Beyoncé played Carmen in the television film Carmen: A Hip Hopera in 2001.
The MTV-produced film premiered on May 8, 2001, and reimagined Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen as a contemporary hip-hop musical. Beyoncé played the title character, a performer whose relationship with a soldier drives the story. Mekhi Phifer portrayed Derek Hill, the character corresponding to Don José.
Carmen: A Hip Hopera was one of Beyoncé’s earliest prominent acting roles. At the time, she was best known as a member of Destiny’s Child, whose album Survivor was released that same year.
The film is sometimes confused with Beyoncé’s later theatrical movie roles, including Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember and Deena Jones in Dreamgirls. Carmen: A Hip Hopera was made for television rather than released as a conventional cinema feature, and its music combines opera-inspired storytelling with hip-hop and R&B performance.