Tony Award winner Joaquina Kalukango will star as legendary singer-songwriter Gloria Gaynor in Lifetime's biopic I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story. Presented by Robin Roberts, the film will premiere February 8 as part of the network's Voices of a Lifetime series. Alicia K. Harris is set to direct, with a screenplay by Njeri Brown and Jane Espenson. 

Lance Gross (Tyler Perry's House of Payne) will star opposite Kalukango as Gaynor's husband Linwood Simon. Gaynor will also write and record an original song for the authorized biopic.

I Will Survive chronicles Gaynor’s rise to fame and features many of the songs that catapulted Gaynor to the top of the charts. The biopic will also delve into the personal challenges Gaynor faced, including overcoming her long and tumultuous marriage to a controlling husband.

Kalukango gained widespread recognition and a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress for her performance as Nelly Freeman in Paradise Square. Her Broadway credits also include Into the Woods, Slave Play, The Color Purple, and more. Kalukango also appeared in Roberts' 2021 Mahalia Jackson biopic Mahalia for Lifetime, which starred Danielle Brooks and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Television Movie.

I Will Survive is produced by Rock'n Robin Productions with Gaynor, Kalukango, Robin Roberts, and Linda Berman as executive producers, and Betsy Schechter as co-producer.