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.