Beyoncé played Deena Jones in the 2006 film Dreamgirls.
Dreamgirls is a musical drama directed by Bill Condon and adapted from the stage musical of the same name. Its story follows a fictional female singing group and the music-business pressures surrounding its rise to fame. Deena Jones is the group’s lead singer after a major change in its lineup and management.
The role gave Beyoncé a prominent film performance alongside Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, and Anika Noni Rose. Jennifer Hudson played Effie White, the character whose vocal performance became one of the film’s central dramatic forces.
Dreamgirls is sometimes treated as a direct biography of the Supremes, but it is a fictional story inspired by several Motown-era events and figures. Deena Jones is not Beyoncé playing herself; she is a fictional character within that musical world.