Beyoncé Was "A Mom First" Working With Daughter Blue Ivy Carter on 'Mufasa'

This will be the pre-teen's movie debut.

Beyonce Blue Ivy Manicure
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Beyoncé's eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter, 12, has joined her mom as a voice actor on upcoming live-action movie Mufasa: The Lion King.

Beyoncé already voiced Nala in 2019's The Lion King, and returns as the lioness, with Blue Ivy playing her on-screen lion cub Kiara.

This marks the pre-teen's movie debut, though she's already appeared on screen in a handful of Beyoncé's music videos, plus the visual album movie Black Is King.

Mufasa director Barry Jenkins spoke to Good Morning America about working with the mother-daughter duo, and it sounds like it was an amazing experience for him.

"Beyoncé is this larger-than-life figure, but when she's working with her daughter, when she's in the room with her daughter, she's a mom first," the filmmaker explained. "So much of that energy bled into the film."

Blue Ivy Carter poses with mom Beyoncé at the 2024 Grammys.

Blue Ivy Carter poses with mom Beyoncé at the 2024 Grammys.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It's not hard to see why it made sense for Bey and Blue to voice-act together in the movie.

"I think for them, too, they just approached it that they both wanted to perform and do the best they could," Jenkins said. "And yet, they didn't have to pretend very much because they really are mother and daughter."

He continued, "I was so glad that both Beyoncé and Blue Ivy were down to do it, and watching them work together was just really special."

The Moonlight director also explained that the 12-year-old is a consummate "professional," and that he realized she would be the perfect Kiara when he heard her narrate the audiobook Hair Love, a New York Times-bestselling children's book.

Mufasa will be released in theaters Dec. 20.

Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.