Guest appearances, movie roles and soundtracks
In 1995, at age 16, Aaliyah performed "
The Star-Spangled Banner" live at an
Orlando Magic basketball game. She performed on nickelodeon's former show "All That" performing "Age ain't nothin but a number." Also during that year, she appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack for
A Low Down Dirty Shame with the minor international hit "
The Thing I Like" (#33 UK). The song was also included on international versions of
Age Ain't Nothing But A Number.
In 1996 she appeared on "All That" again and performed her hit song "One in a Million".
In 1997, Aaliyah appeared on the soundtrack album for the
Fox Animation Studios animated feature
Anastasia, singing the pop version of "
Journey to the Past". The song was nominated for an
Academy Award, and Aaliyah performed the song at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, becoming the youngest female recording artist to perform at the ceremony.
Aaliyah had a hit in 1998 with "
Are You that Somebody" (#4 airplay U.S. and #1 R&B airplay for eight weeks), the main single from the
Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. Its video was the third most-played on
MTV that year, and the song's success helped make Aaliyah a household name and crowned Her as
Queen of Urban Pop.
In 2000, she co-starred with
Jet Li in the
martial arts film
Romeo Must Die, which debuted at number one at the box office. Aaliyah and
Timbaland executive produced the film's soundtrack album and Aaliyah contributed four songs: "Are You Feelin' Me?," "
I Don't Wanna", "Come Back in One Piece," a duet with
DMX, and the international number one hit "
Try Again." Aaliyah made history once more when "Try Again" became the first song to ever reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 based solely on the strength of its radio airplay, without any single sales factored in. After the huge success of "Try Again" at radio, a
12" maxi single was released for consumer purchase. The radio-only single, "I Don't Wanna", (which was also featured on the soundtracks for the films
Next Friday and
Romeo Must Die) peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
In 2001, Aaliyah went to
Australia to co-star with
Stuart Townsend in the film
Queen of the Damned, an adaptation of the
Anne Rice novel of the same name. Aaliyah also recorded most of her third studio album,
Aaliyah, during this time.
In 2004,
The Matrix was released to DVD, inside the special features and documentaries are tributes and footage of Aaliyah.
Aaliyah had a supporting role as
Zee, the wife of
Harold Perrineau Jr.'s character, Link, in the two sequels to
The Matrix. The directors initially tried to find a way to incorporate her footage into the movies but decided against it due to lack of material available. The role was recast with
Nona Gaye playing the character. Other films in which Aaliyah was signed to star in were
Honey (which instead was filmed with
Jessica Alba as the main character), and a
Whitney Houston-produced remake of the 1976 film
Sparkle (now in the works with
Raven-Symoné as the main character).
