Aaliyah's World

Aaliyah was originally cast as Zee in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. She filmed scenes for Reloaded but died in a plane crash in August 2001 before filming was complete. The role was recast with Nona Gaye, who reshot Aaliyah's scenes. Zee was the wife of Link, a crew member of Nebuchadnezzar, and was expected to have a more prominent role in the third installment.

June 11, 2025 (age 52 years), Los Angeles, CA

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Aaliyah (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001)

Aquinas High School 1995 📷

📸 Photography by Phil Knott

Aaliyah performed "The Christmas Song" & "What Child is This" live on December 21st, 1997, at the age of 19. At the closing of the show, she joined all the performers to perform "Oh Come all ye faithful."

She announced the video shoot would start the following day, August 22, 2001, and the video would be released in early September in time for Back to School. She also announced that More Than a Woman would be released back-to-back. The show's Contest Winner, 19 year-old Julian Hawkins of Baltimore, MD won a 2002 Cadillac Escalade and $20,000 in cash.

Photography from Patrick Mcmullan/PMC

Fan Art

At 19 Aaliyah's 1998 performance of "Journey to the Past" at the 90th anniversary of the Oscars made history as she was the youngest to ever perform on the show.