Whitney Houston filmography

For the list of Whitney Houston's music videos, see Whitney Houston videography.
Whitney Houston filmography
Whitney Houston in 1990
Feature films9
Television10
Commercials17

American entertainer Whitney Houston worked in nine feature films, three television films, and seven television episodes, and appeared in seventeen commercials.

She made her screen acting debut as Rachel Marron in the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard (1992). It was the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 1992, making $411 million worldwide. However The Bodyguard received mixed reviews from film critics. 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.[1] The soundtrack also remained at number one for a record twenty-six weeks on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart.

As a film producer, she produced hit series such as The Princess Diaries, The Cheetah Girls and multicultural movies Cinderella (1997), Sparkle (2012).

Feature films

Title Year Credit(s) Role Director(s) World box office
The Bodyguard 1992 Actress Rachel Marron Mick Jackson $411,000,000
Waiting to Exhale 1995 Savannah Jackson Forest Whitaker $82,000,000
The Preacher's Wife 1996 Julia Biggs Penny Marshall $57,000,000
The Princess Diaries 2001 Producer[2] — Garry Marshall $165,300,000
Nora's Hair Salon 2004 Uncredited Cameo Herself Jerry Lamothe —
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Producer[3] — Garry Marshall $134,700,000
The Last Days of Left Eye 2007 Documentary cameo Herself Lauren Lazin —
Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon 2011 Andrew Eastel —
Sparkle 2012
  • Actress
  • executive producer[4]
 Emma Anderson Salim Akil $24,700,000
Whitney: Can I Be Me 2017 Documentary subject Herself Nick Broomfield
Rudi Dolezal 		—
Whitney 2018 Documentary film Kevin Macdonald $5,000,000

Television

Title Year Episode Credit(s) Role Creator(s)/Director(s)
Gimme a Break! 1984 "Katie's College"[5] Actress Rita Lammar Hal Cooper
As the World Turns "Cinderella's Concert" Herself Irna Phillips
Silver Spoons 1985 "Head Over Heels"[5] Jack Shea
Saturday Night Live 1991 "Alec Baldwin/Whitney Houston" Dave Wilson
Saturday Night Live 1996 "Rosie O'Donnell/Whitney Houston" Beth McCarthy-Miller
Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella 1997 Television film
  • Actress
  • executive producer[6]
 Fairy Godmother Robert Iscove
Boston Public 2003 "Chapter 66" Actress Herself Jonathan Pontell
The Cheetah Girls Television film Producer[7] — Oz Scott
Being Bobby Brown 2005 Reality television series Reality show subject Herself —
The Cheetah Girls 2 2006 Television film Co-executive producer[8] — Kenny Ortega
The X Factor 2009 "Week 2" Guest mentor Herself Phil Heyes

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.[9][10]
1986 Coca-Cola Diet Coke
(soft drink beverage)
  • Houston sang its theme song, "Just for the taste of it".[11]
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".[12]
  • 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.[13]
1989 Sanyo Electronics
(the stereo, TV) 		Japan
1994–1995 AT&T Telephone services United States
  • Houston sang its theme song, "True Voice".[17][18]
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"[19]

References

  1. ^ "Whitney Houston Biography". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  2. ^ "The Princess Diaries Production Credits". Allmovie. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  3. ^ "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Production Credits". Allmovie. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  4. ^ Kit, Borys (March 23, 2011). "BET's 'The Game' Showrunners to Remake 1976 Movie 'Sparkle' for Sony Pictures (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Whitney Houston Film Appearances". filmreference.com. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  6. ^ "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella Production Credits". Allmovie. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  7. ^ "The Cheetah Girls Production Credits". Allmovie. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  8. ^ "The Cheetah Girls 2: When in Spain Production Credits". Allmovie. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  9. ^ "Commercial Breaks: Stars Who Made Their Screen Debuts in TV Commercials, Whitney Houston (3 of 13)". television.aol.com. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  10. ^ "Other works for Whitney Houston". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  11. ^ "Whitney Houston Diet Coke Commercial (1986)". starsinginglessons.com. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  12. ^ "Whitney Houston Diet Coke Commercial "Just for the Taste of It" (1988)". advertisementave.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  13. ^ Lisa D. Campbell (1993). Michael Jackson: the king of pop. Branden Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7.
  14. ^ Evans Price, Deborah (October 14, 1995). "Pop Writer/Producer Keith Thomas Overcoming Nashville's Country Stigma". Billboard. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  15. ^ "アイム・ユア・ベイビー・トゥナイト ~ ホイットニー・ヒューストン(Whitney Houston's I'm Your Baby Tonight Japanese edition)". amazon.co.jp. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  16. ^ "Whitney Houston's Early TV Commercials: She Could Really Sell It – 1990 Sanyo". Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc. February 12, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  17. ^ Whitney On Wheels. New York. July 11, 1994. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  18. ^ Elliott, Stuart (June 15, 1994). "The Media Business: Advertising – Addenda; Whitney Houston In Deal With AT&T". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
  19. ^ "Whitney Houston's Early TV Commercials: She Could Really Sell It". Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc. February 12, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.