in an upcoming biopic for Lifetime. 

It’s been rumored that Keisha Chante was in the running to play Aaliyah– she even hinted on Facebook that she auditioned for the role and frequently plays up her resemblance to the late singer. To be honest, we were a little shocked to see that she didn’t get the part!

The movie, tentatively titled Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, will chronicle Aaliyah on her rise to fame. 

Check out an excerpt from the press release:

The film follows the beautiful and talented performer’s inspirational journey, from her debut on Star Search at the age of ten to the challenges she faced during her rise to become the Princess of R&B. On August 25, 2001, at the height of her popularity, her life was tragically cut short when a plane carrying the singer and some of her video crew crashed after takeoff from a Bahamian runway. Although just 22-years-old at the time of her death, Aaliyah continues to lead a legacy as Billboard’s tenth most famous R&B artist of the past 25 years and one of the recording industry’s most successful artists in history.

Social media has been buzzing with various opinions surrounding the casting choice. Zendaya took to Twitter herself to speak on her role.

If you aren’t familiar with Zendaya, she starred on the Disney Channel series “Shake It Up!” before releasing her self-titled 2013 debut full-length album. She is also set to star in the upcoming Disney Channel original series “K.C. Undercover” and the Disney Channel original movie “Zapped,” which premieres this summer. Homegirl has been working!

The question is, do you think Zendaya will do Aaliyah justice?