DHAKA: Yaya DaCosta, former ‘America’s Next Top Model’ contestant and actress, is set to star as Whitney Houston in the upcoming Lifetime biopic.

Yaya DaCosta has been cast as Whitney Houston in the upcoming Lifetime biopic, according to reports in the Huffington Post.

Whitney Houston’s life is set to be adapted for the small screen by Lifetime and actress Angela Bassett is set to direct the film.

Houston, who died in 2012 aged just 48, will be played by DaCosta.

The actress and model first graced our screens when she appeared on America's Next Top Model Cycle 3 in 2004.

She has since appeared in numerous television and film roles including, most recently, Lee Daniels’ The Butler. The 31-year-old also appeared in such series as Ugly Betty, House and All My Children.

The film will focus of Houston’s turbulent marriage to Bobby Brown. Their marriage was rumored to have been marred by Brown’s infidelity and drug use.

The film, currently entitled Whitney Houston, will follow the couple from their first meeting through their marriage to the height of their celebrity in the mid-90s.

BDST: 1859 HRS, JUNE 08, 2014