Feb. 3, 2006

Things couldn't be better for Beyoncé Knowles right now. She's currently filming the eagerly anticipated big-screen version of "Dreamgirls," her new comedy "The Pink Panther" arrives on Feb. 10, and she has the No. 1 song in America, "Check on It." It's not easy balancing the worlds of music and movies, but Knowles is making it work.

"It's hard. I'm slowing down a lot," she says. "This movie, 'Dreamgirls,' I told everybody that I'm not doing anything for six months. But, obviously there are certain things I have to do. And then when I finish the movie, I'm gonna start working on another album."

At the moment though, her priority is promoting "The Pink Panther." Knowles had already starred in the comedies "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and "The Fighting Temptations," but working with Steve Martin and Kevin Kline was an opportunity she couldn't pass up -- even if it meant playing the not-so-difficult role of global music superstar Xania.

"I tell myself I always work with the best people, people I can learn from," she says. "It only took me three weeks to film this movie. I did two weeks in New York and one week in Paris, and I had a great time. I laughed the whole time on the set, and I'm happy I'm in it."

What Knowles really wants to talk about though is "Dreamgirls."

"I am so excited about it that I can't even talk, because my voice just starts shaking. I'm so happy," Knowles says. "I've been hearing about 'Dreamgirls' since I was 15. And they told me they were doing this movie, and I said, 'Oh my God, I have to have this movie.' And I got the movie, and I'm so excited, because I'm finding myself and I get to play a character with range."

As Deena, Knowles plays a character eerily similar to fellow diva Diana Ross as "Dreamgirls" chronicles certain events that mirror the rise and fall of Ross' '60s girl group The Supremes. But the movie is almost a year away, and there is a more pressing issue at hand. Knowles has admitted to the press today that when not working, she "loves to eat." As stunning as she appears in person, a journalist has to ask how she keeps her sexy figure.

Knowles smiles, knowing that a sassy question deserves an equally sassy reply.

"When I work, I'm disciplined," she says. "When I don't work? Honey, forget about it."