Beyonce Knowles, the 25-year-old pop star, is poised to earn more than any other R n B artist in Hollywood from her performance in the film Dreamgirls.

The film is expected by critics to be in the running for Oscars at next year’s ceremony.

While stars such as Mariah Carey and Diana Ross took pay cuts to appear in certain movies, Beyonce is set to scoop $24 million for her portrayal of Ross in the 1960’s.

That figure represents a doubling of the fee she earned in the latest Austin Powers.

It has been down to her manager/father who ensured his daughter got a huge payment and a cut of any sales of the CD of Dreamgirls.

Album sales are on the decline worldwide but the cd’s for this movie bucked the trend and are 20 per cent higher than usual.

When the film was being put into production at Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio, Knowles Sr told negotiators he was weary of a "racial pay gap" between white and black performers in "so-called liberal Hollywood".