Beyoncé made her film debut in Austin Powers in Goldmember, which reached cinemas in 2002. She played Foxxy Cleopatra, an FBI agent and singer who becomes involved in Austin Powers’s mission.
The film is the third entry in the Austin Powers comedy series, following Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and The Spy Who Shagged Me. Mike Myers played the title character and several other roles, while the movie used musical and spy-film parody as its central style.
Beyoncé also contributed the song “Work It Out” to the film’s soundtrack. That single became an early bridge between her recording career and her screen work, arriving before her 2003 solo album Dangerously in Love.
Austin Powers in Goldmember is distinct from Dreamgirls, the 2006 musical drama in which Beyoncé played Deena Jones. Goldmember was her first feature-film appearance; Dreamgirls was a later, more dramatic acting role.