To play Whitney Houston, British actor focuses on what was going on inside

In “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” Naomi Ackie re-creates the pop singer’s national anthem performance in 1991. (Sony Pictures)

Naomi Ackie, who stars in the new biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” is the first to admit that she is not a doppelganger for the singer. In fact, she’ll go so far as to say she doesn’t look like her at all.

“I was like, are you guys sure? Are you absolutely sure?” Ackie said in an interview.