Fans fell in love with her when then-17-year-old Jordin Sparks became the youngest winner in “American Idol” history.
Now, five years later, they’re about to all over again with her big-screen debut alongside the late Whitney Houston in “Sparkle.”
In the Supremes-inspired musical opening on Aug. 17, Sparks plays an aspiring singer struggling with her sisters to break into the 1968 Motown music business.
Houston appears posthumously as Sparks’ mother, a former singer determined to shelter her daughters from the dangers of showbiz.
In a wide-ranging Daily News interview in Sunday’s Your New York section, Sparks, 22, dishes about ditching her inner diva and learning to sing and dance as part of a group — and to stop staring at the camera like she’s filming one of her own music videos.
“When I got on the movie set, I had to train myself not to look into the lens!” she said.
“The whole movie was a huge learning experience for me. I was like a sponge, just soaking everything up.”
She also opens up about getting the heartbreaking news that her idol Houston was dead.
“I was just crying, I was so devastated,” she said, admitting that she secluded herself for months to work through her grief.
“I was somebody who had listened to Whitney’s music and tried to emulate her,” she said.
“So to get to work with her in this intimate setting, to do scenes where we were yelling at each other, and then holding hands with her . . . I just loved her.”
Sparks won’t just be showing off her acting chops on the silver screen.
The curvy singer recently revealed her fabulous new figure after posing on the cover of Shape in a tiny blue bikini.
“I just wanted to be healthy. I remember thinking, ‘I’m in my prime. I should be happy and fit,’ ” she told the mag, crediting the dance-fitness system Zumba and rejiggering her diet for the dramatic 50-pound weight loss.
“It may seem like I’m spreading myself a bit thin — no pun intended — but I love being creative and want to try a bunch of different things, she told The News, “like TV or another Broadway show.”
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