American entertainer Whitney Houston worked in nine feature films, three television films, and seven television episodes, and appeared in seventeen commercials. A Hollywood crossover icon, she is one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.
She made her screen acting debut as Rachel Marron in the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard (1992). Despite mixed reviews from film critics, it was the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 1992, making $411 million worldwide. The soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack of all time, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide.
In 1995, Houston starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon in her second film, Waiting to Exhale (1995), which was notable for having an all-African-American cast, and was called by The Los Angeles Times a "social phenomenon". Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Waiting to Exhale was a financial success, grossing $14.1 million in its first weekend of release. In total, the film grossed $67.05 million in North America, and $14.4 million internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $81.45 million, making it the 26th highest-grossing film of 1995. The soundtrack to the film, which has sold over twelve million copies worldwide, also featured exclusively female African-American artists, and, at the 39th Grammy Awards in 1997, received a total of eleven nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year for "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" and three Best Female R&B Vocal Performance nominees, then won Best R&B Song for "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)".
In 1996, Houston starred in the holiday comedy The Preacher's Wife, with Denzel Washington. Houston earned $10 million for the role, making her one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood at the time and the highest-earning African-American actress in Hollywood. The movie was a moderate success, earning approximately $57 million at the box offices. It was nominated for five Image Awards, including Outstanding Motion Picture, and won two—for Best Actress (Whitney Houston) and Best Supporting Actress (Loretta Devine). It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score. The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album is the best-selling gospel album of all time. The soundtrack also remained at number one for a record twenty-six weeks on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart.
During her 20-year film career, Houston received several acting nominations for all four of her feature film roles. For her role in The Bodyguard, later listed by Billboard, as one of the "100 best acting performances by [a] musician in a film", Houston received the People's Choice Awards nomination for Favorite Leading Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture, the MTV Movie Awards nominations for Best Female Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance and the NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actress. For Waiting to Exhale, she received a second consecutive NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actress. For her role in The Preacher's Wife, Houston won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress.
As a film producer, she produced hit series such as The Princess Diaries, The Cheetah Girls and multicultural movies Cinderella (1997), Sparkle (2012). Houston is considered by some as one of the "greatest singers-turned-actors of all time". Houston was cited as one of three female performers to achieve similar levels of success in music and film along with Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Lopez.
Feature films Title Year Credit(s) Role Director(s) World box office The Bodyguard 1992 Actress Rachel Marron Mick Jackson Waiting to Exhale 1995 Savannah Jackson Forest Whitaker The Preacher's Wife 1996 Julia Coleman-Biggs Penny Marshall The Princess Diaries 2001 Producer Garry Marshall Nora's Hair Salon 2004 Uncredited Cameo Herself Jerry Lamothe The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Producer Garry Marshall The Last Days of Left Eye 2007 Documentary cameo Herself Lauren Lazin Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon 2011Andrew Eastel Sparkle 2012 Emma Anderson Salim Akil Whitney: Can I Be Me 2017 Documentary subject HerselfNick BroomfieldRudi Dolezal Whitney 2018 Documentary filmKevin Macdonald
Television Title Year Episode Credit(s) Role Creator(s)/Director(s) Gimme a Break! 1984 "Katie's College" Actress Rita LammarHal Cooper As the World Turns "Cinderella's Concert" HerselfIrna Phillips Silver Spoons 1985 "Head Over Heels"Jack Shea Saturday Night Live 1991 "Alec Baldwin/Whitney Houston"Dave Wilson Saturday Night Live1996"Rosie O'Donnell/Whitney Houston"Beth McCarthy-Miller Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella 1997 Television film Fairy Godmother Robert Iscove Boston Public 2003"Chapter 66" Actress HerselfJonathan Pontell The Cheetah Girls Television film Producer Oz Scott Being Bobby Brown 2005 Reality television series Reality show subject Herself The Cheetah Girls 2 2006 Television film Co-executive producer Kenny Ortega The X Factor 2009"Week 2" Guest mentor Herself Phil HeyesWhitney at the BBC 2021Music ShowA collection of some her biggest hits performed at the BBC. Herself
Commercials Year Company Promoting Country Notes 1983 Dr Pepper/Seven Up Canada Dry(soft drink beverage) United States Houston appeared in this commercial before debut as a professional singer and sang the praises of sugar-free Canada Dry Ginger Ale. 1986 Coca-Cola Diet Coke(soft drink beverage) Houston sang its theme song, "Just for the taste of it". 1988 Coca-Cola Diet Coke(soft drink beverage) Houston sang the other version of its advertising slogan at the time, "Just for the taste of it". Outside the United States, the second version of advertising was released, in which "Greatest Love of All" was used as background music. 1989 MTV Video of the Year winning "This Note's for You" by Neil Young, parodied parts of this advertising to criticize pop/rock stars who make commercial endorsements, most notably Michael Jackson for Pepsi and Houston for Diet Coke, using look-alikes for them. 1989 Sanyo Electronics(the stereo, TV) Japan Houston was featured on print advertisements and sang the theme song for TV commercial, "Takin' a Chance", produced by Keith Thomas. It was released as a CD single in Japan and included in Japanese edition of I'm Your Baby Tonight. Sanyo also sponsored Houston's 1990 Japan only Feels So Right Tour. 1994–1995 AT&T Telephone services United States Houston sang its theme song, "True Voice". 1999 Nissin Consumer credit business Japan Houston appeared on both print advertisement and TV commercial for Nissin, a nonbank finance company that lends to consumers and small businesses in Japan, with then the company's slogan "Make it happen with Nissin"
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