(AllHipHop News) Aaliyah was One In A Million and finding an actress to play her may have the same odds. Today (July 18th) the lead actress for Aaliyah:Princess of R&B has been replaced and the new actress was recently revealed.
Last month, Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman dropped out as playing the late R&B legend for undisclosed reasons. Nickelodeon star Alexandra Shipp has been tapped as her replacement according to The Hollywood Reporter. Shipp has acted in Nickelodeon’s House of Anubis and is slated to appear in the upcoming Drumline 2: A New Beat.
Coleman faced criticism when she was announced as acting as Aaliyah in the upcoming film due to her skin complexion. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Debra Martin Chase, exec producer of the biopic, addressed the controversy:
I’m African-American. What does that mean? She’s biracial, but she identifies as black. She has a very strong black father. It’s very narrow and short-sighted. It’s not the world we live in today. And she, like you, like all of us, encompasses all her cultural experiences and heritage. And most importantly, she physically resembles her.
Check out a picture of Alexandra Shipp below:
