Mya filmography

American recording artist and entertainer Mya has worked in eighteen feature films (eleven an actress), seven documentaries, thirty television episodes, one theatrical play, and featured or appeared in five commercials.

Following the success of her debut album Mýa (1998), Mya began reading and receiving movie scripts. Her first foray into acting was Aussie director Michael Rymer's crime action thriller film In Too Deep starring opposite LL Cool J and Omar Epps. She made her cinematic debut with a small role portraying Omar Epps character's girlfriend Loretta. Released August 1999, In Too Deep received generally mixed reviews, but managed to recoup its budget.

In 2002, Mya landed her "most notable" role to date in the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation Chicago. Originally, centered around two 1920s entertainers who get involved in homicide, the film's adaptation of the Broadway musical, under director Rob Marshall's vision was a completely new and stylized version, in which all of the original parts had been rewritten. In the big-screen adaptation, Mya co-starred as Mona, one of the cell block prisoners guilty of murder. The role featured her singing and dancing in a solo section during the "Cell Block Tango" sequence. Prior to securing the role, Mya went through an audition process. At first, reluctant because she had to audition with no script and no tape, however she devised and created a scenario from the description given about the character and improvised the rest winning her the role. After securing the part and with the inclusion of "Lipshitz" now incorporated into the movie, Mya spent two months in Canada in rehearsals working closely with Rob Marshall to perfect her solo monologue and Cell Block Tango dance sequence. Released December 2002, Chicago was a box office hit and grossed 306.8 million worldwide. As well as, critically lauded, the film received 13 Oscar nominations and 8 Golden Globes nomination while winning Mya several awards in the ensemble categories including a Critics' Choice Movie Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

In 2004, Mya had two minor roles–Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Shall We Dance?. First, she appeared in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. A re-imaging of the 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, filmed in Puerto Rico and set in the 1950s follows an American family during the Cuban Revolution. In the film, Mya portrays Lola Martinez, a Tropicana girl-cum-nightclub singer and serenades the crowd during one of the ballroom dance sequence singing "Do You Only Wanna Dance?." A box office bomb, the film grossed $27 million at the box office and received largely negative reviews. Next, Mya appeared in Shall We Dance?, a remake of the 1996 Japanese film of the same name. A tidbit part, Mya portrays Omar Benson Miller's character Vern's fiancée. The singer's most challenging role yet, it required her along with the cast to learn ballroom dance numbers–paso doble, the waltz, the tango and the cha-cha choreographed by choreographer JoAnn Jansen. Released Fall 2004, Shall We Dance? was a box office hit, however received generally mixed reviews.

In February 2005, after going through development hell with reshoots and casting, Mya secured a supporting role in Wes Craven's film Cursed. A horror comedy, Mya co-starred as Jenny Tate, a socialite and best friend to Shannon Elizabeth's character Becky Morton. Excited to work with Wes Craven, during filming and as a suggestion to him, Mya was able to improv her character's big chase scene. When released Cursed tanked at the box office and received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Despite the film's overall box office performance, Mya earned a Best Frightened Performance nomination at 2005 MTV Movie Awards.

The following year in 2006, she co-starred in the romantic comedy drama The Heart Specialist, written, produced and directed by Dennis Cooper, and starred Wood Harris, Zoe Saldana, and Brian J. White. Originally released under the title Ways of the Flesh, it initially premiered at the 2006 Boston Film Festival however had remain unreleased until 2011, when it was granted a limited theatrical release. Still fairly new to acting, in 2006 as well, Mya was honored with the Crossover Award (singer to actor) at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.

In the latter half of her career, Mya appeared in low budget independent films. Beginning in 2007, she had a minor role in the indie sex comedy The Metrosexual. Starring Shaun Benson in the titular role, she portrays Jessica, an ex-girlfriend. Unreleased and screened at the Boston Film Festival it received mixed reviews. The next year in 2008, Mya received a supporting role in Bill Duke's directed drama thriller Cover where she portrayed an AIDS victim named Cynda. The film dealt with the subject of men who are on the down-low in society and opened at selective theaters. It grossed $79,436 in the United States and received negative reviews. In the same year, Mya landed her first starring role. She starred in the direct-to-dvd romantic comedy Love For Sale. Starring opposite Jackie Long and Jason Weaver, Mya played Kiely, a college student in a bad relationship. Love For Sale was released on DVD October 21, 2008.

The following year in 2009, Mya had supporting role in the comedy drama indie film Bottleworld. Cast as Bree, it featured an ensemble cast of Anna Camp, Christopher Denham and Scott Wilson. In March 2010, she appeared in The Penthouse starring Rider Strong. The sex comedy earned largely negative reviews. Next, Mya starred as Lt. Plummer opposite Linda Hamilton in the Syfy original television movie Bermuda Tentacles. Directed by Nick Lyon the made-for-television film premiered April 12, 2014 and garnered largely negative reviews. Following its years in development hell, in February 2021, Mya had a minor role in the Tubi streaming platform action movie Lazarus. Later that year, she starred in Lifetime original holiday film My Favorite Christmas Melody. She starred as Abby Walker, once a promising singer-songwriter who now finds herself writing uninspired jingles for commercials. As she heads home for the holidays, she's enlisted by the local high school music teacher to help save the school arts program. In the process, Abby rediscovers her voice and regains the confidence to go after her dreams and lets the possibility of love in too. It aired December 5, 2021, a part of Lifetime's It's a Wonderful Lifetime holiday movie event. Returning to the silver screen, in January 2023, Mya made a cameo in the rebooted comedy film House Party. Considered a legitimate supporting role, she appeared as the major love interest for actor Tosin Cole's character Damon. House Party received largely mixed reviews.

Aside from film appearances, Mya made television appearances as well. In 2004 and 2005, she guest starred on television series 1-800-Missing and NCIS. In 2009, she competed in the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars. A fan favorite among viewers, she earned the runner-up title in the competition. For two seasons, she starred in the ALLBLK television drama 5th Ward The Series. Based on director Greg Carter's first movie of the same name, Mya starred as Mina Kennedy, a single mother raising her three sons in Houston's historic district Fifth Ward. In 2019, she made her first foray into reality television and appeared in the Vh1 show Girls Cruise alongside Lil' Kim and Chilli of TLC.