R&B singer and “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino is expected to play influential gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in an upcoming biopic, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the site, Barrino will play the singer in a movie adaptation of the 1993 book “Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel”. Like the book, the movie will chronicle the life of Jackson who was, aside from a gospel singer, was a Civil Rights activist and an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The film will be directed by “A Dry, White Season” director Euzhan Palcy with a script written by Jim Evering.

Fantasia’s acting career includes playing Celie in the Broadway production of “The Color Purple” and herself in the Lifetime Movie “Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story”. Barrino has also starred in her own VH1 reality show, “Fantasia For Real”. To recap her music career thus far, Barrino recently won a Grammy for her song, “Bittersweet”. Before winning “American Idol”, Fantasia was an avid gospel singer.

The film adaptation of “Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel” will start production in April with principal filming in Chicago and Pittsburgh. The film is expected to be in theaters by December of this year.