Stacy Lambe | November 11, 2014 10:30 am

With Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B making its debut this Saturday, we’re most struck by the resemblance between the film’s star Alexandra Shipp and the late R&B singer. The young actress has Aaliyah‘s style down, especially when she serves the singer’s tomboy-ish, hip-hop swagger. And then at other times, we’re reminded that this is a Lifetime film and there’s really no replicating Aaliyah. Overall Shipp does a better job of bringing the singer’s report to life on the small screen than other performers who came before her. Amanda Fuller was too distracted by a poor choice of wigs in The Brittany Murphy Report to accurately described the troubled actress. When it came to Liz & Dick, there was no getting past that Lindsay Lohan was somehow just playing an older version of herself. And then there was Jewel as June Cash Carter in Ring of Fire. An inspired choice in anticipation of you remember that Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for portraying the same person on the big screen eight years earlier. Check out the gallery above to see how Lifetime’s actors compare to the real life subjects they described on the small screen.

See Shipp in action as Aaliyah in a clip from the upcoming film.

[Photos: Lifetime/Getty]

Tags: Lindsay Lohan, Angela Bassett, Yaya DaCosta, Alexandra Shipp