"The Cheetah Girls" Is 20 Years Old, So Stop What You're Doing And Learn 18 Interesting Facts About This Iconic Disney Channel Original Movie

We nearly had a Cheetah Girls movie with no original music?!

Let's rewind to 20 years ago, when one of the greatest Disney Channel Original Movies of all time, The Cheetah Girls, was released.

Disney Channel / Via giphy.com

After watching Chanel, aka "Chuchie" (Adrienne Bailon-Houghton), Dorinda, aka "Do" (Sabrina Bryan), Galleria, aka "Bubbles" (Raven-Symoné), and Aquanette, aka "Aqua" (Kiely Williams) sing, dance, chase their dreams and navigate family and friendship side by side, viewers were never quite the same.

The girl group was talented, ambitious, powerful, and loyal to one another at the end of the day. And we were loving every second of it.

Disney Channel / Via giphy.com

You tell 'em, Galleria!

Here are 18 facts behind this cheetahlicious flick that kicked off the three-film Cheetah Girls franchise:

1. Whitney Houston was a producer of The Cheetah Girls.

Kmazur / WireImage / Getty Images,  Disney Channel/ Courtesy: Everett Collection

Additionally, the iconic singer returned to produce The Cheetah Girls 2.

2. Before starring together in The Cheetah Girls, Adrienne and Kiely were in the girl group 3LW, alongside Power star Naturi Naughton.

Penske Media / Penske Media via Getty Images

Naturi Naughton (seen above, far left) was the third original member of 3LW prior to exiting the band in 2002. Later, Jessica "J" Benson joined in 2003. You may remember the trio from their 2000 bop, "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)."

3. The actors carried out rehearsals for three weeks in Toronto, then filmed the movie over the course of six weeks.

Walt Disney Co. / ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

Sabrina shared this with Feeling the Vibe Magazine in 2018.

4. The film was an adaptation of the book series by Deborah Gregory.

Theo Wargo / WireImage / Getty Images

Deborah told So Booking Cool in 2018 that she's "never had a circle of friends, and that’s what these girls [the Cheetah Girls] were to [her]." She also wrote them as members of a girl group since she wanted to be in a singing group growing up.

5. The Cheetah Girls marked Sabrina's first Disney Channel role.

Stephen Lovekin / FilmMagic / Getty Images

Sabrina opened up about her experience of booking The Cheetah Girls in 2008, saying to BuddyTV she had gone "on so many auditions for Disney Channel shows" leading up to getting the part of Dorinda. She noted that it was "so exciting" to "finally" play a DC character.

6. Naya Rivera revealed in her memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up, that she auditioned for and nearly scored a role in the movie.

Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic / Getty Images

7. Adrienne's Cheetah Girls audition was her first time reading a script, and she said the scene directions out loud as she performed.

Disney Channel

In a 2014 episode of The Real, Adrienne said The Cheetah Girls was her first audition. She didn't have a headshot at the time, and she hadn't had exposure to reading scripts prior to this try-out. During the emotional moment she was delivering in the audition, Adrienne spoke the words that were meant to direct her character's actions in the scene.

"... It was something like this: 'Girl, you have a great heart, and you are who you are because of what's in your heart – hugs her and pulls her close.' I read the directions!" Adrienne said before adding, "The directors that were in there and the producers were dying laughing."

An executive producer, Debra Martin Chase, then took Adrienne outside, explained to her that this part of the script didn't need to be spoken out loud, and let Adrienne have another opportunity to do the scene.

"It was that raw, that moment that they really saw who I was, and they were like, 'Girl, you are our Chuchi, you get the part,'" Adrienne said.

8. A song from the film, "Cinderella," was not originally sung by The Cheetah Girls.

Columbia / Via youtube.com

The girl group i5 first released the song in 2000. Another band, Play (pictured above), then covered "Cinderella" in 2001. Two years later, the track was again covered by the stars of The Cheetah Girls. It's since been sung by S.H.E, Tata Young, Kidz Bop Kids, and the Gardiner Sisters.

