Dancer-singer Willa Ford ("Dancing with the Stars") has signed to star as Anna Nicole Smith in an indie biopic that will begin shooting next week says Variety.

Keoni Waxman directs "Anna Nicole" which will cover Smith's life from age 17 until her death in February at 39.

The film includes her success as a Playboy centerfold, Guess model and actress, her marriage to billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the death of her son and her own death five months after giving birth to a baby girl, Dannielynn.