Robert Townsend Recalls Beyoncé’s Audition for ‘Carmen: A Hip Hopera’
Klaudia//September 7, 2025
Robert Townsend saw something special in Beyoncé during her very first audition.
The acclaimed director recently opened up to Lena Waithe on Legacy Talk about casting the then-19-year-old singer in MTV’s 2001 film Carmen: A Hip Hopera. Beyoncé landed the lead role of Carmen Brown, and it marked her acting debut before future roles in hits like Dreamgirls and Obsessed.
“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.
Though Townsend was convinced Beyoncé was perfect for the lead role of Brown, the studio insisted she audition. With this being her very first acting audition, nerves got the best of her.
“I could tell she was really nervous,” Townsend explained. “I have an arsenal when it comes to getting performance or making somebody comfortable.”
To ease the moment, Townsend decided to include the people who came with her—her bodyguard and a label executive—into the scene. But the plan worked in an unexpected way.
“I told her bodyguard and the label executive who accompanied Bey to be part of the scene as well. 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,’” he said.
That breakthrough moment shifted the energy in the room, and Beyoncé’s confidence began to shine.
“She was so excited and asked to repeat the scene a few more times and even requested to do the ‘death scene,’” Townsend added, referring to Carmen’s tragic ending in the film.
Looking back more than two decades later, Townsend said he knew he was witnessing the making of a superstar.
“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,” he said.
The acclaimed director recently opened up to Lena Waithe on Legacy Talk about casting the then-19-year-old singer in MTV’s 2001 film Carmen: A Hip Hopera. Beyoncé landed the lead role of Carmen Brown, and it marked her acting debut before future roles in hits like Dreamgirls and Obsessed.
“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.
Though Townsend was convinced Beyoncé was perfect for the lead role of Brown, the studio insisted she audition. With this being her very first acting audition, nerves got the best of her.
“I could tell she was really nervous,” Townsend explained. “I have an arsenal when it comes to getting performance or making somebody comfortable.”
To ease the moment, Townsend decided to include the people who came with her—her bodyguard and a label executive—into the scene. But the plan worked in an unexpected way.
“I told her bodyguard and the label executive who accompanied Bey to be part of the scene as well. 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,’” he said.
That breakthrough moment shifted the energy in the room, and Beyoncé’s confidence began to shine.
“She was so excited and asked to repeat the scene a few more times and even requested to do the ‘death scene,’” Townsend added, referring to Carmen’s tragic ending in the film.
Looking back more than two decades later, Townsend said he knew he was witnessing the making of a superstar.
“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,” he said.