Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Whitney

  • TV Movie
  • 2015
  • TV-14
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
5.0/10
2.1K
YOUR RATING
Yaya DaCosta in Whitney (2015)
BiographyDrama

A chronicle of Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.A chronicle of Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.A chronicle of Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.

  • Director
    • Angela Bassett
  • Writer
    • Shem Bitterman
  • Stars
    • Yaya DaCosta
    • Arlen Escarpeta
    • Yolonda Ross
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.0/10
    2.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Angela Bassett
    • Writer
      • Shem Bitterman
    • Stars
      • Yaya DaCosta
      • Arlen Escarpeta
      • Yolonda Ross
    • 27User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 7 nominations total

    Photos28

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 21
    View Poster

    Top cast82

    Edit
    Yaya DaCosta
    Yaya DaCosta
    • Whitney Houston
    Arlen Escarpeta
    Arlen Escarpeta
    • Bobby Brown
    Yolonda Ross
    Yolonda Ross
    • Robyn Crawford
    Suzzanne Douglas
    Suzzanne Douglas
    • Cissy Houston
    Mark Rolston
    Mark Rolston
    • Clive Davis
    Wesley Jonathan
    Wesley Jonathan
    • Babyface
    Hampton Fluker
    Hampton Fluker
    • Steve
    Reign Morton
    Reign Morton
    • Eddie Murphy
    James A. Watson Jr.
    James A. Watson Jr.
    • John Houston
    Kevontay Jackson
    Kevontay Jackson
    • Gangbanger
    Noree Victoria
    Noree Victoria
    • Sheryl
    Nafessa Williams
    Nafessa Williams
    • Kim
    Billy 'Sly' Williams
    Billy 'Sly' Williams
    • Pastor Marvin Winans
    Saundra McClain
    Saundra McClain
    • Aunt Bae
    Deborah Lacey
    Deborah Lacey
    • Award Presentor
    James Roch
    James Roch
    • Reporter
    • (as JR Lemon)
    Cornelius Smith Jr.
    Cornelius Smith Jr.
    • Michael Houston
    Deborah Joy Winans
    Deborah Joy Winans
    • Cece
    • Director
      • Angela Bassett
    • Writer
      • Shem Bitterman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews27

    5.02.1K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    1mrsgrowle

    DRIVEL- It's hard to see past Bobby Brown's angelic glow of wholesome victim.Is Angela Basset sleeping with him now?

    Is Angela Basset screwing Bobby Brown? Biography? The Enquirer has more depth.

    WHo knew? All these years, poor bobby... I totally believed he would have always said no to any drug-because he's seen it before- and It only ended up down a bad road.

    I was so surprised to learn how much he had to say NO to drugs and look after his coked out lady. What a guy. Whitney snorted and abused drugs their entire marriage. He just held the purse...so to speak.

    I was so stimulated by the riveting acting and believable dialog that I did dishes,and started laundry, fed the lizard. I came back 53 minutes later to,again, Whitney,snorting something and poor bobby sipping only 3.2 beers...unloved,unnoticed and misunderstood. His own talent denied.

    should have titled this...2 hours of Whitney snorting,Bobby drinking and loving unconditionally. All this time,i thought he was sweaty,erratic and grinding his teeth for other reasons. I stand corrected.
    1hans-52280

    Bad

    Worst movie I have seen in a while. Boring story, bad acting. Skip this one
    1bobret

    Just read Whitney's wikipedia page!

    This film was so superficial it seems they adapted it from her wikipedia article!!
    6dawnedwards-97622

    The movie was too 1- sided...

    I know this is a late review, as i see that this movie aired a few years ago, I actually liked the movie as far as entertainment purposes. It does seem according to this bi-opic, Whitney was already heavy into drug use. Bobbie Brown was completely innocent of any wrong doing...smh Umm yeah right! Did Bobbie have anything to do with the production of this movie? He comes out smelling like a rose and looking like a dutiful husband. Whitney had an amazing talent that very few are ever close to being born with. Bobbie Brown however he came to be, was nowhere close to her range. I never did get the attraction as far as talent was concerned. I feel like he was a huge part of her demise. Bobbie rode her coattails to popularity and stardom. I was truly saddened by her downfall and her untimely death. Truly a sad ending indeed. Not to mention the death of her young daughter following right after hers. With that all said and done, I thought that the young, beautiful newcomer Yaya Decosta did a phenomenal job portraying larger than life Whitney, especially the onstage performances. She captured her pretty well. If she keeps it up, I am sure we will see a lot more of her in the future...
    5afijamesy2k

    So So biography on the voice called whitey houston r.i.p.

    Despite some good performances by Yaya DaCosta as whitney houston and the rest of the cast, this TV movie offers very little to the teleplay and even less about story, it's a story about whitney houston and her disastrous marriage to bobby brown all these years, plus her drug addiction and other stuff including bobby Christina, director angela bassett of what's love got to do with it and waiting to exhale fame has hit all the right notes, but misses it thanks to the overlong teleplay and so so cinematography, although this is not as bad as that truly dreadful aaliyah biography last year that was on lifetime, thanks to the better acting here, but still this is a serviceable film from a predicable Hollywood. I'm giving this one a C+

    More like this

    Whitney
    7.3
    Whitney
    Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
    6.6
    Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
    Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story
    7.9
    Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story
    Our Kind of People
    6.2
    Our Kind of People
    Whitney: Can I Be Me
    6.8
    Whitney: Can I Be Me
    Faith Under Fire
    6.8
    Faith Under Fire
    Whitney Houston: As I Am
    7.6
    Whitney Houston: As I Am
    Listening
    5.6
    Listening
    Peel
    6.1
    Peel
    Alive
    7.2
    Alive
    The Minds Eye
    3.6
    The Minds Eye
    Ryde
    4.9
    Ryde

    Related interests

    Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, and Geraldine James in Gandhi (1982)
    Biography
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown expressed interest in portraying her mother in a biopic. When asked in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly" whether director Angela Bassett considered casting Brown she said: "No, I did not think about that. I did not think about casting her. And probably for a number of reasons, you know. One being that she's not an actress. I know she's acted here and there. I know she's been on their family's reality show, but she's not an actress and acting is a craft."
    • Goofs
      At the beginning, when Whitney and Bobby are shopping on Rodeo Drive, logos for Moncler and Tom Ford are visible in the background. Neither store would have been established enough to have a store on Rodeo Drive.
    • Quotes

      Bobby Brown: [to Whitney] I love you too much.

    • Connections
      References Shaft (1971)
    • Soundtracks
      Wedding March
      Composed by Felix Mendelssohn

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 17, 2015 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Lifetime (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Whitney Houston: A Tragic Love
    • Filming locations
      • Santa Clarita, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Sanitsky Company
      • SilverScreen Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 28m(88 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 16:9 HD

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.