Beyoncé Will Never Be A Great Actress – And That’s Okay

Beyoncé Knowles is a goddess amongst women. She has survived Star Search, teenaged fame, a supergroup and thousands of pernicious rumors. She’s a dynamite diva who has continued to evolve along with the music industry. In fact, she’s often been on the vanguard of music. She’s set the tone for how pop music should evolve and shown how artists can manipulate digital media to their advantage.

Beyoncé is everything.

Well, Beyoncé is everything except a bonafide movie star.

Beyoncé first tried to crossover into acting when she appeared in Carmen: A Hip Hopera in 2001. Since then, she’s acted in eight other films — always in a lead role or “juicy” supporting role. She’s tried her hand at the comedy, drama and thriller genres. However, she’s never really done anything that’s stuck out in people’s minds as much as her music. So, what gives?

Beyoncé is not a terrible actress. She’s not great, but she’s not bad. She’s just okay. In her earliest appearances (Carmen: A Hip Hopera and Austin Powers In Goldmember), she uses a lot of her natural star power to coast on her inability to emotionally connect in a scene. It’s not a bad strategy for a novice actress and many pop stars have fared much worse in their debuts.

In both the clip above and below, you’re drawn in by Beyoncé’s overwhelming beauty and presence. However, her emotional line delivery in Carmen is stilted and her comedic timing in Austin Powers is akin to a tween on a Disney Channel sitcom.

But Beyoncé is nothing if not a perfectionist. Part of her appeal as a performer is how literally flawless she appears. She did not wake up like that, though. She spent hours in the gym and rehearsal studio to perfect her every onstage move. Apparently, Beyoncé applied her famous work ethic to her acting because over time, she did markedly improve. There was even buzz that she might be nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the big screen adaptation of Dreamgirls in 2006, or for playing Etta James in Cadillac Records (2008). However, she never got the nods.

In 2009, Beyoncé starred in the laughably bad thriller, Obsessed. She has not starred in a film since then, though she did do voice over work in last year’s Epic. It would appear that for now Beyoncé is content to be just Beyoncé — which is smart.

The reason that Beyoncé might never become a major movie actress is because she is too good at being Beyoncé. Let me explain… See, the appeal of Beyoncé is twofold. As I said before, she’s an absolute perfectionist. Every move on stage is rigidly planned and meticulously executed. This is a woman who strategizes every move. Even when she’s producing a documentary about her life, she’s the one producing and directing it. Beyoncé is always in control.

A truly great actor must be disciplined, but he or she must never be completely in control. An actor has to have emotional vulnerability, an instinct for improvisation and the willingness to let others lead a scene. Honesty and messiness are preferable to perfection. Beyoncé’s very nature makes it nigh on impossible for her to let go and portray a character’s truth.

The other reason that we love Beyoncé is because she’s, well, Beyoncé. It’s her greatest role: Queen Bey. We don’t want to see her as a jealous wife or some comedian’s pliant girlfriend. We want to watch her conquer a stadium stage. We want to gasp as she exudes all the glamour of Marie Antoinette with the flick of a wrist. We want to hear her roar. Even Beyoncé’s best performance onscreen — in Dreamgirls — only works because she’s playing a version of herself. She’s playing a pop diva.

Beyoncé Knowles might be a lot of amazing things, but she’s not a movie star or an incredible actress. And that’s okay. Not even Beyoncé can do everything better than everyone on Earth. I mean, do you really want to live in a world where Beyoncé is better at acting than Meryl Streep? No, that would be Hell.

Stream Dreamgirls [GoWatchIt] and Beyoncé: X10 Collection [HBO Go]