9. The girls weren't allowed to use a certain beauty product while filming.

Walt Disney Co. / ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

In a February 2023 interview alongside Raven, Adrienne told E! News the four lead actors couldn't wear false eyelashes for The Cheetah Girls, so Adrienne "would take all this time" applying mascara. 

10. Adrienne was "in awe of" Lynn Whitfield on set.

Disney Channel

"We would be in the makeup trailer, and I was, and still am, obsessed with this woman," Adrienne said of Lynn when Lynn stopped by The Real in 2016.

She then said to Lynn, who played Galleria's mom, Dorothea, "You are so graceful and classy and elegant, and I would just watch you, in awe of you."

Furthermore, Adrienne shared that she'd "ask [Lynn] a million questions," and she "wanted to be [her]."

11. Solange Knowles was initially set to portray Aqua.

Rj Capak / WireImage / Getty Images

Sabrina revealed that, before Kiely was cast, Solange "was hired for Aqua" in a 2020 Sarah Scoop Show interview.

12. Sabrina read for all four lead characters before getting the role of Dorinda.

Disney Channel

Sabrina also told The Sarah Scoop Show that when she returned for her third Cheetah Girls callback, Dorinda was the only part that hadn't been filled yet. She and other hopefuls read with Raven, Adrienne, and Solange, and after "several auditions" with acting, singing, and dancing, she was chosen for Dorinda.

13. The producers cried from nerves as Kiely danced on a slippery car in the rain during the final scene.

Disney Channel

In an interview for The Cheetah Girls: Behind the Spots, Kiely said "the producers were crying" because they were worried she might slip and get hurt while performing this dance sequence on the car as it rained outside. She added that she did fall "a few times" and ended up with "bruises and scrapes and scars," but she wasn't badly injured.

14. The Cheetah Girls was the first Disney Channel movie musical, laying the foundation for future DCOM musicals like High School Musical, Camp Rock, Teen Beach Movie, and more.

Disney Channel

The movie's soundtrack made it to the No. 1 spot on both Billboard's Kid Albums and Soundtracks charts, and it went double platinum.

15. But music was nearly not included in the film.

Disney Channel

"The soundtrack was almost not going to happen," Sabrina told the International Business Times in 2018. "Our contracts were for the movie, so we had to go back in and do different signage for the actual soundtrack music."

She went on to state that Debra Martin Chase explained to executives at Disney Channel that they had original music prepared for the film, and Debra "really pushed to make it a soundtrack."

16. Adrienne didn't foresee the great success of The Cheetah Girls.

Disney Channel

"I did not think The Cheetah Girls was going to be a hit," Adrienne stated on The Real in 2016, per E! News. "Not only did I not think it was going to blow up the way it did, but when I first went to audition for The Cheetah Girls I was like 18, and I was in [a] girl group before that called 3LW."

17. Raven did her first onscreen kiss for The Cheetah Girls and "would just ball out laughing" during these takes.

Disney Channel

In The Cheetah Girls: Behind the Spots, Raven said doing a kiss scene with Kyle Schmid, who played Derek, "drove her crazy." 

"I think the director was kind of mad at me because I kept eating up the takes because every time [Kyle] would come kiss me, I would just ball out laughing," Raven said. "One take, I fell out. I was dying. [Kyle] was like, 'You don't think I'm cute?' I was like, 'No, it's not you, I just can't take it.'" 

18. Lastly, there's a lot about the making of The Cheetah Girls "no one will ever know."

Walt Disney Co. / ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

"There's so many secrets to that movie that no one will ever know," Raven said to Them while discussing The Cheetah Girls in 2022. "It's hilarious."

In addition, Raven called it "a great experience" to collaborate with the cast and said she "loved the music" and "loved performing with them."

My level of happiness from revisiting this legendary DCOM is almost equal to Galleria's after hanging up on Jackal Johnson!

Disney Channel / Via giphy.com

Did any of these Cheetah Girls facts surprise you? Tell us about it in the comments below!

And if you're looking to take a trip down memory lane, be sure to stream The Cheetah Girls franchise on Disney+.

Black History Month is here! Join us from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 (or all-year round) and support our content celebrating the culture.

Logan Perrin / BuzzFeed