Director Robert Townsend Opens Up About Beyoncé’s First Acting Audition in 2001

In a chat with Lena Waithe, Robert Townsend told the story of how a young Beyoncé turned her first screen audition into a breakthrough moment. The year was 2001, and MTV's film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, needed its star.

"I didn't know Beyoncé [...] I knew of her and I was like, 'Wow, she has a striking look.' You know, she's a beautiful, young girl, but I could see that she had something special. 'Cause [with] my director eyes, I go, 'Something's going on with her. She's got something," Townsend recalled on Legacy Talk, as reported by Complex.

Despite his wish to cast her right away because he believed she was perfect for the lead role, the studio wanted a screen test first. The rising star, just 19 at the time, walked in shaking with nerves at her first-ever audition.

Townsend made an unexpected choice. "I could tell she was really nervous. I have an arsenal when it comes to getting performance or making somebody comfortable," he said. So, to ease her nerves, he pulled her bodyguards and label representative who came in with her into the scene.

"They started to sweat and really get nervous and then she was watching them get nervous and she got stronger. I said, 'Oh, there it is,'" the acclaimed director explained. The switch flipped, and Beyoncé's spirit lit up as she asked to run the scene again after regaining her confidence.

Townsend added, "She was so excited and asked to repeat the scene a few more times and even requested to do the death scene," referencing Carmen's tragic demise in the movie — a bold move for a first-timer.

That MTV film set her path to the screen. After her breakthrough moment, she went on to shine in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Dreamgirls (2006), and Obsessed (2009). The cast list sparkled with names like Mekhi Phifer, Mos Def, Wyclef Jean, and Da Brat.

"Watching her blossom into the superstar that she has become, I saw it in that room because there's certain actors/actresses' first audition, they wouldn't go all the way there. She went all the way there," Townsend recalled.

Now she stands tall with 35 GRAMMY Awards, the most for any artist ever. Fresh off her Cowboy Carter Tour, she's adding an Emmy to her shelf for her Netflix Special, Beyoncé Bowl, bringing her closer to achieving that EGOT status.