<P> In 1999, Aaliyah landed her first film role in Romeo Must Die, released March 22, 2000 . Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families . It grossed US $18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office . Aaliyah purposely stayed away from reviews of the film to "make it easier on" herself, but she heard "that people were able to get into me, which is what I wanted ." In contrast, some critics felt there was no chemistry between her and Jet Li, as well as viewing the film was too simplistic . This was echoed by Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, who wrote that while Aaliyah was "a natural" and the film was conceived as a spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together you'd think they're putting out a fire instead of shooting off sparks . Her role was well received by Glen Oliver by IGN who liked that she did not portray her character "as a victimized female" but instead "as a strong female who does not come across as an over-the - top Women's Right Advocate ." </P> <P> In addition to acting, Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack, where she contributed four songs . "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7" single . The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards . It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist . The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States . </P> <P> After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah began to work on her second film, Queen of the Damned . She played the role of an ancient vampire, Queen Akasha, which she described as a "manipulative, crazy, sexual being". Prior to her death, she expressed the possibility of recording songs for the film's soundtrack and welcomed the possibility of collaborating with Jonathan Davis . She was scheduled to film for the sequels of The Matrix as the character Zee . </P> <P> In July 2001 Aaliyah released her self - titled album, Aaliyah, and it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 187,000 copies in its first week . The first single from the album, "We Need a Resolution", peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 . She finished recording the album in March 2001 after a year of recording tracks that began in March of the previous year . At the time she started recording the album, Aaliyah's publicist disclosed the album's release date as most likely being in October 2000 . Filming for Queen of the Damned delayed the release of Aaliyah . Aaliyah enjoyed balancing her singing and acting careers . Though she called music a "first" for her, she also had been acting since she was young and had wanted to begin acting "at some point in my career," but "wanted it to be the right time and the right vehicle" and felt Romeo Must Die "was it". </P>

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