Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was a singer and actress who appeared in two movies and a short film directed by her brother before her untimely demise in a plane crash just after filming a music video for her song called “Rock the Boat”.
She was intended to play Zee in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions before it was recasted to Nona Gaye. It was reported that she filmed about 80% of her scenes for the second film before her passing as some of this footage would later appear on the Ultimate Matrix Collection DVD boxset. She was also intended to have roles in Honey and Sparkle (2012).
In 2014 a biographical television film was made about her called Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B starring Alexandra Shipp. It was unauthorized so they were only allowed to use one of her original songs being “The One I Gave My Heart To” besides three that she covered which included “Journey to the Past” from the animated film Anastasia, “(At Your Best) You Are Love” by The Isley Brothers, and “Got to Give it Up” by Marvin Gaye. Singer and actress Zendaya was intended for the role but dropped out because she was disappointed they were not able to get the rights to use more songs and that Aaliyah’s family wasn’t involved.
Filmography[]
- Romeo Must Die (2000)- Trish O'Day
- The Mim Rose (2000)- Melissa
- Queen of the Damned (2002)- Akasha, posthumous release