Who is Naomi Ackie? Actress tipped for Oscar as she stars as Whitney Houston in biopic

2022-12-21

I Wanna Dance with Somebody, the highly anticipated Whitney Houston biopic, is scheduled to premiere on December 23 just over ten years after the star's untimely death, with British actress Naomi Ackie starring in the lead role.

The film’s leading lady may look familiar as she’s recently appeared in a string of popular films and TV shows before landing the role of the global icon. Making her TV debut on Doctor Who in 2015, playing Jen, Naomi also starred in a short film the same year called I Used to be Famous.

Landing her breakout role as Anna in Lady Macbeth in 2016, Naomi won a British Independent Film Award for most promising newcomer for her performance. Since then her career has gone onto huge success, with roles in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Netflix’s comedy drama series, The End of the F***ing World.

Naomi was born and raised in the London borough of Walthamstow. Her mother worked in healthcare, while her father was a transport worker. The 30-year-old has roots in Grenada, an island nation in the West Indies.

Speaking toELLE , Ackie revealed that she was a shy youngster who, at the age of 11, fell in love with acting and began taking part in school plays. Ackie attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she studied Collaborative and Devised Theatre.

With the forthcoming Whitney Houston biopic set to be her biggest role yet, Naomi has been candid about the difficulties going into the role. Appearing on Lorraine she admitted: "Part of my fear going into the role was that I don't look anything like her.

"But they just said to me: 'look – you just concentrate on her essence and we'll sort everything else out'."

Naomi revealed to Graham Norton that she spent six months perfecting Whitney Houston's American accent for I Wanna Dance With Somebody, but that after she thought she had it down, she had to start over after getting prosthetic teeth for the part.

One thing Naomi doesn’t have to worry about is sounding the part. the film's producer, Clive Davis, told USA Today that the singing voice will be that of the original pop diva. He said, “When it came to Whitney, we just didn’t think anyone could capture her vocal genius so it will be the Whitney voice in the film."

Graham Norton asked the actress if she struggled listening to Whitney Houston’s music after making the film. Naomi responded: "I had to take a break because I really was immersed in her world. But now I listen to her to remember some of the moments I had filming. It was such a formative time in my life and career that I look back on it fondly.”

After two years in the making, the film is due to be released later this week. According to IMDB, I Wanna Dance with Somebody will follow Whitney Houston's "journey from obscurity to musical superstardom.” The film is described as a “joyous, emotional and heart-breaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time."

With much anticipation around its release, the starring actress has been tipped for an Oscar for her upcoming performance. During an interview, Lorraine mentioned Naomi’s chances in the awards and enquired as to how she was feeling. Naomi responded humbly: “Ah I don’t know. I just want to hide!”.

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