Model-turned-actress Yaya DaCosta has been tapped to play Whitney Houston in Lifetime’s upcoming biopic of the late singer.

Yaya DaCosta To Star In Whitney Houston Biopic

DaCosta’s first break was in the third season of America’s Top Model, where she was under the tutelage of supermodel Tyra Banks. In the end, DaCosta came in second place in the modeling competition.

Following America’s Top Model, DaCosta picked up a slew of TV roles. She’s since appeared in daytime soap opera All My Children, Ugly Betty, House and Army Wives. Her film credits include The Messenger, The Kids Are All Right and Lee Daniels’ The Butler. DaCosta will soon appear again on the big screen in comedy-drama And So It Goes, which stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.

I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story will be helmed by Angela Basset, who is making her directorial debut. The made-for-TV film will focus largely on Houston’s relationship with singer and songwriter Bobby Brown.

“I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments; and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story,” Basset, who starred with Houston in Waiting to Exhale, said in a statement. “Their humanity and bond fascinates us all. I’m beyond excited to have this opportunity to go behind the camera and into their world.”

The Whitney Houston Story is slated to premiere on Lifetime sometime in 2015.